The Pope on Profit

I have written before that our concept of "profit" needs to expand beyond shareholder value and CEO compensation, that sees employees as mere productivity units.

We need thriving businesses for a thriving economy, of course. But our concept of "profit" needs to expand beyond mere money. ....profit must include responsibility for and well-being of all our citizens, our culture, and our planet, and not just more gold bars in the strong room.

All of that is profit:  not simply more money made by outsourcing help desks to India.

The Pope agrees.  Speaking in Mexico,

Unfortunately, the times we live in have imposed the paradigm of economic utility as the starting point for personal relationships. The prevailing mentality advocates for the greatest possible profits, immediately and at any cost. This not only causes the ethical dimension of business to be lost, but it also forgets that the best investment we can make is in people, in individual persons and in families. The best investment is creating opportunities. The prevailing mentality puts the flow of people at the service of the flow of capital, resulting in many cases in the exploitation of employees as if they were objects to be used and discarded (cf. Laudato Si’, 123). God will hold us accountable for the slaves of our day, and we must do everything to make sure that these situations do not happen again. The flow of capital cannot decide the flow and life of people.

Now that's the revolution I'd like to see Bernie talk about.