Let them eat (organic) cake

[Hannah Bell]

FREE-MARKET ideologue and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey stirred a public outcry with his self-serving guest editorial in the Wall Street Journal on August 12...

BUT WHAT of Mackey's claim that "every American adult is responsible for his or her own health"?

As obesity has become more of an issue in American life and politics, a growing awareness of the connection between race, class and health has emerged. However, the prevailing perspective from the media, politicians and corporate boneheads like Mackey is that the poor simply lack the discipline to improve their lives.

Occasionally, the more liberal version emerges--that people lack the information to make better choices. But neither script accurately explains why obesity is so closely linked to class--and hunger--not just in the U.S., but around the world...

...the illusion of choice still obscures a deeper truth: the crucial choices that affect the health and well-being of people are not made in the supermarket aisle or the drive-up window by consumers, but behind closed doors by a handful of mega-corporations that control world food production.

Food is not produced under capitalism to satisfy our needs, but to generate profits, regardless of its negative costs to consumers...


http://socialistworker.org/2009/08/31/let-them-eat-organic-cake

[armyowalgreens]

1. Unrec'd...

This is a christian nation. Not some godless, socialist hell hole!

JK

K&R

[SpiralHawk]

7. "Thanks for the timely reminder. Smirk." - 'Family Values' Republicons

[watrwefitinfor]

2. Rec'd

+2

[LeftishBrit]

3. While I normally don't recommend things from 'Socialist Worker', I will make an exception here!

GREAT points!

[HamdenRice]

4. I guess World Socialist Web Site wasn't batshit crazy enough. Now it's socialist worker.

Both are websites are publications of splinters of splinters of splinters of splinter parties.

Did you know that the International Socialist Organization, which publishes Socialist Worker, was originally the "Left Faction" of International Socialists, until they were expelled and formed International Socialist Organization in 1977, and that International Socialist Organization was also expelled from the International Socialist Tendency, and that a faction of the International Socialist Organization broke away to form "Left Turn"?

That's why their ideas are so highly relevant to today's policy debates!

[timtom]

5. So, are they lying, then?

[HamdenRice]

6. If the statement comes from SWSW or Socialist Worker, it's impossible to tell

There is no predictable correlation between statements made on those sites and things like "reality" or "facts."

I would certainly say that like many highly ideological Trotskyites, they tend to make categorical statements that can't be evaluated on a truth/false scale. It's just ideological word salad.

[unapatriciated]

9. Well I have lived in quite a few poor neighborhoods in my lifetime.

I can attest to the fact that grocery stores are hard to find, yet you can find a liquor store or fast food establishment on every corner. In fact all four corners as well as mid block.
I also know that it is cheaper to buy a box of Mac and Cheese than fresh fruit and veggies. There in lies the dilemma of the poor. Do they fill their children's belly's with starch and sugar or send their child to bed hungry? So I think this argument is more than a "ideological word salad" and a real issue that needs to be addressed.

[Kitty Herder]

14. Thank you for laying that out so clearly.

This issue deserves more than to be dismissed because some disagree with the ideology of the organization that published it.

[Sebastian Doyle]

13. As opposed to any propaganda from Wall Street or the not-so-"federal" Reserve

which some would treat as Gospel from the mouth of God Almighty Himself.

[tinrobot]

8. Don't confuse the messenger for the message.

Did you even read the article? It actually makes a lot of good points about our food system.

[HamdenRice]

10. I read the article. Fact checking it would be like fact checking the Book of Revelations

The statements in it are not really designed to be judged on a truth/false scale, but are ideological, categorical statements.

However, the prevailing perspective from the media, politicians and corporate boneheads like Mackey is that the poor simply lack the discipline to improve their lives.

Is this the prevailing perspective? Prevailing among which media? I seem to see more of Michael Polan than talking heads claiming that the poor lack discipline.

the crucial choices that affect the health and well-being of people are not made in the supermarket aisle or the drive-up window by consumers, but behind closed doors by a handful of mega-corporations that control world food production.

I'm sure that corporate food executives make decisions about processed food that appears in supermarkets -- but are those the crucial choices? Or are the crucial choices what you put in your basket and cook for your family?

Food is not produced under capitalism to satisfy our needs, but to generate profits, regardless of its negative costs to consumers.

Regardless of negative costs? If that were true, there would be no recall of salmonella tainted ground meat, no tort lawsuits, and no regulation. While we might like more negative costs to be internalized by corporations, is it really possible for this categorical statement to be true?

First, because competition has driven production up (through new technology, artificial fertilizers and overuse of land), there are 500 "excess" calories produced per person in the U.S.

What does it mean to produce 500 excess calories in a food economy that exports food to people who are not in the US, that feed calories to animals and that use agricultural products for industrial uses like ethanol. This is a meaningless number -- as are so many assertions in the article.

Most food that we encounter is highly processed, and is dominated by three cash crops:

"We" encounter such food? Who is "we"? I encounter mostly fresh veggies and unprocessed meat. I follow Polan's advice and shop on the outer aisles of the supermarket.

Supermarkets (including the holier-than-thou Whole Foods) only deal in national contracts with major suppliers;

Maybe I'm in an unusual situation because I live in NYC with its large immigrant population that purchases lots of fresh food. My local supermarket purchases mostly from wholesalers at the Bronx terminal market -- as do many supermarkets and bodegas in NYC.

The food industry, like every other commodity producer under capitalism, preys on the insecurity and alienation of the consumer any way it can.

Every commodity producer preys on insecurity and alienation? Every one? Maybe diet pill companies, but every producer? Does the local organic farmer do so?

This article is just word salad.

[Hannah Bell]

11. kik for hampton

[tinrobot]

12. Not categorical at all

I'm sure that corporate food executives make decisions about processed food that appears in supermarkets -- but are those the crucial choices? Or are the crucial choices what you put in your basket and cook for your family?

To some degree, yes, you do decide what to put in your basket. Most lower income families, however, can't afford a basket full of fresh organic veggies and grass fed meats. They can barely afford burgers from McDonalds.

The decisions of corporate executives extend to the outer aisles as well. Meats are factory farmed, which increases the incidence of disease, these animals are pumped full of antibiotics because of the factory farming. Most Dairy is laced with growth hormones. Vegetables are from places as a far away as China, highly processed and usually laced with pesticides. The FDA just looks the other way.

It's hard to have a choice when, at most markets, there are few choices, and the only good ones are expensive.

Regardless of negative costs? If that were true, there would be no recall of salmonella tainted ground meat, no tort lawsuits, and no regulation. While we might like more negative costs to be internalized by corporations, is it really possible for this categorical statement to be true?

Haven't you noticed? The FDA was gutted under Bush. These days, the FDA supports corporations over individuals. For example, they now allow meat processors to wash ground beef in ammonia to get rid of the salmonella. I'd seriously avoid any sort of ground beef if I were you.

Tort lawsuits? You must have missed Monsanto entirely. They've set up their business to control 90% of the soy in this country, be able to sue farmers who don't use their seeds, and escape lawsuits themselves. They've completely infiltrated both the FDA and Justice system. Clarence Thomas used to be a Monsanto lawyer, for example.

"We" encounter such food? Who is "we"? I encounter mostly fresh veggies and unprocessed meat. I follow Polan's advice and shop on the outer aisles of the supermarket.

You said it yourself right there, the only real food is on the outer aisles, which is less than 20% of the shelf space. The other 80% is mostly reprocessed corn and soy. The catch is that, the majority of the food in the outer aisles is expensive, still not organic and probably full of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.

Maybe I'm in an unusual situation because I live in NYC with its large immigrant population that purchases lots of fresh food. My local supermarket purchases mostly from wholesalers at the Bronx terminal market -- as do many supermarkets and bodegas in NYC.

NYC is definitely an unusual situation, both from the quality of the food supply (better) and overall income (higher.) Go live/work in Mississippi or Michigan and see how many fresh veggies you can afford, and how many of those fresh veggies are organic and pesticide free.