Whole Foods CEO cares more about his lobsters than people (Austin American-Statesman)

[tj2001]

COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
Mackey thinks health insurance too expensive? He should check his plum section
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Looks like high end Whole Foods Market grocery chain CEO John Mackey has stepped in the dolphin-safe purple hull peas this time. In a piece written for The Wall Street Journal , the Rockefeller of Rutabagas has come out against federal health insurance because of the expense. Too pricey for the Potentate of Produce, the Poobah of Portobello, the Baron of Beets, huh? Here's a guy who charges his customers a kaboodle per ounce for some exotic roadside sprig, and he's worried about Uncle Sam spending too much money to keep you up and running?

That's more than a little irony in there somewhere. "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. This 'right' has never existed in America," wrote the Carnegie of Cabbage. A careful reading of the Constitution will also reveal no mention of cage-free sausage links.

This position of it costing too much to provide national health insurance strikes me as odd for a wildly successful businessman who won't allow a lobster tank in his store for fear the lobster would find the housing substandard. Honest to Gertroid, three years ago Whole Foods ruled against selling live lobsters in the store. Just wasn't humane enough for the lobsters. What I take this to mean is that Mackey — the Sultan of Squash, the Yo-Yo Ma of Yams — cares more about his oysters than he does about your keisters. This is not the stance I expected from an old Austin hippie.

On the other hand, have you noticed how many We Are the World'ers turn acquisitive after they live long enough to pile up some real money? Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Give me five. No, wait. This is Whole Foods. Give me $99.99 — plus tax. In his Wall Street Journal article, Mackey calls for less regulation of the insurance industry (har de har har har), then comes out against Social Security and Medicare.

"The last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system," Mackey wrote. He also worries about "socialized medicine" taking over — as it has, according to Mackey, in Canada and Britain. Socialized is a worry at Whole Foods? As cheap as the Whole Foods store is about handing out free samples for its customers, socialism is one of the last things I'd worry about infiltrating the Whole Foods Market. Come on, folks, put out some cheese.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/18/0818kelso.html

[peacetalksforall]

1. Great article. So tell me, was the owner a hippie? Really? Sounds more like a roommate of

Reed Rove Abramoff and Norquist.

[peacetalksforall]

2. I dropped my buying there about 90% about a year and a half ago because of

things I read about them and some brands they carried that had big Cargill and General Mills type producers. I'm lucky - I have alternatives.

[SeekerBlue]

3. Love Kelso

This is the same crotchety old fart who actually wrote a column titled, "Want to help Austin's traffic crunch? Move back to Marin County."

:D