People who pay a premium for socially responsible products aren't exactly thrilled to learn they're enriching someone who is wildly, flagrantly irresponsible about social issues.
Whole Foods found that out last week after the Wall Street Journal published its CEO's op-ed opposing President Obama's health care reform. Their customers were so offended that 18,000 of them - last time I counted - signed on to a Facebook boycott of his stores.
They may as well have said, "Let them eat cake - with hydrogenated fats."
These ideas about health care are dated, absurd and deeply ignorant of how health insurance - indeed how the U.S. economy - actually works.
"We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health," CEO John Mackey wrote. "We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health."
That is patently absurd. Health care is a shared social responsibility -- for medical research, education, disease prevention, treatment of the military and military veterans, to name just a few.
The U.S. government already pays for half of the health care delivered in this country. Without government support, our existing health care system would collapse and so, probably, would our economy. Many Whole Foods customers would not be able to afford high prices if they had to pay for their own or their parents' health care past age 65.
Like many wealthy conservatives, Mr. Mackey espouses anti-government views while benefiting enormously from government largesse.
The U.S. government put its full faith and billions of taxpayer dollars behind the credit markets that enabled Whole Foods to operate and expand their empire.
The food they sell would be prohibitively expensive were it not for enormous government subsidies of dairy products, feed grains, wheat, rice, peanuts and sugar.
Whole Foods suppliers like UNFI couldn't deliver truckloads of organic oranges from California without a government-supported transportation infrastructure.
This irresponsible op-ed will no doubt cost Whole Foods dearly in lost customer loyalty. I just hope Whole Foods recognizes that going it alone isn't a feasible way to run a business or a country.
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Waylon Lewis: John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO: I Don't Believe In Climate Change
John Mackey is finally losing me. His statements on climate change represents The Whole Foods CEO's latest foot-in-mouth jaunt through self-delighted devil's-advocate frankness.
Print these out on index cards and bring them to library bulletin boards and other bulletin boards so others can take action.
Read and Sign these 3 petitions
1. http://bit.ly/HR676
2. http://bit.ly/single_payer_ross
3. http://bit.ly/drug_benefit
4. Boycott Tyson Foods of Arkansas who gave Mike Ross $37,000 for his campaigns. Call lobbyist for Tyson Foods Chuck Penry 202 393 3921 and tell him politely that you refuse to buy Tyson chicken until the Tyson Foods CEO gets Mike Ross D-Arkansas the leader of the Blue Dogs on health care gets the entire house and senate conservative Democrats to help get HR 676 enacted into law. Tell others to call. Send me email after you call to info@democratz.org
5. Boycott American Express who gave Max Baucus $50,000 for his campaigns. Call Joanna Lambert at 212 640 9668 and politely tell her you will not use any American Express cards until the American Express CEO gets Max Baucus to get HR 676 enacted into law. Email me after you call.
See our blog http://blog.democratz.org
“A sampling of the lowest-rated company 401(k) offerings include Darden Restaurants (DRI), Big Lots (BIG), RadioShack (RSH), Zale Corp.(ZLC), Bob Evans Farms (BOBE), Best Buy (BBY), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), La-Z-Boy (LZB), Wal-Mart (WMT), Home Depot (HD)and Tyson Foods (TSN).”
http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/107598/the-best-and-worst-company-401ks.html?mod=retire-401k
But then, retirement is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
There is a cost for forced distribution of pay earned by Americans, and the shell game being played aims to convince us the best solution is to trust the federal government to manage our health care, much as we have trusted the government to manage our Social Security and Income Taxes.
Consider any practical implication. I, for example, live a vegan lifestyle, exercise regularly, and eat carefully and properly. Is it reasonable to FORCE me to pay for the health care of a slovenly Twinkie-loving, cigar-smoking alcoholic who disregards his health but feels entitled to the best care, regardless of expense to others and regardless of his poor health choices and irresponsibility? I do not condemn those choices, by the way. They are none of my business. I only condemn the idea that anyone else should be forced to pay for them.
What if I tripped over my feet and fell down my basement stairs, breaking my ankle? Should I send the bill to my next-door neighbor? Should I select a random reader to share the burden of my clumsiness?
Should Donald Trump have to pay for my flu shots simply because his ability to afford it is greater than my own? That is not Democracy. That is Socialism and nothing more.
for the last eight years but noone said anything then.
So if your house catches on fire or an intruder comes into your home - YOU SHOULD HANDLE IT COMPLETELY ON YOUR OWN.
Regarding your excellent health....be careful what you say because you could wake up with something such as cancer in the next few days - it affects the fittest...and you never know what your insurance will cover.
Whole foods, NOT union?? I'll start shopping there then.. I'll start shopping their especially since you morons are wanting to boycott them...
You guys are STUPID!!
It appears to me that Whole Foods has one of the best "Individually Responsible" Health Care Programs for it's employees.
Having Whole foods chip in $1500 a year, would probably help a lot of you alternative therapy types pay for alternative treatments. Good Luck on Government run Health Care paying for your alternative therapies.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3602579&page=1
I despised going to Whole Foods and getting elbowed by customers' holier than thou attitudes-- but after reading his OpEd, I thought about going there for my next salad.
Well said. Mackey's "Whole Business" is built on his Whole Food liberal customer base.
I hope he enjoys the pain he brought on himself for spitting on his customers even as
he rips premium prices from their wallets.
America's 53% moderate-to-liberal majority has NEVER exploited its collective buying
power. I'm for single-payer or worst case a strong public option in health care, but putting
together such a 53% purchasing power co-op would be one helluva club in the marketplace.
Thoughts?
BTW, when we do we get a national white collar union?
We stopped shopping at Whole Foods when they got into the Employee Free Choice Act fray and proposed their own version of the bill ... A department store evidently knows more about health care and workers' rights than workers and consumers.
That is patently absurd. Health care is a shared social responsibility"
Sorry...I might disagree with his ideas about health care policy, but to suggest that we have no responsibility for our health by making healthy decisions is patently absurd and a good part of what has gotten us to this point. Both government and personal attention is required to fix the health care crisis in America.