Boycott Whole Foods because the CEO opposes President Obama’s healthcare plan. That’s what a blog posted by a Facebook friend said. Hit ‘em where it hurts: their pocketbooks.
The blogger even suggested an alternative – ironically, another national chain – where consumers could still get the upscale organic items they crave. That supposes the CEO of Trader Joe’s is in full support of Obama’s plan, I guess.
But that darned Whole Foods CEO wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal – and he does not support the healthcare system being debated in Washington (gasp!).
That was enough to prompt several people to re-think their shopping ways:
“I needed a reason to stop spending so much money there,” one commenter wrote.
“I don't shop there much anyway, but after reading this I'll definitely avoid doing so,” posted another person.
“I’m going to Trader Joe’s!” posted a third person.
“Just freakin' great. Now I have to start shopping at Whole Foods. I hate Whole Foods,” posted another person.
The link was included in the original blog posting. The editorial was short, one printed page, and straightforward, with numbered points. I Read The F’ing Article*.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey does not support the healthcare plan being debated. His initial point of opposition was our growing deficit, which he called unsustainable. He wrote, more or less, we cannot afford to add to the country’s debt at this time by providing universal healthcare.
Mr. Mackey listed possible improvements for the current system and gave comparisons to socialized systems in Canada and Europe. He suggested improvements for Medicare, Health Savings Accounts, tax write-offs (allowed for company-provided plans but not for insurance purchased by individuals) and proposed making insurance portable (from state to state) and reducing excessive lawsuits against doctors.
He does not believe healthcare is a right, in America or any other country, yet Mackey provides insurance for the majority of his employees (based on hours worked) – and he shares numbers. His editorial includes details based on his experience.
Whether I agree with his premise or not, his piece is well-reasoned and detailed.
I disagree with his deficit argument as reason to oppose universal healthcare. It’s about priorities and I can think of several places (Iraq being top of mind) where we could stop sending money that could instead be used at home.
However, I think he brought up some interesting points. And just for expressing them to the WSJ, I don’t feel compelled to boycott Whole Foods.
As for our healthcare system, I don’t know if Mackey or anyone else knows how to fix it but I do know it is a mess. It's expensive. It's unfair. And it's too complicated.
But my lingering impression is not about healthcare. It is about how quickly people leap to conclusions. How we rush to judgment, based on what someone else says.
Have we programmed ourselves to be so quick to respond that we no longer reason – or even bother to check the facts (any facts) for ourselves?
Finally… someone commented on the content of the editorial that sparked the blog, boycott and all the postings and comments:
“Not a Whole Foods shopper, but I suggest actually reading the editorial...noticed on Daily Kos that many commentators jumped on the bandwagon without reading (much less considering) Mackey's points first.”
*RTFA… then maybe we can have a discussion.
