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What does it mean to: Put PEOPLE over PROFIT?

It means just what is says. No more. No less.

The statement stems from a principle of Economic Justice which values the well-being of people over the profits of merchants.

That is not to say they are at odds with one another. The best interests of the people are also the best interests of a merchant -- if that merchant wishes to continue in their endeavor -- for without people, their profits would vanish.

To misquote Margaret Thatcher:

The problem with capitalism is that you eventually run out of other people.

What is Profit | What is Advantage

Consider these points made by John Ruskin in his writings "Unto This Last" (1862):

How do all these things fit together?

These charts tell a story of interrelatedness among the ideas of: Labor and Capital vs. Environment and Profit vs. Justice and Power.

Each of them are worthy of a moments study before we move on to the role of government in all this.

just package venn

This shows the balance in social space between contrasting notions of Order, Power and Justice

Society must find this balance in a "Just Package" ensuring it is equally applied to all members

Imbalance, for any segment of society leads to tyranny, violence or both

sustainability venn

Where Socio-Economic interests meet the Environment is Sustainability

This determines how long a society can continue in a closed system such as Earth

There is no "Planet B"

finding your purpose

Finding your true purpose in life is made possible by a Just Society

A Just Society fosters the kind of insight, self-awareness, compassion and pragmatism needed for all these spheres to operate at the same time

justice and health

This word cloud introduces the idea of individual health into the Socio-Economic relationship

Social justice and evrionmental justice each promote health and visa-versa

Further Reading

In the pursuit of quarterly profit growth, we seem to have lost sight of what a good economy looks like.

The circulation of wealth in a nation resembles that of the blood in the natural body. There is one quickness of the current which comes of cheerful emotion or wholesome exercise; and another which comes of shame or of fever. There is a flush of the body which is full of warmth and life; and another which will pass into putrefaction.

As diseased local determination of the blood involves depression of the general health of the system, all morbid local action of riches will be found ultimately to involve a weakening of the resources of the body politic.

-- 34justice guest blog by Tom Block