Why You Should Boycott Whole Foods

those who are born with health problems?

those who become ill as babies before they have any chance to affect their health via their lifestyle

those who have accidents

those who have inherited genetic conditions

those who are made ill by their work / employers

those who are unlucky enough to be inflicted with horrific diseases regardless of all the care they take of their health

those who........... anyone who suffers because of a million and one things outside their direct control, or pay packet.

As someone who was struck down illness as a baby, I am eternally grateful to live in the UK where we have a national health service that a) saved my life b) has done its best by me as I grew up c) performed nearly a dozen operations over my life to date to keep me walking and functioning in society d) allowed me to live a relatively normal lifestyle where I have been able to go out and get myself work and look after myself.

The scum that come out with this kind of bullshit boil my blood, I can't understand why any right minded decent person could tolerate this type of heartless piece shit.

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We the People can bring the CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc. to his knees, if boycott can cut sales at their stores by 50%. Has to be real effort to put them out of business. Perhaps the board of directors will oust Mackey before their corporation goes bankrupt.

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Let's face it. Like Starbucks and Walmart, Whole Foods Market is a symptom of what's the matter with our disaster capitalist system gone even more amuck. I have shopped at Whole Foods too but only for a limited number of items such as hemp protein powder, stevia, and grass fed milk and buttermilk but I was lucky to finally see a new local organic grocery store open which has them too and more. That said, I have said so many times about the consequences of any company that goes into whole-sale volume-sale mode of doing business. They become "too big too fail" and end up engaging in unethical and possibly illegal practices to desperately wipe out the competition from small businesses. There are other crooked practices of doing business that they'll follow which are legal like it or not. The more I see this kind of corporate madness, the more that the lessons I studied in my two introductory courses in accounting and my introductory course in finance haunt me. If that's not bad enough, other big retailers are also following the Walmart model of doing business. Jim Hightower would correctly call this the "Walmartization of America" !

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That's it! I'm boycotting that place...even though I couldn't afford it anyway.

The success of that pretentious crap is more proof that yuppies aren't too swift. They actually sell compost for $5 per bag, when you can get all you want for free from the dumpster out back.

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What a fortunate man Mr. Mackey is. How lucky he has never had a brain tumor, as someone in my family did, or he might have become uninsureable. How foresightful of him to avoid acquiring a genetically linked auto-immune disorder, or he might have become uninsurable, like my loved one.

Clearly illness is a moral failing and deserves the death penalty; execution shall be carried ought by denial of care.

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Trader Joe's rules.

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I had cut down on my support of Whole Foods when an article came out several months ago when it became known they are selling junk foods. http://tiny.cc/N8VXv. T
his will push me over the edge. So long Whole Foods.

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I disagree, Tomorrow, I'll go spend $300 at Whole Foods, and if there's enough of a boycott to bring their stock down $2, I'll buy $1000 worth, so I do wish you the very best of luck.

Please remember to report me to flag@whitehouse.gov for the following.

For the past 40 years over 40% of the dollars spent annually on health care in the United States has gone through government. What remains of private insurance is one of the most heavily regulated industries in America. Before the government got involved, doctors made house calls, and healthcare was affordable. Today, doctors practice "defensive" (as in, to defend themselves from lawsuits) medicine, and seniors spend more out of pocket than they did before we had Medicare, even after adjusting for inflation. How many people died of HIV/AIDS while the FDA dithered over approvals? We all know the state of government-run VA hospitals, a despicable disaster unworthy of the veterans who sacrificed so much. Did you know that, in order to build a new hospital, you need federal approval? One criteria is that you can't duplicate existing services. Of _course_ prices skyrocket if you protect existing facilities from competition (and then, not coincidentally, accept their campaign contributions) . If you wanted to create a health insurance company to cover half of the uninsured with, say, catastrophic coverage, you would be shut down by the government for cherry picking.

The evidence is clear: the solution is to get the government out of health care completely. They’ve regulated and subsidized it into the mess it is today. You can’t blame a free market where one doesn’t exist. Let’s take the massive screw-ups in government out of the equation, and let the American People innovate their way to a real solution.

Dan Fitzgerald
Falls Church, Va

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This CEO sounds like a jerk. That's news? A jerk CEO? Boycott him and Whole Foods if you like. But over "single payer"?

Is there a single payer bill about to be passed? No? Oh, it is because of Whole Food lobbying, right? No?

Oh, it's because of Barack Obama? Let's boycott him too? He's bitched up establishment of a truly new health care system.

He also keeps fighting nasty wars that are really bad for the health of soldiers and civilians alike.

Obama makes the CEO look like a saint. The Left really is blind.

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Punish people because they don't act like we want them to? You don't agree with me so I'll organize a boycott? Why mess around in an emotional morass when there are real things to do? How about boycott the IRS? How about bottled water? There are lots of things that might be effected through boycott. It's really the most effective way of getting results. But it does no good to boycott (or pretend to be able to) everything that hurts your feelings. Boycott

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and an income of $ 150.000 it is so good to be a left liberal and buy politico food...

remember not so long ago all over the world there were billionaires menber of the communistic party..

the fact you buy your food through a corporation means you understand nothing of CHANGE, nothing of a better world , nothing of global warming.

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You have 110% of my support, Russel. I find John Mackey's philosophy of selfish responsibility very narrow-minded. Health care is a social concern that should not be limited to "personal" responsibility. If you are an employed person and you get sick, you cannot work or you're unable to produce to your max. And this affects the whole economic structure of everyday living.As a sick person you need the assurance of a health care insurance system that will provide care without financial hardships.
You may not realise it, because John Mackey is telling you that it is your responsibility to buy Whole Food products, but Whole Food products have contributed immensely to the over 60% of Americans who are either obese or overweight today.Most of these people suffer from high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and social disorientation due to the Whole Food products they consume, among other types of unhealthy dietary intake.
Your health care is everybody's business and not your personal responsibility per se. Your right to live and your right to health care have limitations in the Charters of Rights and Freedoms.
I will support SPABWF. Stop buying Whole Food products.Let John Mackey give the products to his own family. That's his responsibility.

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I am an avid Whole Foods shopper. I have been hearing rumblings that Whole Foods is not all it’s cracked up to be (Omnivore's Dilemma for example). But this takes the cake. I for one will definitely boycott this corporate giant. I am completely fed up with the ultra rich manipulating the will of the people with their limitless amount of wealth and power. Fuck these assholes!!! They are ruining this country and the world for that matter. "The road to hell is paved with Republicans".

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Your anger is misplaced. You need to boycott Obama. He is not giving us a single payer health plan and you all are giddy over him, his lies, and his backsliding on his promises of "change you can believe in"; but you want to boycott someone for having the same opinion as Obama??? Are you all fucking nuts!!!!

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You should boycott Whole Foods because everything they make in that store is made with Canola Oil. Canola Oil is genetically modified and highly processed. It is not even close to being a Whole Food and it's in everything this store sells.

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which I've been boycotting because they are not what they say they are.
They are GREEDY capitalists.
You have to be very careful and read the labels on everything sold at Whole Foods.

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What's your point?

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I won't buy organic food from Whole Foods OR Barack Obama. There, how's that?

There's no Whole Foods around me so my boycott won't do much, but I wouldn't shop there anyway.

Except when I eat out, I try to eat very local (much of my food is so local it comes from my own garden and pastures). We would raise our cattle organically, but rather than using the fossil fuels it would take to import organic hay from out-of-state we made the decision it was better to use local hay from a farmer just up the road. And our animals are grass-fed, a diet they are evolved to process.

If you can't do your own farming, make friends with a farmer. Check out CSAs or just find a farmer not far away and make a deal with them. Go to farmers markets or at least health food co-ops.

Industrial organic agriculture is still industrial agriculture. Whole Foods is part of the problem, not part of the solution regardless of the CEO's stance on health care -- which DOES make him a douchebag btw.

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In the 1980s I owned and operated a small natural food store. I had 1200 square feet filled with GOOD food - no sugar, no white flour, no chemicals, no caffeine. It was a pretty good shop. No need to even read the labels: that's how pure it was.

Today, it would be, literally, IMPOSSIBLE to open and run such a store.

Why?

Because most of the companies whose food I sold no longer exist as they did then. They have been bought up by multi-nationals and the products bastardized.

No need to take my word; just read the labels.

Whole Foods - regardless of whether you plan to boycott them or not - is NOT responsible for the ingredients in the products that they sell. If products contain canola oil and you don't want to consume that, don't buy those products. Of course, you're going to have a problem because most of what is now in the health food stores contains canola.

I have the same problem. I don't consume anything with canola oil in it and I have my list of other substances that I don't consume. So, when I go shopping each week, I have to read EVERY LABEL on EVERYTHING I buy. Doesn't matter if I've bought the product for 20 years. I still read the labels. Products change over time and reading labels in important.

The result of this is that I am severely limited in what I can now purchase in Whole Foods and any other place where I shop.

I think that people tend to forget that when you purchase something - anything, doesn't matter what it is - you are voting FOR that item. You are actually a powerful person in this regard.

So, the trick is to discriminate when you shop; don't buy something just because the label looks good or because you've purchased it for 30 years. Look at each item as though you were purchasing it for the first time and READ THE LABEL. Then decide.

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Why shop at an overpriced 'health food' chain that exists only to take advantage of rich yuppies' sense of needing somewhere to waste their money and feel stuck-up about?

Trader Joe's has very reasonable prices, and a great selection of healthy things. At least they care about providing a service that isn't just a scam to profit off of peoples' ignorance and self-importance.

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Not a passell of my paycheck will go to Whole Paycheck anymore. I will not support a man who makes a living from operating a health food store while spending some of my money that he got in profit to fight against my and my family's health care options, which happens to be single payer. He is the epitome of a two-faced, two-timing "health nut".

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'nuff said!

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Sorry, but Trader Joe's is *not* a good example to suggest as an alternative. It sells redlist seafood and has not responded well to suggestions that it adopt a sustainable seafood policy. See Greenpeace's web page for more information about this, along with a link to an "activist toolkit" to convince Trader Joe's to change its policies.

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Let's see...John Mackey is a right wing libertarian.

He’s a union buster. Yadda, yadda, yaddah.

We're all going to hold our breath until our faces turn blue until we get single payer health care.

Oh, Jesus Christ, Mokhiber, grow the fuck up!

I had great respect for you until reading this childish essay.

Boycotting a middle-aged, hippie-turned-libertarian asshole's grocery store chain will not get you the single payer health care system you crave. A boycott will not work because, a) the Whole Foods chain isn't in every city and suburb in the US; b) the great unwashed, those who might most benefit from a single payer health care system, do not shop at "Whole Foods" stores much less even know what one is.

The only way out of the morass this country now finds itself is for a Constitutional amendment for public campaign financing and another overturning the Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, granting "person-hood" to corporations.

As the founder of Corporate Crime Reporter Mokhiber knows this.

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I already boycott Whole Foods. Even if Mackey was in any progressive, I would boycott the chain.

The only reason to go there is if I get a hunger for overpriced, PSEUDO-organic, SPOILED food past its expiration.

Whole foods is already in my mind one of the most over-rated grocery stores on the planet. No need to convince me not to go there.

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Just to show how ridiculous this boycott idea is Trader Joes is owned by ALDI, what does that CEO believe. Just because you know what the CEO of Whole Foods believes, you don't know where other leaders of companies you recommend stand. Many liberals
work for Whole Foods and in a boycott lose their jobs...just what we need more unemployment. Many liberal leaning companies sell to Whole Foods so you hurt them and they lay off people creating more unemployment. Your anger at the opinion of one man who disagrees with you in a free society where he has that right causes a lot of harm to a lot of
innocent people. I highly doubt that this CEO's opinion will even cause much notice unless you boycott him and draw more attention to it.

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Given the large number of progressive/liberal/socialist customers of Whole Foods, it takes an extraordinary amount of courage for him to write that piece.
I am sure he chewed over every single word, I am sure he stepped back and looked at the big picture, and I am sure he hit the "send" button with a certain amount of fear.
He knew he would get a lot of flak.

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My local WF frequently gives five per cent of the day's take to local groups.

They have helped a local group that brings participatory art and shows to prisoners.

(Maybe that is actually due to the libertarian CEO's views- against jailing for drug use!)

Rather than resenting that I can't afford more of the nice things they sell, I am glad to see an upper class that didn't care how pesticides ruined the earth and farmworker's health be lead to suporting organic agriculture. Thus, instead of carelessly ruining the environment, it has become the thing to do to help protect it.

They are not perfect, but neither is the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is in a better position to bring us single payer than a health food store CEO.

Think straight! This boycott seems the equal to showing up at town halls angry and confused.

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Whole Foods, and Mr. Mackey? If this article is right (and I have no doubt it is) I'll boycott W.F. today. But I read several people bringing Texas into the fray....

...before you pop off about Whole Foods being in "Texas"...

In the comments I see several people mouthing off about Whole Foods being in "Texas", as if ALL of TExas is just alike. You fools. When are you going to learn????

Texas is huge. Parts of Texas are VERY different from other parts. Learn that one thing, please....

You "foreigners" [outside Texas] need to learn a thing or two before you pop off....

Whole Foods is in Austin, which is a liberal, progressive city. But then you yankees didn't already know that did you? Nowadays, how can you be so dumb? THis is 2009!!

Because you yankees are ignorant about ANY city which is progressive, and liberal.

You pop off your big mouths without even knowing what you're talking about.

"Keep Austin Weird" is our motto.

Austin has ALWAYS voted Democratic since the freeekin
Civil War. [never Republican].

NO, Austin is not a "small town in Texas". We've got more than 1.6 million people.

Why am I forced to explain all this? AGAIN??????

I'm quite certain that Austin, Texas is waaaaaay more progressive that most of the
cities you're from, you people popping off about "Texas".

You can say what you want about Whole Foods, I don't care. But DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING about it's home, Austin, Texas.

Gheeesh, I get tired of taking up for Austin. It would be easier if you non-Texans would get your stuff straight.

Now, Whole Foods, and Mr. Mackey? If this article is right (and I have no doubt it is) I'll boycott W.F. today.

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Right after I bought a package of 365 organic broccoli. As I was cooking it and reading "product of China" in really small print on the package. Whole Foods is a scam...

Notice most of their produce comes from outside the country, from dubious places like Argentina and Columbia.

Their prepared foods are not prepared with organic ingredients for the most part and they use canola oil in everything. Agree w/ the person who made the canola oil comment. Canola oil is one of the most genetically modified crops in the US. Avoid it at all costs, even organic versions.

Most of their products (365,organic 365 and other manufacturers) are just a different version of the same crap in any other grocery store chain.

Whole Foods repeatedly tries to block any efforts to strengthen organic food standards - I know if one instance where they fought against tighter regulations for organic dairy products. Because this might cut into their bottom line.

Face it - we the people are the ones who made them successful by shopping there. We can also bring about their demise by not shopping there. You can get everything ASSwhole Foods sells at your local health food store or farmers market. And if you can't get it, maybe you really don't need it.

Somebody start making bumper stickers and tshirts. Maybe there could be a rotting apple like in their logo with the words "ASSwhole Foods" in their logo typeface.

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Damn.....Our Whole Foods is great. Every week I fill my cart with local products and produce. They feature local products with samples every Thursday. I split my shopping between them and a big supermarket. Although the supermarket has some good choices, the commitment to preservative free, natural and organic is just not enough for me. Take toaster pastries for instance....has anyone ever read the ingredients in some of these?? Scary and disgusting. Whole Foods keeps a brand on the shelves that doesn't scare or disgust me and the supermarket price on the same item is at least $1.00 more than Whole Foods. As disgusted as I am with this guy, the commitment to the type of foods I want can't be found easily.
What's with all the stereotyping of Whole Foods shoppers?? Grow up!! I became a label reader (google TBHQ and you may become one too) 15 years ago to help my son get through ADHD and then my husband got cancer about 10 years later. We would be considered rednecks by some of you but we don't vote republican. I am convinced that processed foods and chemicals are killing us and I refuse to follow blindly along behind the rest of the robots and ignore what goes into our bodies. I am 49 and look 35 - and it's not genetics.

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Basically, it was a nuts and bolts critique of reform.

He didn't actually say what I think, that since so many physicians have not had training in how poor nutrition brings about chronic disease, a health consumer who reads up and then shops at WF's vitamin, supplement, herb, and homeopthic aisle is more likely to enjoy far better health than one who has ample insurance.

Having health insurance does not necessarily produce health. Obviously, critically ill people need care, but currently, those responsible for their own health are often luckier, for they often have better health.

My interpretation of being responsible for your own health means reading, activism to stop farm sugar and corn susidies, telling HHS to grow more olive trees so as to bring down the cost of good olive oil, making good choices, to prevent disease and encourage health.

(Getting vitamin D to prevent the flu, for instance, rather than risking the mercury in a new vaccine which the government is spending billions on , due to hyping the demand through fear.)

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My understanding that whole foods are items such as fresh vegetables and fruits, meats and grains... anything else is processed. So go ahead boycott whole foods super market if it makes you feel good...How does that change the state of health care.. Its like putting a band aid on a severed limb.

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Nothing to get arrested, but showing up with more than just a couple of people with signs informing people who shop at Whole Foods as to the beliefs and values of John Mackey?

twitter @wynams if you would be interested in joining me at something like this.

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As far as passing single payer is concerned, the burden of responsibility lies on Congress and the White House. Who do they side with, WF CEO or our voices? If you said the former, God bless you. If you said the latter, I have a big bridge from Brooklyn to sell you.

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Yes Boycott!!! Yes Single Payer!!!!

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I'm all for single payer, and I've known for a while that Mackey is a union-busting libertarian posing as a socially conscious capitalist. But this article is pretty silly. Single payer has been off the table for a while, and it has almost nothing to do with Mackey, who at least is being upfront and public about his opposition to publically-funded health care (by the way, is he against Medicare too? Just wond'rin'). There are two reasons we are not headed for single payer right now, despite majority support for it when the question is asked clearly. 1. Obama has the illusion, clearly stated during the campaign, that if you just sit everyone down, they will put self-interest aside and do what's best for the country; clearly this man has not spent much time inside major corporations. 2. The insurance industry is engaged in a massive, multi-billion dollar effort to change the subject, using paid bloggers, paid letter-writers, paid spouters of talking points at public meetings, direct lobbying of congress, and every other tactic they can which will not be traced directly to them. This has been extremely effective. It remains to be seen whether Obama and his team have any political response that can get some kind of beneficial reform back on the table (which I believe he sincerely wishes to accomplish, though his tactics suck, and his courage under fire is beginning to seem questionable). But single payer is dead in the water for the forseeable future. We're paying the price for decades of inaction and distraction and self-absorption. Blaming one reactionary CEO is really silly.

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The only substance known to man that actually gets rid of stains, sold locally only at the WF. The only supplier of cheap yet good tasting ice cream, locally sold at WF.

You can't get shit on fer tryin'... the whole damned roof is comin' in.

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So, sixty years after the holocaust, germany is enlightened. Would you also say that 150 years after slavery, we've overcome racism?

Neo-Nazis are a force in German & European society & politics. I spent some time in Switzerland a couple of years ago, and came upon a skinhead stomping on a guy because he was gay (I stopped him).

Anyway, I'm not stopping you from forming a health care cooperative of your own. Why are you in favor of forcing me and everybody else to participate in your scheme?

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Boycotting Whole Foods is a ridiculous idea: one bred from hate and a true contempt for all that is free and fair. The CEO is a United States Citizen and therefore has the freedom to promote whatever idea he feels is best for the country.

One correction to this article: Obama's Health Care plan has nothing to do with a single-payer system. Please read the full bill, as i have, before you write one word about being for or against this Health Care reform.

This article is misinforming and lacks all credible sources. It sounds like the rant of Hannity hater, not like one written from an educated stance. Try to be better informed, watch Glenn Beck, he is fairer and truer than this article, which i never thought possible.

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I've refused to shop there for years, ever since Mackey got caught trolling on Yahoo stock boards slamming Wild Oats and trying to drive the price down so he could acquire it.

This man isn't even an ethical capitalist.

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Mr Mackey worships Margaret Thatcher, Reagan's twin across the Pond.

".... Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” "

Since those days of Reagan and the rise of "merger-mania" and "leveraged buy-out" and the stripping down and wholesale sell-off of those remaining assets by the Wall Street Crowd all during the '80's and 90's and continuing even in the "21st Century Economy", was it not precisely "other people's money" that was used to leverage and carry out this binge????

You mean Wall Street is "socialist"?

These shysters used borrowed money to embark on Casino Capitalism and a betting and winning spree.

We're left now with the bill, as all can see and experience.

Margaret Thatcher must have been one of those "closet socialists", I guess. As Mr Mackey must be. Wonder how Whole Foods "grew and expanded" to its current market-size?

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Why a campaign about a health plan that’s not even being discussed in the House or the Senate, except to say it’s not on the table.

Perhaps it will give the single-payer cause new life.

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The Fed plan for health insurance is no more than a fascist takeover. Remember when medical records were private? Right before 9/11, huh. Now they want all our medical records, and want to control all our medical care. The first thing Hitler did in Nazi Germany was have IBM assemble everyone's medical records.
I am for Universal care for all- not insurance companies- or more Fed power. Peace be with you.

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Until yesterday, almost 95% of our food $$$ were spent at Whole Foods. Yesterday, we dropped almost $200 at a great place called Roots in Olney, MD. It will be our usual shopping place from now on. It's location isn't as convenient as WF in DC, but WF will never see another dollar of my money.

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Let's face it: Most of this particular subculture is just another fashion plate. An affectation. Another childish power move, by people desperate to be "special". Read: BETTER (than others).

The one time I shopped there, I was sickened by everyone's "Whollier Than Thou" attitude. How many reading here will truly sacrifice this snobbish vanity cult to do the right thing by the larger community. My guess is VERY FEW, if any.

There are many healthy food choices at the supermarkets, especially now that it's a real sales and marketing issue. The salad I made from ordinary turkey breast (on sale for .99/ lb.!) will probably effect my health only if it is force-fed through the top of my head. Otherwise, I honestly don't see it as a threat. And then there's the joy of the richness of how I've prepared and served it, plus the economic and convenience dividends. (I've divided it into serving sizes, and have my own, reasonably healthy convenience food in the freezer.) I invite Whole Foods fanatics to stop feeding at this filthy corporate trough. It may even help you to build your own personal identities, rather than having greedy corporations 'brand' them on you.

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And I have to say that while I enjoyed working there and enjoyed many of the advantages they offer their employees, like extensive profit sharing percs as incentives, I found their healthcare plan woefully insufficient. I broke my finger on the job, through a freak accident and I was taken for an immediate x-ray...but even though the damage was pretty obvious and I know from previous bone breaks that the first few days are crucial in resetting it ...yet none of the doctors seemed the slightest bit interested in fixing it. They chose instead to x ray it, bandage it and sent me home.
And that was what a substantial amount of my paycheck was going towards.
I don't fault the store management(although I do fault the corporate policy) I simply say I'd have rather have gone to a county hospital and sat for six or seven hours but I would have gotten better treatment in the end having been through this before.
I understand what you're saying about their union busting activity and there was one day when I was told to go to the office to pick up my paycheck and was told that I had to sign a waiver first before receiving my check. The waiver simply stated they could fire me without warning or notice at any time.... this was clearly an anti union action... and possibly illegal. I'd seen it used before at another chainstore based in San Francisco called 'Headlines'. They went public moved us to a larger warehouse made us sign these waivers and then fired all the middle management personnel the day before Christmas. Many of those people being with the company for over 16 years. So I'm familiar with this tactic.
But on the whole I didn't have that much sympathy for the AFL union that was picketing outside Whole Foods because when I was with another company and we were trying to create an alternative food workers union this same union refused us any aid or support or sympathy. But I also didn't cross any lines to work there because they'd ceased picketing before I even came to work there.
There are positive aspects to working there and I did get to advance there which they did during my time advance people who put in the effort and showed they could be responsible and they did pay employees good salaries.
But I would most definitely support a boycott of Whole Foods if they as a collective corporate entity choose to weigh in on the healthcare issue by siding with those that would deny americans a public option.
They're far from the model of company sponsored healthcare.
Not everyone works for them... thankfully.

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Only a week before writing that op-ed. He made 1.4 million bucks.
Link

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M2TS Converter

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I don't think anything upsets me more than a $400,000+/year CEO telling about how Americans are essentially fatter and lazier and we have to take more responsibility for our health and that we don't need a quality safety net.

As if we got bored one day a few decades ago and said, "HEY! Let's lobby the sugar, tobacco, alcohol, and factory farm industry for greater access to their products because I want to set up an economy where I have to work 40+ hours for peanuts and forfeit that weekend thingy that Unions fought so hard for in the beginning of the century so I can be miserable and slowly kill myself." Americans do in fact do a lot of stupid stuff, but let's also look at the context here.

Mackey is the CEO of a corporation that makes its money [legitimately] off of people who sorely want to eat and live healthier, but [illegitimately] off of people stuck in a failing health care system where they no longer trust it and are instead buying more stuff from places like Whole Foods Market. In my mind, the GREED churning in Mackey's soul is getting out of control. Rather than seeing better private/government integrated health care, he would prefer to quote Margaret Thatcher over Howard Zinn and suggest THE safety net in our healthcare system is in his stores. While I AGREE that fresh orgainc food, naturopathy and healthy lifestyle needs more emphasis in our culture, it cannot be the ultimate default for anyone who can't afford health care.

And as a Whole Foods Employee (this isn't my real name, so don't bother with the witch hunts) I think it's safe to say that Mackey has started forgetting about squaller. He is forgetting about what it feels like to have progressively less real money, a diversionary media system, and limited access to health resources in his own country. He's become the standard philanthropist in saying "Let's help the small communities around the world, but screw Americans (the LOCALs). They're all lazy and self-destructive." And you want to talk about self-care to a Whole Foods Employee, and at the same time call Organized Labor antiquated?!? I can't remember the last time I had a 2 day weekend without REQUESTING it 2 weeks in advance. Nor can I set my internal clock to my weekly schedule--because my schedule's all over the place. And CLOPENS! When you close the store at 11PM and then have to open it the next day?!? Where's the self care in that?!? I won't even go into the fact that although I have reasonable debt and no cable or computer, I still have to work a second job.

Move to the Ghetto, Mackey. Put your ideas to the test, THEN rant and rave about how great they are. Until then, stick to fighting GMO's, advocating for Fair Trade, Sustainable Harvesting, and Local Consumption. Leave the hypocrisy to the regular Wallstreet Journal staff.

PS, this is the only talking point I agreed 100% with you on, hands down, no clauses, just 100% fact:

Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

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Mackey says:

“We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health,”

Ok, so single payer health insurance seems like the perfect solution if we want to be responsible for our own lives..

DUH

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boycotting a business because it doesn't support obama-care is just petty and stupid.

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I live in Nashville, Tn and Wild Oats came to town and basically bought out 2 local health food stores and almost had a monopoly on the industry. Then Whole Foods bought Wild Oats and built their flagship mega-store. I understand organic food can be 20-30% higher than conventional, however Whole Foods was obviously marking up the prices 50-100%. Now it makes since. I was thinking I was helping out organic growers and a good cause when I was just feeding a greedy, misguided Wall Street hustler.

Most conventional grocery stores are now carrying a lot of organic items. A Trader Joe's moved into the old Wild Oats building (still overpriced, but an alternative). Also, check out the internet. Many non-perishable items, especially supplements, can be bought on-line at wholesale prices.

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It's only a matter of time before former Whole Foods employees, fired for trivial or inexplicable reasons, join the affluent demographic Mackey covets. Word of mouth advertising does wonders.

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One of the most delicious ways to extinguish the obesity problem in this country would be to give citizens miracle berry so that nasty healthy food will taste awesome. Since obesity is such a big problem, this could save money when it comes to health care. Ok I'm just joshing!

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