Exploitation is not a crime unless we have been oppressive

To be successful as a Capitalist, we must exploit the needs, desires of others. Even though we might be seen to profit from the weakness and vulnerability of others, this is acceptable because their need has not been caused by the Capitalist. It is not a problem to exploit the hunger of another person by selling them food, nor to exploit the need for a place to sleep when a hotel sells a room for the night.

If we are not the cause of their poverty, we have no obligation to remedy it and it may even be to our advantage.

The problem arises when the poverty of others arises not from nature, but from the actions of other people. If the buyer has been denied their rights to trade or to retain wealth, then they have been a victim and it might not be right in those circumstances to exploit the poverty. If we sell food to someone who has been stolen from, we are gaining advantage from the theft, this will make us less inclined to solve and prosecute the crime, but it may in fact encourage us to support and even subsidise the crime. We may seek to encourage the criminals if we know that we are in a position to replace the stolen goods by selling goods of our own.

If our poverty does not result from a crime having been committed upon us, then we are not being exploited by the Capitalist when we purchase their products. The Capitalist does not exploit us (in a criminal way) if we have the ability to refuse, we are only exploited in the same way that we are exploited by nature when we get hungry after a time of not eating.

To exploit 'natural' desires (a type of poverty which arises from the trials and tests of living on Earth) is not a crime. It is acceptable to exploit natural injuries.

Being alive presents us with natural desires such as thirst, hunger, the preference not to be too cold, or too hot; if the Capitalist exploits these problems then they have not done a crime. It is not a crime to sell food to a hungry person. It is not a crime to exploit natural poverty...

It would be a crime to be the cause of the poverty, to take an extreme example, if a medic created disease in others so that they might make a 'profit' from selling the remedy. If we have not been the cause of the poverty then we are not (being) criminal to exploit it.

It is not criminal to exploit poverty unless we have been the cause of it.

Although slave labour is criminal, it is not criminal to exploit slave labour when purchasing cheap goods. It would be preferable to voluntarily subsidise more ethical businesses, but we have not done a crime by choosing to purchase goods which arise from crime.