Big question. Fundamentally, having capital allows one to acquire more capital, generationally. The history here is long and complex. Over hundreds of years, we've seen a striation of incomes, wealth, and capital across the country.

The lower ends of that income spectrum are dealing with difficult choices about whether to cut food, heating, housing, medicine, sanitation, childcare, etc. Low level crime is a symptom of people being squeezed too hard.

So, let's dive a layer deeper: what causes inequal access to healthcare, housing, education, sanitation, etc.? Part of it is cultural -- people framing the question as, "Why should I give up some of my income so someone else doesn't have raw sewage pumped into their yard?" rather than, "What's the baseline experience we should all have, no matter what, and how much do I have to give up to ensure that?"

Fundamentally, I think culturally, in the US, we prioritize "mine" too much over "ours", which leads to tight fists on improving conditions and addressing economic inequality, which leads to systemic problems in housing/food/education/etc., which leads to crime, drug abuse, mental health problems, etc.

As for the second question, I think you are asking whether companies are obligated to grow their profits/income and how is that tied to these issues? I want to make sure I understand what you are asking before I try to answer.

Thanks for asking good questions. We might not agree on the root causes here, or what to do about it, but at least this set of questions is a reasonable dive into things.