The problem isn't society or profit motivation. It's people. Humanity itself is corrupt. There aren't "good people" and "bad people". There's only "bad people." We're all bad people, just some of us are more comfortable with our corruption being visible to others to a higher degree.
I understand your perspective, but I maintain that "good" (morally pure) isn't a category any of us belong to. We're all lying, hateful people to one extent or another, and lying hateful people aren't "good", even if we haven't lied or hated as much as other lying, hateful people. "Less evil" isn't synonymous with "good".
The argument that profit motivation is the origin of shady business practices ignores the existence of those businesses which pursue profit in an ethical manner. The company I work for, for instance, is highly motivated to produce a profit, but the way we go about obtaining that profit is by providing our customers with products that have real value, at fair (and competitive) prices, and by providing consistently excellent customer support. Our customers are *very* satisfied with our products and services, and they show their satisfaction with extreme brand loyalty. The profit we make year over year allows us to increase the quality of life for our employees, and keeps our employees highly motivated towards serving our customers. We pursue the good of our customers alongside our own, and we avoid shady business practices like the plague.
Your attempt of making the situation seem to be asymmetric by arbitrarily defining "good" as absolute good, while "evil" as everything else - is unconvincing. (Why not the opposite - which would also be ridiculous ?)
It's like a glass of pure water. If there is anything else in the glass, it can no longer be called a glass of pure water. Likewise, the presence of evil of any quantity or quality in a person disqualifies them from being good. Apple trees do not yield blueberries, and good men do not do evil things. So if we discern in our thoughts, words, and actions the presence of evil, we can know with absolute certainty that we, too, are evil.
Or is it supposed that hating each other, lying to one another, stealing from one another, murdering one another, failing to fulfill contract, covenant, and commitment to one another are things that should be considered good?
No. There are no good or bad people. But people do good or bad things, all the time.
This. Also, the world isn't black and white. Good and Evil are overly simplistic categories that aren't constructive. Just because one person does something wrong, it doesn't have to define them or negate the good they do in other areas.
What is this even supposed to mean? Profit motivation is a concept invented by humans for humans to apply. If it leads to unexpected or undesirable outcomes then it's a bad idea. A system that requires all participants be paragons of some definition of virtue to produce good results is fundamentally unsuited for human beings.
> We're all bad people, just some of us are more comfortable with our corruption being visible to others to a higher degree.
If the GP's story is true (and I have no reason to suspect otherwise), then there are clearly differences in the degree of "badness" between people. GP chose to resign from his job, while his manager chose to be negligent and dishonest.
So, even if we're all bad people, there are less bad and more bad people, so we might as well call the less bad end of the spectrum "good". Thus, there are good and bad people.