The fact that profit does not primarily serve the consumption of the capitalist, but the constant utilisation of capital, i.e. the restless movement of still more profit, may sound absurd. But this is not a matter of individual madness. The individual capitalists are forced into this movement of restless profit (constant accumulation, expansion of production, introduction of new techniques, etc.) by the competition of other capitalists: if they do not accumulate, if they do not constantly modernise the production apparatus, their own enterprise is in danger of being overrun by competitors who produce cheaper or better products. If an individual capitalist wants to avoid constant accumulation and innovation, he is threatened with bankruptcy. He is therefore forced to go along with it, whether he wants to or not. "Excessive profit-seeking" is not a moral failing of individuals under capitalism, but necessary to survive as a capitalist. As will become clearer in the next sections, capitalism is based on a systemic relationship of domination that produces constraints to which both the workers and the capitalists are subjected. Therefore, a critique aimed at the "excessive pursuit of profit" of individual capitalists, but not at the capitalist system as a whole, falls short.

A passage to some modern german companion reader to "Das Kapital", forgot the exact name, but copied this part.