General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhole Foods CEO Rethinks Decision To Compare Obamacare to "Fascism"
He walked back his comments in interviews with a number of outlets, including the Huffington Post and CBS News. Here he was on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show:
I made a bad choice of language. I was trying to distinguish it between socialism so I took the dictionary definition of fascism, which is when the means of production are still owned privately but the government controls it thats a type of fascism. However, I realize that that word has so much baggage associated with it from World War II, with Germany, with Italy and Spain, that's a very provocative word, so I regret using it. What I do believe in is free enterprise capitalism, and Id like to see our healthcare system really unleash the power of free enterprise capitalism to create innovation and healthcare progress. I dont think we have that I think were moving away from that. So I do regret using that word, I wont be using it in the future.
I do believe that the government can provide subsidies for our poorer citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. One of the great examples that I point people to is what theyre doing in Switzerland, where you have still private health insurance markets and yet the government creates subsidies for all of its citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. There you let the private market, competitive capitalism work and yet the government makes sure that theres a safety net for people thats where I wish we were going in the United States.
Mackey clearly is still not a fan of the new health care, but he said that he's still in search of a new way to describe it, likely one that doesn't come with so much historical baggage. "I think I'm going to use the phrase government-controlled health care," he told HuffPo. "That's where were evolving to right now."
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/01/17/whole_foods_john_mackey_says_he_regrets_comparing_obamacare_to_facism.html
Rider3
(919 posts)I'll be shopping at Trader Joe's.
yardwork
(61,608 posts)and I regret going back. This was the absolute last straw and no amount of walking it back will change my mind now. There's nothing that I need at WF and it's cheaper to go to my local farmer's markets, food co-op, and Trader Joe's.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)A repeated comment is not a slip of the tongue.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Translation: I'm getting my sorry ass Papa John'd by those annoying "consumers," and it's affecting my bottom line.
Fuck him, and the overpriced organic arugula he rode in on!
frylock
(34,825 posts)peacebird
(14,195 posts)Just like Romney was being honest in that secretly recorded talk about the 47%
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)"One of the great examples that I point people to is what theyre doing in Switzerland, where you have still private health insurance markets and yet the government creates subsidies for all of its citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. There you let the private market, competitive capitalism work and yet the government makes sure that theres a safety net for people thats where I wish we were going in the United States."
Would someone please get this idiot on national television and point out to him that is basically what we ARE doing in terms of the ACA?
Christ.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)What we're doing is a lot closer to his ideal - since health insurance companies in Switzerland are not allowed to profit on the basic plans (they can on supplemental plans).
He's a typical idiot, who doesn't grasp that in NO country where insurance is mandatory do those countries allow the insurance companies to make a profit.
Only in the US is that going to be allowed.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)profit companies, only non-profit. He is distorting the distinction between "private" non-profit organizations and those that provide supplemental, not basic and necessary, plans, i.e. private hospital rooms...
Amonester
(11,541 posts)He never truly studied that country's HCS, just like he never truly studied what fascism is...
Too busy counting his lo$$es...
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)Of course there are semantic differences. It doesn't change the fact that his described ideal system is pretty much the very thing he is railing against.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)I figured it wouldn't take long for him to back off. I won't be shopping there either.
Brother Buzz
(36,432 posts)Bjornsdotter
(6,123 posts)redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)these jerks will learn. They are so greedy they don't want to lose money so they will "walk back" any of their crazy ideas. My money goes elsewhere.
banned from Kos
(4,017 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)but that's not what the chamber of commerce told him.
banned from Kos
(4,017 posts)The employer based model is for-profit and insures the able and working ----
And the elderly receive Medicare!
Problem solved.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)would any, non-ideological, for profit employer opt for a employer-based system, when universal/single-payer removes that expense.
demwing
(16,916 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)But wouldn't good wages and equitable treatment keep the workplace in tact?
Silly me!
demwing
(16,916 posts)of our precious job creators. You must be Canadian, or French, or worse...French Canadian.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)not allowed to profit on the basic plans they must offer. BIG difference.
banned from Kos
(4,017 posts)I like profit. So I prefer Obamacare then.
I am opposed to single payer.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)You've made it abundantly clear from the outset.
No, Mackey probably doesn't realize the difference - most people don't.
banned from Kos
(4,017 posts)enlightenment
(8,830 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)that is the fallacy that you need to deal with...
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)because single payer is coming eventually. During the big health care debates of 2009/2010 the president of AHIP ( the health insurers professional organization) said their current business model is not sustainable for much longer. He said that during a speech he delivered to the annual convention. The 3 big outfits are each trying to be the last man standing, thus grabbing the contract to administer single payer.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)You would support an end to farm subsidies?
And you support a recognition that the government is a market player whose participation will hurry innovation, progress and, oh yeah, price moderation in the healthcare insurance market?
I thought not!
closeupready
(29,503 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)And the ACA is a step in that direction.
The economy and this country would thrive:
Small businesses, and large, wouldn't have to budget for health plans AT ALL;
Individuals, single and otherwise, would feel more free to change jobs to ones where their skills are more well suited, increasing productivity and happiness!;
People wouldn't be getting married or staying married just for the bennies;
And, the horrifying WASTE in our current system would be much reduced!
Imagine fewer long waits at ERs and, hopefully, the end of catastrophically costly bills.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Working in the HR field, I have asked time and again, why any for profit business would NOT support an universal healthcare/single payer system? I have yet to get an answer other than "my taxes will go up", to which I respond, "So will your corporate bottom-line! And if you take, 50% of your cost savings and give that to your workforce (bottom-up) in the form of additional compensation, doubly so!"
Also,
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/best-countries-entrepreneurs-840754
Notice something about 4 of the top 5 best countries for entrepreneurs?
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Statements can change, other things just don't. Like being an asshole.
Julie
Paladin
(28,257 posts)Was that pathetic effort supposed to get me back in your overpriced grocery stores? I don't think so.....
mdavies013
(336 posts)Basically said I might reconsider when the CEO resigns because he said exactly what he meant. Let them know I joined Weaver Street Market and will buy from there instead.
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)be progressive, based upon my personal count, not statistics. I wonder whether those shopped know of Whole Food's CEO's position on a key social issue? The CEO sounds like a rightwing, social progress hating person.
ncgrits
(916 posts)Berlum
(7,044 posts)in fact, if not in label...
obamanut2012
(26,076 posts)Not surprised he doesn't like ACA.
If you have a Trader Joe's in your area, shop there. They treat their employees so good it is literally almost impossible to get a job there.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)More controlled by the givernment than ours...this guy is really, really stupid.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Oh, no, the Obama Death Panels. So, he voted for Gary Johnson:
...There is one thing we know about health care. Government cannot create a system that will reduce costs while increasing access. Only competition and the price transparency that competition will bring can accomplish the imperatives of affordability and availability. Whether it is the Presidents plan, or the Republican prescription drug benefit, the idea that anyone in Washington can somehow manage one of the most essential and substantial parts of both our quality of life and the economy is, and always has been, fundamentally wrong...
Nothing about todays decision changes the basic reality that it is impossible to eliminate deficit spending and remove the smothering consequences of federal debt without dramatically reducing the costs of Medicare and Medicaid. And neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have given the slightest hint of willingness to do so...
More from the Liberty-loving nominee:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/28/gary-johnson-on-obamacare-ruling-it-has
Remember, a Libertarian is a Tea Bagger:
http://teapartycheer.com/texas/texas-candidates/texas-2012/libertarian-primary-for-potus-2012/
Libertarian Door Hanger Quiz:
How do you stand on ECONOMIC issues?
End "corporate welfare." No government handouts to business.
End government barriers to international free trade.
Let people control their own retirement: privatize Social Security.
Replace government welfare with private charity.
Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more.
http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/quiz-across-america-door-hangers-5-per-100
Sound familiar? Ask the Koch brothers, it's their other pet party. Don't regulate those big corporations, etc.
Will he support eliminating those private insurers he speaks so glowingly about as the solution or funding those exchanges or his income taxes going up?
If this offends Libertarians, just let me know and I'll delete it for you.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)that Ayn Rand was on SS and Medicare before she died. Guess that private charity didn't come through for her.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Iris
(15,656 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)mf'er.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)prior to having been INVENTED by the Mussolini's party? That it was just adopted by Franco and Hitler? That it hasn't ALWAYS had "baggage"?
What a moron. Libertarians are so ignorant.
williamc1967txlib
(25 posts)No matter, however. The American people now have further proof that these big corporations are only interested in making money. They could care less if we get sick and die from eating their food.
jsr
(7,712 posts)Hekate
(90,686 posts)Sure you're sorry.
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Mussolini defined "Fascism" as the merger of state and corporate power. With what I've seen in LA with the korporate lobby CCALA.org owning the city council and mayor, with the "Citizens United" ruling and $2 billion spent on this last election cycle, with ALEC making laws for states such as "Stand your ground", and with the TPP doing so internationally...it's already an increasing merger of state and corporate power.
Politicub
(12,165 posts)Least three times that I can remember.
He lost my business the first go around. I hope this causes whole foods to lose more customers.
surrealAmerican
(11,360 posts)... unleashed: it means prices for health care go up to where only the wealthy can afford it.
kairos12
(12,861 posts)Phlem
(6,323 posts)I was stuuuupiiiid, me sorry
-p
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)roody
(10,849 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)So now that he doesn't have a national outlet to disperse his despicable shit, he can NOW retract?
Bullshit.
Glad I gave Whole Foods up after the last round of his disgusting commentary.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)capitalism isn't the answer to all things.
parenting - we don't create better parents through capitalism as part of the family structure.
same goes for healthcare.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Sounds about right.
that does it for me. Not buying anything that comes out of ass.
-p
Snarkoleptic
(5,997 posts)Health insurers (along with Major League Baseball) are exempt from anti-trust regulations. This extreme form of capitalism discourages the mythical "free market" from operating as conservatives claim it should.
Eliminating the exemption for health insurers and offering medicare to all would be a real game changer in the short term. Ultimately, we need to evolve as a society and recognize healthcare as a basic human right and not some commodity for the monied interest to wring profits from.
Until then, keep asking your conservative friends "What value do for-profit health insurance companies add to our healthcare delivery system?".
It's an eye opener that's fun to watch as they fumble around and finally begin fuming.
DreamGypsy
(2,252 posts)"What I do believe in is free enterprise capitalism, and Id like to see our healthcare system really unleash the power of free enterprise capitalism to create innovation and healthcare progress. ...One of the great examples that I point people to is what theyre doing in Switzerland ... thats where I wish we were going in the United States."
From Business Insider:
Free enterprise capitalism in the United States has had ~160 years (since the founding of Pfizer in 1849) to innovate and to improve health care. No one can dispute that innovation has occurred and that the capabilities for better health care for Americans exist.
However, the actual result has been a health care system that is the most costly in the world and only mediocre in providing care for the population it serves.
If wishes were horses, Mr. Mackey, then the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is no triple crown winner, but it's much better than the nags with which we've been saddled for the last century so. The ACA requires health insurance and limits conditions under which an insurer can deny coverage. Perhaps we can hone the new health care system so it out performs Switzerland, once histrionics of persons like yourself subside.
Have a nice evening, Mr. Mackey. Perhaps you could pickup one of those exorbitantly priced salamis from a Whole Foods store and ...... well, entertain yourself.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)flamingdem
(39,313 posts)(except of course me.. sorry but I am addicted to the organic freshly roasted expresso coffee, sigh)
Iris
(15,656 posts)so? Wtf is he talking about? If the healthcare system were capable of that sort of innovation, wouldn't they already be doing it?
cbrer
(1,831 posts)daleo
(21,317 posts)Is no scarier than government controlled schools. In a democracy, the people are the government and they have a right to exercise substantial control over matters that are essential to the public good.
stultusporcos
(327 posts)I do not need to shop there nor will I ever will again nor is this the first time he has been an asshat.
Yes they have some nice overpriced products you cant get at other places which I really dont need and are easy to live without.
What this asshat does not get is that Whole Foods is not all that and is an optional place to shop for those that shop there and it is very easy for his customer base to shop elsewhere with no impact to their life.
peace13
(11,076 posts)Not one more dollar.