[pdonis]

That's not to mention the day traders and bankers who make huge amounts of profits and contribute nothing of value to society.

I just noticed this last sentence, and it's a valid point. I agree that profit does not always correlate with providing real value, and in fact day traders and investment banks provide a good example of how to spot when it doesn't. The key thing about the profits made by day traders and investment banks is that it comes from zero-sum trades: whatever they gain, someone else must lose.

That's not true of a profit-making activity like Ovishinsky's company; it made products that were of real value to people, and it got back some of that value as profits. In other words, the transaction was positive sum--both parties (the company and the customer) were better off as a result. (And of course the same is true of the Red Cross: the overall process of people donating to the Red Cross and the Red Cross using that money to help people is positive sum.)

[TheZenPsycho]

If profit correlated to value even most of the time, that would imply that Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber are better musicians than Bach and Mozart, and that "Scary Movie 4" is a better film than Citizen Kane or Rashoman.

[pdonis]

It's evident that in your opinion, Bach and Mozart are better musicians, and Citizen Kane and Rashoman are better films. I happen to share that opinion. But you and I are just two people, and judgments about aesthetic merit are not the same as measures of value. The fact that lots of people pay money to hear Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber means that their music has value to all those people, whether or not it meets your or my aesthetic criteria.