crisis profits

These are profits earned above and beyond the expectations that a company would have in normal conditions.  They are a form of windfall profits but somehow that name conjures up a vision of apples strewn across the lawn under the tree after a high wind — something unexpected but pleasant.  The situations that create crisis profits are ones in which, while the corporations gain hugely, the community at large is suffering from the effects of war, natural disasters, pandemics, or the like. In these circumstances it seems immoral for the companies to hang on to the earnings that they should employ to relieve the sufferings of the community.  In the wake of the pandemic the big supermarkets achieved record profits, and the global turmoil caused by the invasion of Ukraine cause mineral prices to skyrocket. There is discussion about a crisis profits tax that would redistribute some of that wealth.