profit

advantage, benefit, gain

Like the word progress, this word has been perverted by our greedy, money-minded society. It has come to mean simple monetary gain. Profits are what's left after all your outgo has been deducted from your income.

What is the source of profit in our capitalist society? How do the owners of a corporation make money? They don't print it up — only the government and organized crime do that. Corporate America is much more sophisticated: they simply pay the workers less than their labor is worth.

That has become the very definition of profit.

But there is an older, primary meaning: the simple idea of advantage, benefit, gain. Therefore I say that my job as a telemarketer is profitable... even though I know I'm being exploited.