"Less Profit"

I saw some condos today. They were cheap but had plenty of flaws. I start asking the presenter about the company renovating and selling the condos, and she says the company's mission is to build affordable college housing. I ask her if the company was non-profit. She said, "no, they make less profit than they could make." I laugh. She asks, "what is so funny?" I told her I was an economist and less profit meant out-of-business. I do not think she appreciated my humor.

I cannot stand when people tell me that they are giving me a good deal. I am the only one who can decide how happy I am.

An appropriate F.A. Hayek quote:

"If we allow freedom because we presume them to be reasonable beings, we also must take it worth their while to act as reasonable beings by letting them bear the consequences of their decisions. This does not mean that a man will always be assumed to be the best judge of his interests; it means merely that we can never be sure who knows them better than he and that we wish to make full use of the capacities of all those who may have something to contribute to the common effort of making our environment serve human purposes. "