Boycott Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck)
I think it is appropriate for people to ‘vote’ their concerns through the dollars they spend, and where they spend it. We would not expect anyone to use a vote at the ballot box for people they did not support, why should the use of dollars be any different.
As I wrote on August 13th, I think some people might want to consider where they spend their money after reading this column written by John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc.
Mackey had written a column where he stated Americans do not have an intrinsic right to health care. It is not hard to understand the furor that remark has caused. It should be noted that Mackey does have health care.
There seems to be many who echo my thoughts.
It’s the shop where wealthy American liberals buy their groceries.
But the American supermarket chain Whole Foods Market has found itself at the centre of a storm of controversy after its chief executive, John Mackey, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal presenting a free market alternative to President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms.
Mr Mackey began his article with a quote from Margaret Thatcher and went on to add that Americans do not have an intrinsic right to healthcare – an idea strongly at odds with the views of a large proportion of Whole Foods’ customer base.
The company, which has 270 stores in North America and the UK, sells organic vegetables, biodegradable washing powder and sustainable seafood to a well-heeled clientele and champions its liberal credentials
Former Whole Foods devotees responded to Mr Mackey’s article by picketing outside branches of the store in Washington DC, Maryland, New York and Austin, Texas.
Others stormed Twitter and Facebook to vent their rage and called on shoppers to boycott the store.
Russell Mokhiber led picketers outside Whole Foods’ P Street store in Washington DC. He said, “I have been a Whole Foods customer for many years but I, like many former customers, am disgusted by John Mackey’s stance on healthcare.”
Representatives from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) labour union also picketed outside the Washington store.
We are all adults here, and as adults we know there are consequences for are actions, so if you do not agree with CEO John Mackey views on healthcare, you can a) do nothing, b) shop there, c) not shop there, d) protest and picket the stores, its your choice, live the dream!
“Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. ”
Let’s be honest unless you are really really rich and h ave a really good health care coverage no one can really afford health insurance.
First, of all Paul the military men and women deserve to get a good health care. They are volunteer men and women who put their lives in danger. Why shouldn’t the government support?
Secondly, when you start to get old and helpless where do you think your Social Security is going to come from? What about your medicare? How are you going to get this money? Oh that’s right it comes from hard earn WORKING people.
Thirdly, if you want the government to control you and tell you where you can go and get treatment be my guest but I know there are times when you need to go see a specialist doctor or get something done but can’t because why? That’s right the government tells you where to go and when you can receive it.
Geez, I never know why people support this kind of health care where everyone in the world is coming to America for health care because they can’t wait until they can afford health care.
Armstrong Williams at the Washington Times says it best: “The case of Mr. Mackey is the most recent evidence that American liberalism has morphed into intolerance toward competing ideas.”
I am always glad to see Americans voicing their opinions, I may not always agree with them, but I enjoy it, so please keep boycotting Whole Foods Market, Inc., companies keep dropping sponsorship of the “Glenn Beck” BS, Astroturfers keep showing up at town hall meeting and get your shouts in (we all know you can’t articulate your position and are all about hate) they hate and can’t debate, sweet.
I thought his commentary was great. So many people feel themselves invincible and do not want health care coverage for themselves. I did the same thing when I was young. But I never thought in a million years that I would go to the doctor and expect someone else to pay for it, or that the government owed me some kind of healthcare. Many people are electively uninsured, and we can’t deny that. We should do something for those that cannot get, or cannot afford health insurance, and to this he makes suggestions. I don’t think anyone doesn’t want reform, but sensible people want it not as an overhaul, but rather one step at a time.
I would also note that he offers excellent care/benefits to his employees, 100% benefits than I receive, and I pay through the nose for my healthcare.
Back in 2008, this Whole Foods, CEO John Mackey (how old is this kid?), was caught posting negative comments (trash talk) about a competitor on Yahoo Finance message boards in an effort to push down the stock price. So now I am suppose to take this loser seriously? Please, snore, snore.
It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do not want “faceless bureaucrats” making medical decisions but they have no problem with “private sector” “faceless bureaucrats” daily declining medical coverage and financially ruining good hard working people (honestly where can they go with a pre-condition). And who says that the “private sector” is always right, do we forget failures like Long-Term Capital, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Of course the federal government will destroy heathcare by getting involved, Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. I can understand why some may think that the federal government will fail, if you look at the past eight years as a current history, with failures like the financial meltdown and Katrina but the facts is they can and if we support them they will succeed.
How does shouting down to stop the conversation of the healthcare debate at town hall meetings, endears them to anyone. Especially when the organizations that are telling them where to go and what to do and say are Republicans political operatives, not real grassroots. How does shouting someone down or chasing them out like a “lynch mob” advanced the debate, it does not. So I think the American people will see through all of this and know, like the teabagger, the birthers, these lynch mobs types AKA “screamers” are just the same, people who have to resort to these tactics because they have no leadership to articulate what they real want. It’s easy to pickup a bus load of people who hate, and that’s all I been seeing, they hate and can’t debate. Too bad.
Why? Because Mackey’s proposals are geared toward creating a freer and more competitive marketplace for medical services — without a massive and (let’s admit it) costly expansion of government involvement.
But at least Mackey has some. I would toss in one myself. Cap Malpractice lawsuits at $250,000. Put a ceiling in and you would immediately cut the cost of malpractice insurance and the cost of “CYA” medicine practices. Why doesn’t the Obama administration do this? Answer: Because he is beholden to the Trial Lawyers who gave him contribution monies. Follow the money trail.
No plan has been presented by the Obama administration; our president has merely played the cheerleader for a moving target of proposals being negotiated in Congress.
But the biggest blasphemy by the Whole Foods CEO may have been to speak a simple truth: “A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any.”
My family can not afford to shop at Whole Foods. But, if we could we would support the chain whole heartedly.
The word democrat has become synonimous with bully. Do not be an individual. Do not exercise your right to free speech unless it is to parrot what we want. No, sir, I will not boycott and bully Mackey for expressing his views. Manipulate someone else.