8/16/2009

Liberals are boycotting Whole Foods for its stand against the government health care takeover

Mackey's op-ed seemed quite sensible to me, and I am more likely than ever to go out of my way to buy food there.

In a Wall Street Journal editorial titled, "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare," John Mackey, the founder and C.E.O. of Whole Foods—one of the world's biggest retailers of "natural" and organic foods—stirred up furor among his left-leaning customer base by denouncing Obama's health care plan as likely to "move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system." In the editorial he gives eight reform strategies—one based on his own policies at Whole Foods—for an alternative system with "less government control and more individual empowerment," and suggests that we use reform to get to the real roots of the health care crisis: obesity and unhealthy eating habits.

And while these concepts alone may not seem enough to incite a riot (though starting off with this Margaret Thatcher quote wasn't likely to endear him to many of his liberal customers—"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money") according to the hundreds of angry comments already being posted in response to the Op-Ed, it appears to be this sentiment that spurred on boycotters. . . .

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4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I do some shopping at Whole foods, now I will be seen there more!

8/16/2009 4:36 PM  
Blogger Angie said...

My husband used to work for Whole foods. Their benefit plan was very generous, and really does serve to empower market forces.

8/16/2009 4:56 PM  
Blogger The Right Guy said...

John:
The flip-side is that people that agree with him that never considered shopping there because of the tree hugger theme may become customers now. The sad thing is that he offered a counter proposal to Obama's. I guess in the boycotter's mind the government is the only solution.

8/16/2009 7:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi John,

This is a very interesting op-ed piece by Mr. Mackey. If I understand what he is saying that baby boomers are about to retire and are going to overload the health care system. To solve the problem, all baby boomers should go to work for Whole Foods with its much superior health care plan. Do I have his proposal correct?

As a former business owner, I do see one big flaw with his plan. Corporate-sponsored health plans are based on the simple fact that on average most employees actual don't need much health care insurance because they don't go to the hospitals. Private insurance companies really like companies which tend to have younger employees. Having a lot of baby boomer employees makes a company an unattractive customer to a private insurer.

I wonder if Mr. Mackey has every consider a world where employers don't get involved with their employees' health care issues?



John Doe

8/16/2009 9:47 PM  

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