Employers crave the power to fire workers whose performance is judged inferior-not just to get rid of those particular workers, but more importantly … - Jim Stanford

The problem is not scarcity; the problem is power.

Proving that profit is economically and morally justifiable, rather then the result of exploitation, has been a central preoccupation of neoclassical economists.

With joint-stock corporations, investors can place bets on the success of many different companies, without having to play a central management role in any one of them. This allows investors to diversify their financial holdings. It also allows them to capture profits on their investments, without having to get involved in the dirty, troublesome business of actually running a company.