I lean left politically.
That will mean different things in different countries, so to clarify: As a sweeping generalization and with the understanding that these issues contain nuanced points I’m painting with broad strokes, I care about peoples’ well-being more, and well before, companies’ well-being. This summary should, as a peek into my mentality, be a no-brainer: It’s people that run those companies. If those people aren’t mentally or physically preoccupied with concerns about housing and food and health care and bills and the general well-being of their family and friends, they will be more present (literally and figuratively) at work and focus better, so be better at their jobs, which will help the companies perform better. As companies perform better, cities, provinces/states and countries perform better.
Expecting optimal performance from people who aren’t themselves being properly supported and cared about is ludicrous. You can’t, as the saying goes, pour from an empty cup. Peoples’ individual and collective well-being is fundamental to ethical economic success. If you want companies to do well, ensure the people in those companies are doing well.
Having said that, I’m not what one would call a bleeding-heart liberal, in that I don’t ‘just want to give money to everyone with a sob story’. I’m well aware that there are people who, as in every other facet of life, game the unemployment payment system and who are just getting paid to not work and without the intent of ever working even though they’re able to. It’s rare, but it happens. But the fact is that there are a lot of people who are genuinely in dire straits economically or mentally or both. And if the government is going to err on either spending too much to support people who need it–and in so doing, benefit the very few who take advantage of that for their own immoral gain–or on cutting back on that support (perhaps to help companies perform better or incentivize more businesses in), I’ll always fall in favour of helping people instead. Better to help more people who need it, and in doing so risk aiding a very few who game the system, than to not adequately support any of those people who need the help in order to stick it to those very few.
That’s how I roll.