Is someone else getting poorer when I make money?

Answer by Rahul Kapur:

Yes, without a doubt.

In our society, the exchange of cash from Party A to Party B for Object C comes about from a perceived exchange of value from Party B to Party A defined in terms of Object C. Party A equates the monetary value of the object being exchanged with his/her own perceived personal value of the object in question. Herein lies the trick, the object being exchanged is generally composed of multiple existing raw components, all of which when put together to form Object C are greater in personal value to Party A than the sum of these individual parts. Essentially, you, as the creator of Object C (Party B), have just created value from thin air.
And the premium you earn from this artificial value is called 'profit.' This profit is often attributed to human creativity, ingenuity, or simply innovation but in actuality it is simple misdirection, a sleight of hand, as some would say. Because while the masses bask in the glory of the artificial value you have created, the raw components go unnoticed, i.e. the human provided labor and mental capacity involved in creating these raw components.
So, yes, by serving as the facilitator for the creation of Object C and insuring that your company remains profitable, you are essentially stealing from many people, without whom Object C would have never been possible. Moreover you are also stealing from those whose objects would have been bought if your object never existed.
Despite calling you a thief time and time again in this brief explanation, I do hope to end on a note of optimism. While your monetary benefit may come at someone else's loss that does not imply in any way that your capitalist urges are bad for society as a whole. Because when it comes down to it 90% of the world as we know it depends on our perception of this world. And if people perceive value in your so-called 'innovation' then whether this value be tangible or not, it nevertheless does exist. Innovations like these build upon one another till we push society to reach a paradigm shift, a higher state of being, in my opinion. At that point your 'innovation' will seem like a mere raw component of this greater paradigm shift, which much like Object C is greater in value than the sum of its parts.