The comments on HN are turning into reddit comments with the massive drop in quality lately. The fact that you're on a throwaway reinforces my point quite a bit.
This wouldn't be called "profit", now would it?
Regardless, letting the market dictate as much as it does also doesn't make sense. Neither does trusting investors/shareholders to determine what's best for society. It's all just kind of broken.
If I can just take any money I "should" be giving to employees and absolve myself of that goal simply by spending the money on the company instead, which every publicly-owned company currently does, then nothing has changed.
You DO realize things like stock buybacks are done to grow the company, right? Like yes, there is a profit motive there for shareholders, but paying off shareholders could also be classified as growing the company.
So again - what are you actually asking for? Please clarify whatever point you're trying to make, because so far, all you've said is "nothing should change".
Let me introduce you to a concept called “dividends”
Frankly, I’d love it if we made private enterprise illegal.
Companies aren't giving away money for fun - I promise you there's a strategy.