Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, with the advice of Lanny Davis (who will never sell out because he’s always for rent) penned an astonishingly disingenuous op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which he calls health insurance reform “socialism” and proposes the usual reactionary laundry list of health care changes, right down to “torrt reform.” Mackey also suggests that we all eat organic fruit, as if that would deal with the problem of families bankrupted by the cost of health care and the capacity of health insurance companies to get rid of sick customers.
After Mackey drew some flack about it, he attempted to defend himself on his corporate blog by pointing out that the article as submitted didn’t mention the President’s name; the label “an alternative to Obamacare” was added by the WSJ editors. But of course the title is the least offensive thing about the piece.
Here’s a comment I left on the page. It’s “awaiting moderation.” What odds would you give it? The vast majority of comments posted seem to come from dittoheads.
Dear Mr. Mackey:
Your attempt to backpedal is even more dishonest than the original article, which is saying a lot. You didn’t mention the President by name? Marvelous! But you assigned the absurd label “socialism” to a plan that has no element nearly as “socialist” as the existing Medicare program.
I had no idea that the (many) dollars I spend at Whole Foods have been going to support reactionary ideology. Whole Foods is right across the street from me, while Ralph’s is half a mile away. I’ve been putting up with you overpriced and overhyped pseudo-organic nonsense for the sake of convenience. From now on, I’ll drive.