Whole Foods Boycott and the Progressosphere: Bats in the Belfry
You would think someone building up a successful Green business from scratch, promoting vegetarian living, healthy foods, bringing it to new neighborhoods across the country would be something of a Progressive hero.
You'd be wrong.
Even before today, John Mackey had fallen out of favor with many progressives because as he notes, "he used to be a "democratic socialist" in college, but when he began a business and barely made money while being accused by workers of not paying them enough and customers of charging too high prices, he began to take a more capitalistic worldview and discovered the works of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Friedman."
Well, today, Mackey has earned the scorn and ire of the Progressosphere by doing the one thing that leftists cannot tolerate - he expressed his opinion. Not just any opinion - one that disagreed with the common agreed upon wisdom of the left, which is that we need to reform health insurance this year or else, though we don't know exactly what's going to be in it but it won't be single payer or have a public option and Big Pharma contributions will be capped so the industry doesn't suffer too much and whatever else gets watered down in bill writing and in committee and in reconciliation.
You might think that Progressives would be so irate with Obama and Blue Dogs and Rahm Emanuel, who keeps telling them to STFU every few weeks, picketing outside the White House and Congress. But no, we're supposed to boycott an ovo-vegetarian organic food-growing businessman/entrepreneur who brought health food to your neighborhood. (Who has the conch? Kill the Pig! Kill the Pig!)
Mackey is being pilloried for having such "right wing talking points" as "make personal insurance deductible like corporate is", "allow insurance competition across state lines", "take personal responsibility through healthy eating and exercise so you have less chance of getting sick", and "with boomers retiring and fewer paying into the system, we can't afford to keep adding expensive entitlements".
The cheap bastard then goes on to describe his attitude towards insurance - 100% coverage for employees with a high $2500 deductible that Whole Foods provides $1800 yearly for that can be rolled over if unused. It's a wonder the fruit shake makers haven't walked off the job already. And here:
Another reason progressives are mad at Whole Foods is they've discovered that organic foods are expensive. Who'da thunk it? Having heard once that "the best things in life are free", there's some confusion as to whether a whole grain muffin with organic carrot and radish is *not* one of the best things in life, or they're being overcharged. (After overdosing on a dozen or more Orange-Mango Zooms, I have to vote for the latter - only a good 3 shots of vodka would have improved the experience).
Anyway, not much else to say, I'm just gobsmacked. It's worth perusing the Mackie bio at Wikipedia just for his past - it's short, about 20 seconds, but a few gems, like:
But it's also rather horrifying to see Progressives try to destroy someone economically for expressing their opinion on a matter that he has no control over. Someone even compared it to Rosa Parks. But what can Mackey do? He's not on Obama's team. He's not a Republican politician or someone with big connections. Pretty much the most he can do is say, "I apologize for expressing my opinion, I won't do it again" and it affects the progress of health reform not one iota. Corporates do this all the time - they don't "censor speech", they just de-employ the person who still supposedly has free (but slightly more impoverished) speech. But meanwhile the villagers are gathering their torches, insistent that this is how free speech is conveyed in more progressive quarters, when Quasimodo has the nerve to say, "But Master...." And when you see Quasi swinging from the belfry, ask not who he tolls for - he tolls for thee.
You'd be wrong.
Even before today, John Mackey had fallen out of favor with many progressives because as he notes, "he used to be a "democratic socialist" in college, but when he began a business and barely made money while being accused by workers of not paying them enough and customers of charging too high prices, he began to take a more capitalistic worldview and discovered the works of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Friedman."
Well, today, Mackey has earned the scorn and ire of the Progressosphere by doing the one thing that leftists cannot tolerate - he expressed his opinion. Not just any opinion - one that disagreed with the common agreed upon wisdom of the left, which is that we need to reform health insurance this year or else, though we don't know exactly what's going to be in it but it won't be single payer or have a public option and Big Pharma contributions will be capped so the industry doesn't suffer too much and whatever else gets watered down in bill writing and in committee and in reconciliation.
You might think that Progressives would be so irate with Obama and Blue Dogs and Rahm Emanuel, who keeps telling them to STFU every few weeks, picketing outside the White House and Congress. But no, we're supposed to boycott an ovo-vegetarian organic food-growing businessman/entrepreneur who brought health food to your neighborhood. (Who has the conch? Kill the Pig! Kill the Pig!)
Mackey is being pilloried for having such "right wing talking points" as "make personal insurance deductible like corporate is", "allow insurance competition across state lines", "take personal responsibility through healthy eating and exercise so you have less chance of getting sick", and "with boomers retiring and fewer paying into the system, we can't afford to keep adding expensive entitlements".
The cheap bastard then goes on to describe his attitude towards insurance - 100% coverage for employees with a high $2500 deductible that Whole Foods provides $1800 yearly for that can be rolled over if unused. It's a wonder the fruit shake makers haven't walked off the job already. And here:
[In 2006 Mackey announced] he would reduce his own salary to $1 a year, donate his stock portfolio to charity and set up a $100,000 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems. ... While CEO of Whole Foods Market in 2008, he earned a total compensation of just $33,831, which included a base salary of $1, and a cash bonus of $33,830.
Another reason progressives are mad at Whole Foods is they've discovered that organic foods are expensive. Who'da thunk it? Having heard once that "the best things in life are free", there's some confusion as to whether a whole grain muffin with organic carrot and radish is *not* one of the best things in life, or they're being overcharged. (After overdosing on a dozen or more Orange-Mango Zooms, I have to vote for the latter - only a good 3 shots of vodka would have improved the experience).
Anyway, not much else to say, I'm just gobsmacked. It's worth perusing the Mackie bio at Wikipedia just for his past - it's short, about 20 seconds, but a few gems, like:
Whole Foods Market is one of only two Fortune 500 companies listed among the 25 Best Companies to Work For in 2005, a fact which Mackey ascribes to his pro-employee philosophy. He supports non-adversarial unions and advocates their legalization in the U.S. "It's illegal in the United States for there to be company unions -- special unions which are formed and controlled by the employees and managers of the company to represent their interests and collectively bargain on their behalf. These type of unions are legal in many countries such as Japan, but are illegal in the United States. Instead the law requires that all unions be outside unions. I believe this law should be repealed and that company unions should be as legal as any other kind of voluntary association."Summon up all your outrage, and join the left's version of Town Hall protests, where we tea bag our own.
But it's also rather horrifying to see Progressives try to destroy someone economically for expressing their opinion on a matter that he has no control over. Someone even compared it to Rosa Parks. But what can Mackey do? He's not on Obama's team. He's not a Republican politician or someone with big connections. Pretty much the most he can do is say, "I apologize for expressing my opinion, I won't do it again" and it affects the progress of health reform not one iota. Corporates do this all the time - they don't "censor speech", they just de-employ the person who still supposedly has free (but slightly more impoverished) speech. But meanwhile the villagers are gathering their torches, insistent that this is how free speech is conveyed in more progressive quarters, when Quasimodo has the nerve to say, "But Master...." And when you see Quasi swinging from the belfry, ask not who he tolls for - he tolls for thee.
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Desi -
While I see your overall point. John is certainly entitled to his opinion and yes as a business owner he has done some good things. I might even say some great things. However, as an individual he is an extreme libertarian and it is easy to be one when you are worth millions and have no need for a social safety net. And to tell the rest of us what we should do and have.
Next since he is entitled to his own opinion are not you and I entitled to agree or disagree with his opinion? Personally I find his position on healthcare, while not surprising given his love of Milton Freidman, absurd. A total anti-thesis of what he professes whole foods to stand for.
Now I do not shop Whole Foods because for me it is too expensive. I am fortunate enough to have other options for organic and healthy foods from local sources for less.
Next, if you are going to voice an opinion be willing to take he heat as well as the praise. As of early today there were over ten pages on the Whole Foods own forum criticizing his position. By early afternoon the pages had been all deleted.
As to one of our own, hardly since he isn't a liberal or a Democrat.
August 13, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
seriously? All criticism was deleted? I might not visit Whole Foods just because of that.
August 13, 2009 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's bullshit. So-called "progressives" are too stupid to even notice that Whole Foods created a special "Health Care Reform" section to handle all the complaints, rather than have them scattered all over the site.
Health Care Reform
Really, a movement based on an angry irrational herd almost too stupid to breath is not going to get any interesting health care reform or anything else of value. (I've heard some chickens are so dumb they'll look up in the rain and drown. Urban/country myth?)
August 14, 2009 3:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I will retract my comment about the Whole Foods forum. I went back to the site and found they had indeed started an entire new section to cover the issue. However I stand by that they deleted all the originals comments and did not move them over to the new section.
August 14, 2009 8:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
They did delete original comments. I made one of the earliest ones before they started the folder. I've read through that folder and none of the original comments were there.
August 14, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
JS, give me a break. He worked his butt off to bring healthy vegetarian resources to places where there were none. While lots of people had co-ops, I can't think of anyone who's done more to make healthy food a sustainable model of any significance outside a college campus. And he's given work to more people with progressive values than you've likely ever met, including full health care to the 89% of the employees working 30 hours or more.
If he's not skinning old people and feeding dope to babies, I don't see any good reason to punish the guy just because he spoke his mind.
But go ahead, destroy Whole Foods, and tell me what pathetic shithole is going to replace it. Trader Joes or whatever was around for years - in hippie California. Did it make it to Washington DC? Maybe, just maybe the guy who disagrees with you might have something for you to learn. And if not, maybe he shouldn't be destroyed financially just to give him what some people think is a deserved comeuppance.
The Progressive movement - closer to Nazis than imagined. Maybe we should have enclaves for those who don't think like us. Why exactly are Progressives upset at Conservatives for acting much the same way? You can bash someone's head in or you can take away their livelihood, just a difference in methods. If Mackey was actually involved in designing these programs, it's one thing, but he's not. He's just a vegetarian entrepreneur that gave his opinion.
Faux Progressives could get mad at Obama for this backroom deal with Big Pharma, but no, they save their ire and pickets for irrelevant targets.
August 14, 2009 3:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am not trying to destroy Whole Foods, nor do I truly believe anybody else is, nor do I think that will even come close to happening. But as I said when you say something that is the anti-thesis of what you thought Whole Foods stood for expect a back lash.
As to your comment about the oh secret Pharma deal. I am curious where was the outrage about it when Obama announced this deal for everybody to hear on June 23rd.
August 14, 2009 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
More details just came out, see the HuffPost article, but yeah, where is outrage lurking these days.
August 14, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Destroy Whole Foods? And you accuse Progressives of overreacting? Whole Foods will not be destroyed, but if they should go under for any reason, there are plenty of other entrepreneurs/business people willing and ready to take their place. I know quite a few people who love Wegman's a lot more than they do Whole Foods. I belong to a a few popular food blogs and it surprised me how so many of the members spit when you mention Whole Foods - and this was before the op-ed.
If Mackey is entitled to his opinion then his customers are entitled to decide where they choose to spend their money. It's a free market, the one he loves so much, and they can go anywhere they want.
August 14, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Its great that the free market system worked out for him - not so much for the rest of us - which is entirely the point. He has every right to opine at will, but if his opinion assists the GOP in their attempt to tank the public option, then I'll repeat: he can take his whole food and shove it... along with the reusable bag it came in.
It just so happens that the "opinions" being handed around are offered up by people who apparently fail to care that, in the end, American lives are at stake. Bottom line: people live or die by the outcome.
Once upon a time in America, people in positions of power were of the "opinion" that it was perfectly alright to burn women at the stake. Perhaps we might have avoided all that if someone had just called a boycott.
*And yes, there is not yet any reference to the public option in the bill... that's what this fight is about... getting it in.
August 14, 2009 3:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
The free market worked out for him and the people who work in his stores and the people who shop in his stores.
What horrible deed has Mackey done? He provides a good work environment (as noted, one of two Fortune 500's in the "best 25 places to work" in 2005) and good health insurance and healthy food to customers. And you bring up "burning women at the stake" as the angry mobs gather around him to burn him.
Lunacy. Sheer lunacy. Meanwhile, the medical/insurance/pharmaceutical industries are eating our lunch on health reform. It's so over.
August 14, 2009 6:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why are you so ardently supporting Mackey? Big slice of your investment portfolio? His policies regarding labour are not exactly the most enlightened, and he is actively campaigning against healthcare reform.
It is not as if there were no other smaller, local and more agreeable places for consumers to get healthy food.
If you are worried about how "unproductive" it is to boycott a company not in the medical/insurance/pharmaceutical sector, go do something more productive than complain about it and waste everyone's time even more.
August 14, 2009 6:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
There were only crap unhealthy little expensive shops in some of the city areas I lived in, and then Whole Foods came in and brought in decent stuff.
And why is the progressosphere finally organizing a boycott, but they're doing it about someone who brings in health food, rather than say the insurance and pharmaceutical companies gaming the current debate, or say the advertisers on Fox News and MSNBC?
August 14, 2009 7:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Ah, my appendix! I will not go to the hospital, that'll show them!"
It is really hard to boycott those sectors; complaining is one matter. But then, this is essentially the argument for why they should not be private.
August 14, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know, maybe Whole Foods needs some competition in your area. Maybe others will catch on and move in because they know that his customers are no longer happy or getting fickle.
August 14, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, now I'm trying to "destroy" him if I choose to shop elsewhere because I disagree with him politically?
If he chooses to express his opinion, I would think he would be prepared to expect that some people might disagree with him. Unless people are threatening him physically, I don't see the problem.
I make these sorts of decisions everyday: I shop at Target not at Walmart; I refuse to watch anything with Chuck Norris (which is actually a bit of a bonus); I try to support local shops rather than big box stores; and I also try to support local farmers. Why I am wrong for doing these things?
August 14, 2009 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
A friend?
1. From his op-ed:
"Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?"
- that, to me, is a morally reprehensible opinion. In any other civilized country, saying that puts you in the lunatic fringe.
2. He pushed to kill EFCA. Is he lobbying to kill health care reform. I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised.
3. Are there worse people in the world. of course. But that's a specious argument against people who decide to take their custom elsewhere.
August 14, 2009 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes. This was in response to you on the other thread...
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/desidero/2009/08/whole-foods-catching-flies-wit.php#comment-3561428
August 14, 2009 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
So you think health care is the same right as food or shelter? You think Europeans believe that?
August 14, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is that a rhetorical question? Of course they do. It's kind of strange to have this conversation at all. In Europe I'm inevitably the right-winger in every conversation. And here, you and Jason have me pigeon-holed as a lefty wacko. oh well, I don't think this discussion is going anywhere useful.
August 14, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry, Des, but he upset his clientele. Health care is a civil rights movement, and this is a step in the right direction. Whole Foods may be the most successful health food store model, but it is not the only one. There is Henry's in California, for instance, that could very well fill the gap. Other supermarket franchises have stepped in and offered limited variations on what Whole Foods offers in toto. There are also Farmer's Markets and local growers (the slow food movement) that is growing rapidly.
The guy's problem, IMO, is that he sticks his foot in his mouth because resents his market base. He's a reformed liberal who has gone Austrian School gonzo (Austria has great health care, btw) and wants to convince the libs that the real world of business requires that you check your soul at the door.
It's not my fault that he sold out. It's not my fault that his business model is successful at catering to people who despise his politics. And it is not my fault or the progressive NAZIESQUE movement that he needs to learn to STFU and not help torpedo that which he enjoys: health care.
August 14, 2009 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Needs to learn to STFU". There you go, the endgame. Shut up any who oppose. One of his contentions was that we can't afford to tack on expensive new entitlements. Is that an unreasonable concern in the year of trillion dollar deficits?
Did he "sell out" or just grow up and run a business? George McGovern got some eye opening when he started running hotels. Not quite as starry eyed a politician as before.
August 14, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reductio ad absurdum.
What Zipperupus was saying, I believe, was that if he wants to keep politics out of his bottom line, he should keep out of politics.
Should we be donating to the RNC, too? I mean, surely we do not want to shut them up just because we oppose them?
August 14, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Des, admittedly I haven't done my research on the dude. But I hear you arguing that he brought healthy foods to small corners of the world. Not for free he didn't! The guy has made a gazillion dollars on that little venture. So, what has he done for the downtroddin now that we've made him a gazillionaire?
August 14, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
To me this is about brand dissonance. WF has spent 10's of millions of bucks developing a brand around wholesome, nutritious food, progressive business practices, etc. - these practices have built for them a loyal customer base of largely progressive folks. Then the CEO decides to write an op-ed, absolutely within his rights as a citizen, in an ultra conservative Wall St. Journal and begins by wrapping himself in the volatile language of the tea baggers, birthers, AR-15 enthusiasts and town hall criers, implying the folks who support reform are "socialists" and labeling the reforms obamacare. He then proceeds to offer up George Bush's HSA's as the solution. He is entitled to his opinion, but he should realize that he 1) would just be another schmoe popping off if it wasn't for Whole Foods' success and 2) his hyper libertarian views are in direct contrast to those of a majority of his customers. Most folks have the common sense not to offend friends, family and/or customers. Like it or not Mr. Mackey, you represent the brand and when you speak, you speak for the company. Why hasn't there been an outcry when other "titans of industry" have treated the reforms harshly? Because no one is under any illusion that the CEOs of Koch Industries or Exxon or Safeway gives a damn about anything but their money. WF customers were deluded into believing that paying a little more was supporting a worthwhile effort to improve food, living standards of employees and suppliers and a company committed to stringent business ethics. Poof! Illusion gone - and so are we.
August 22, 2009 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
To me this is about brand dissonance. WF has spent 10's of millions of bucks developing a brand around wholesome, nutritious food, progressive business practices, etc. - these practices have built for them a loyal customer base of largely progressive folks. Then the CEO decides to write an op-ed, absolutely within his rights as a citizen, in an ultra conservative Wall St. Journal and begins by wrapping himself in the volatile language of the tea baggers, birthers, AR-15 enthusiasts and town hall criers, implying the folks who support reform are "socialists" and labeling the reforms obamacare. He then proceeds to offer up George Bush's HSA's as the solution. He is entitled to his opinion, but he should realize that he 1) would just be another schmoe popping off if it wasn't for Whole Foods' success and 2) his hyper libertarian views are in direct contrast to those of a majority of his customers. Most folks have the common sense not to offend friends, family and/or customers. Like it or not Mr. Mackey, you represent the brand and when you speak, you speak for the company. Why hasn't there been an outcry when other "titans of industry" have treated the reforms harshly? Because no one is under any illusion that the CEOs of Koch Industries or Exxon or Safeway gives a damn about anything but their money. WF customers were deluded into believing that paying a little more was supporting a worthwhile effort to improve food, living standards of employees and suppliers and a company committed to stringent business ethics. Poof! Illusion gone - and so are we.
August 22, 2009 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink