Would you say that it's impossible to fix climate change until people stop profitinng from trying to fix climate change? Is it impossible to fix infant mortality while doctors profit from saving infants' lives?

There is something to what you're saying. There's a process that goes like:

1. People who dislike X want to fix X.

2. In order to put a lot of time into fixing X, they seek out work that pays them to do it.

3. In the process of that work, they build up a lot of expertise.

4. Now they have a natural incentive for X not to be fixed so that they can continue to make money from their expertise.

This is a real thing. A perverse incentive that arises basically in all cases where bad things require deep expertise to fix.

I see very little evidence that this incentive is powerful enough to dwarf the massive desire to fix X for most problems.

Most oncologists are not out there blowing cigarette smoke into people's faces to ensure their job security. Dentists are not plying kids with candy. Most people fighting against racism are not so callous as to completely undermine their own deeply held convictions just to keep themselves employed.

> in fact, it sure seems like things just get worse.

Things looking worse is often a sign of them getting better. You never saw news articles about the environment in the mid-1900s when pollution and industrialization was at its worth. It didn't become visible until people cared enough and had enough power to make it visible.

The "me too" movement isn't about sexual abuse becoming more prevalent, it's about victims finally having enough power to be able to shine a light on it. If we weren't hearing about Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Bill Cosby, that wouldn't mean they weren't still abusing. It would mean they were continuing to abuse with inpunity.