In "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits,"" Milton Friedman says that there is only one social responsibility of businesses: to use "resources and engage in activities designed to increase profits " as long as they do not commit deception or fraud (Friedman 178). I think that businesses have many goals and responsibilities, but they also have certain responsibilities not explicitly written in their mission statements. Some "social responsibilities " that businesses have, as described by Milton Friedman, include responsibilities to a person's family, conscience, feelings of charity, church, clubs, city, and country" (174). I think that businesses have other social responsibilities, which include telling the entire truth to those who are affected by their actions, promoting the health and well-being of society, and promoting/generating the most amount of happiness.
One of the most important social responsibilities of businesses is to tell the entire truth to its clients. Not telling the truth to clients, especially when the company knows the truth, can cost clients and many others money. Goldman Sachs was short selling bad securities/stocks without telling their clients, and the company earned a lot of money at the expense of their clients and many other people. In 2007, Goldman Sachs sold poor quality assets that were likely to lose value or not perform (Levin 2011). It "spread toxic mortgages throughout the financial system " and placed large bets against the U.S. mortgage market, which lead to profit when the system collapsed (Levin 2010). In one example, Goldman Sachs sold Timberwolf stocks to their clients and they knew that it was a "shitty deal", but they sold them anyways. They didn't tell their clients, but they still made selling them a top priority. This is deception and fraud, because there was prior knowledge from the company, and it was the company's obligation to tell their clients the truth.