The "apology" was more insulting than the... (4.00 / 4)

...original op-ed.  Extremely insulting... They just made the problem worse...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

---

by: lord_mike @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 04:13:23 AM UTC

great diary at DKos (4.00 / 2)

includes annotated version of Whole Foods apology e-mail.

Join the Iowa progressive community at Bleeding Heartland.

---

by: desmoinesdem @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 09:16:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Failboat! (4.00 / 5)

I'll be boycotting Whole Foods, at least until my local store unionizes.

Join the fight to give students a real voice on campus: Forstudentpower.org.

---

by: Liberaltarian @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 05:22:36 AM UTC

So instead of complaining about the backroom Pharma deal (0.00 / 0)

faux progressives will instead continue to rant
against a vegetarian who made health food a sustainable
business on a large scale, and pays 100% of his
employees' insurance for the 89% who work 30 hours
or more, as well as paying $1800 of their $2500
deductible each year.

I was just thinking this must have been the craziest
most liberal op-ed to appear in the Wall Street Journal
in years - what percentage of insurance do most employees
pay on their health plan? WSJ CEO & Finance readers must
have been shaking their heads at just how crazy and
liberal Mackey is. He lets his employees vote on their
health package?

But anyway, easier to target Whole Foods than figure
out a way to make Obama and Rahm listen to you and
stop cutting back room deals with Big Pharma and
the Insurance execs. Boycott a guy with ZERO pull
in health reform. It'll make you feel better.

The progressive movement is dead. Useless. Pathetic.
No wonder Rahm tells you to STFU. Because he can.

---

by: Desider @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 05:57:51 AM UTC

Oh, you again... (4.00 / 7)

The CEO of whole foods said that the chronically ill are second class citizens who are not only deserving of care, but paying too little for it, and getting too much access to health care.  He advocates "reform" by cutting off their access, increasing their costs, and "curing" them with overpriced fruit.

And you defend this guy?

It's not his company's health plan that people are upset about... he's pretty generous for a retail operation... but, his "reform" ideas would make things incredibly worse for those who need health care... and the person is completely oblivious and uncaring about it...

His take on reform?  "Let them eat organic cake."

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

---

by: lord_mike @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 06:07:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Moreover... (4.00 / 3)

If the guy was the CEO of Wal-Mart no one would care... We'd expect that.. but, for a guy who's whole business is catering to people like us, it's an extreme slap in the face to his customer base...

We can, and will, walk...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

---

by: lord_mike @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 06:08:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

why (4.00 / 7)

Are you continuing to downplay that pack of lies Mackay wrote?  Argue against a boycott, or in favour of WF's health care coverage for employees if you like, but MacKay's op-ed was a pack of lies and if that was "the most liberal op-ed" to appear in the WSJ, that's not saying much at all.

It was really really bad.  I mean, quoting fucking Thatcher?

---

by: Daniel De Groot @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 06:29:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pack of lies? (0.00 / 0)

"$1.8 trillion deficit for 2009"
"Trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade"
"both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both"
"Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy" [note that Mackey never says Social Security or Medicaid are in trouble, putting him ahead of most TV announcers]

From NY Times in February:

For his first annual budget next week, President Obama has banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller. The price of more honest bookkeeping: A budget that is $2.7 trillion deeper in the red over the next decade than it would otherwise appear, according to administration officials. The new accounting involves spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare reimbursements to physicians and the cost of disaster responses. But the biggest adjustment will deal with revenues from the alternative minimum tax, a parallel tax system enacted in 1969 to prevent the wealthy from using tax shelters to avoid paying any income tax.

From Robert Reich in May:

Medicare is entirely different. It's a monster. But fixing it has everything to do with slowing the rate of growth of medical costs -- including, let's not forget, having a public option when it comes to choosing insurance plans under the emerging universal health insurance bill. With a public option, the government can use its bargaining power with drug companies and suppliers of medical services to reduce prices. And, as I've noted, keep pressure on private insurers to trim costs yet provide effective medical outcomes.

But wait - Reich says, "the government can use its bargaining power with drug companies", but from more leaked memos at the Huffington Post, we know the the Obama Administration is doing the exact opposite - cutting deals with drug companies that limit their cost to $80 billion. Meanwhile, Medicare costs are projected to equal SS payments by 2028 - a pretty fast-paced rise. The latest trustee report on Medicare states, "Growing annual deficits are projected to exhaust HI reserves in 2017, after which the percentage of scheduled benefits payable from tax income would decline from 81 percent in 2017 to about 50 percent in 2035".

Now, those pesky Canadian wait times. First, you can Google "canadian health care waiting time" to get pretty much everything you need to know. There's an organization called "The Wait Time Alliance" dedicated to reducing wait times in Canada - read their June report here. . A Power Point from the Canadian Institute of Health that gives some comparisons of wait times between different countries is found here. $6 billion has been spent over the last few years to counter rising wait times in Canada, with not such great results. Ezra Klein, typically considered a blogger on the left, accepts these wait times but notes that the long waits are better than having treatments denied.

Should we boycott Ezra Klein and Robert Reich as well? Or should we come up with answers that address the known problems without lynching anyone who dares mention them?

So let's see, Mackay committed a big sin by mentioning Thatcher on Socialism. But like it or not, over the last year besides running trillion dollar deficits, we've also assumed full or partial ownership of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, GM, Chrysler, and possibly a number of other financial institutions - I've lost track of all the deals. We are heavily overcommitted financially everywhere (we haven't been able to cut back much on Iraq and Afghanistan either have we?). Blame the socialism on Bush, but I think it's still hard to fault Mackey for saying:

"While we clearly need health-care reform, 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..." [yes, I cut off the last part]

or: "Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society."

---

by: Desider @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 19:12:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

why do you insist on defending the indefensible? (4.00 / 1)

i absolutely fault Mackey for saying, in essence, we shouldn't spend money on people's health and welfare because we are already spending money to line banksters' pockets and blow people up in the middle east.  i absolutely fault him for saying that people have a 'personal responsibility' for their own health.  no.  we have a social responsibility to ensure that people who live in this country can get the healthcare they need.    

---

by: seabrook @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 20:22:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No we don't (0.00 / 0)

We're not a socially responsible culture, never have been.
This is not Europe. Maybe we can screw in the right lightbulb here and there, but the batting average isn't very good.

---

by: Desider @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 20:51:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Projecting again. (4.00 / 1)

Did it ever occur to you that selfishness and incompetence are your traits, and not those of everyone else?

Montani semper liberi

---

by: Sadie Baker @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 21:12:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh yeah (0.00 / 0)

It was me that screwed the Katrina response.

It was me that screwed the War in Iraq.

It was me that pumped trillions into Wall Street instead of promoting reform and mortgage protection.

It was me that turned Fannie Mae into a corrupt power-hungry behemoth and make Medicare a runaway train of expenses.

I'm the most powerful, horrible person in the world.

---

by: Desider @ Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 08:00:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When Desider grows up (0.00 / 0)

he is going to be rich and powerful, just like Mackey, you'll see!

Montani semper liberi

---

by: Sadie Baker @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 21:08:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You guys have a great rapid response team (4.00 / 2)

Are you using Nielsen BuzzMetrics?  

---

by: northcountry @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 12:55:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're Obviously Delusional (4.00 / 2)

I was just thinking this must have been the craziest most liberal op-ed to appear in the Wall Street Journal in years

Thomas Frank is a regularly-published WSJ columnist.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

---

by: Paul Rosenberg @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 14:30:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do you read any other posts on this site? (4.00 / 4)

Think what you want about the correctness and effectiveness of the boycott, but I don't think its fair to pretend that this issue is the sum total of what the "progressives" are up to on this day. Some of us can multi-task.  How about you?


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

---

by: SpitBall @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 14:46:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

On the contrary, it's already working (4.00 / 2)

Whole Foods' stock went down more than the rest of the market; the press has noticed, the PR firm was forced to "apologize", and since the first one didn't take, they'll have to do better.  

You're right that Whole Foods provides better health benefits than many nonunion companies.  But that just means that health care reform will save Whole Foods money!  Their CEO is sabotaging his own company because he's a wingnut, putting his own politics ahead of the interest of his company.

The answer is to convince the board of directors of this fact, and get this moron kicked out on his ass.  The message will be sent that CEOs who don't want to lose their jobs need to be apolitical.  I work for a corporation; if I were to go public in a big way advocating positions harmful to my company, they'd be within their rights to can me.

---

by: Joe Buck @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 06:16:32 AM UTC

Plenty of CEO's are political... (4.00 / 5)

...but, none of them would go out of their way to insult their customers' core values.

It's like the CEO of Weight Watchers writing an op-ed about how all their customers are worthless, fat, slobs who need to get a life and stop whining about being so fat.


REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

---

by: lord_mike @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 06:21:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

"The apology doesn't come from CEO John Mackey" (4.00 / 7)

So, it isn't worth anything at all! If it doesn't come from the CEO, there's no guarantee that anything will change at all. The PR department doesn't determine Whole Foods policies, its donations to lobby groups, and its influence on lawmakers, only Mackey does. So, this is not good enough at all. Good job in exposing this as pure lip services, tremayne!

---

by: Gray @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 07:58:00 AM UTC

First Law Of Holes (4.00 / 2)

This PR firm never heard of it?

Over-ridden by the first law of a-holes, I guess: Never stop digging!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

---

by: Paul Rosenberg @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 14:47:50 PM UTC