Attention shoppers!

[ksmith]

Whole Foods shoppers, that is. Their CEO has an op-ed in the WSJ a couple of days ago. it wasn't what I expected.

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. 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.

The rest is here.

By way of AmericaBlog.

I've shopped at Whole Foods once, several months ago. To tell the truth, I wasn't overly impressed.

Comments

[novel-mom.livejournal.com]

Not sure about the opped...or why he would come out with a stance on this, but I do love Whole Foods.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

I was in a Whole Foods a few times--big store, lots of stuff, lots of high prices.

I would reply that the documents mentioned also don't say we have a right to public roads, public schools, public water supplies in our cities, or even a publicly supported military. Nor do we have a right (via those documents) to any of the public agencies such as CDC and FDA. We have them because people generally prefer them and have learned (some of them) that where the general good is concerned...and because those documents DO specifically give us the right to ask for (and pay for) any government services we the people want.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly.

I wonder if these idiots really don't understand that, or if they are just utterly selfish and self-serving, and don't want to provide one iota more for the common good than they absolutely have to.

The whole purpose of government is to pay for those things that everyone needs, but which aren't money-making endeavors. That's what taxes are for. When you have privately-funded "public" works, you get crappy services.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The other thing that gets lost is the emotional component of health care. Maybe one shops around if the surgery one needs is elective or the treatment is optional. But if you've been told that you're in the first stages of congestive heart failure, or that you're diabetic, if some diagnosis has walloped you upside the head, well, it would take someone with a frostier mindset than I have to sit back and think about shopping around for the most cost-effective cardiologist or endocrinologist. If you're lucky, you find a doctor with whom you can communicate, one who listens, and doctors are like agents--one person's A-Number-1 is another person's No Way.

There are also times when the diagnosis makes the decision for you. If you have X condition, these places are your options. These specialists. It's not like shopping for tomatoes, for crying out loud.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

My favorite Public Outrage lately is all the people screaming they'll diiiieeeeee before they let the Evil Guvmint get its claws on their Medicare.

That's right up there with all those anti-"socialist" politicians and their free, taxpayer-supplied health plan. Some of them, like McCain, have never in their lives had to deal with private insurers except to rake in the millions in campaign donations.

"I got mine. Who cares about you?"

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

The owner is a libertarian of strong views. He's on a level with Wal-Mart when it comes to his stance on unions and workers' rights. He's more the benevolent overlord than Wal-Mart's Simon Legree, but don't make the error of assuming that because his company is upscale (i.e. expensive) and "natural," he's any kind of social progressive.

That op-ed is completely in line with his ideology.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Btw here's an article (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/23/756707/-Wal-Foods) on Mackey's political views.

Not what anyone assumes based on the "wholesome, natural, organic" image of his company.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The boycotts are being organized on Facebook and Twitter, among other places. As darksyde said over at Daily Kos, Mackey shat all over his best customers.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. I hate hypocrisy of any kind, and playing the "wholesome, organic" card to make millions is right up there.

I stopped shopping at the main local natural-organic store when WF bought it out--just too expensive, and 'way too far away to justify the gas money. When I want that range of food now, I go to Sunflower Market or Trader Joe's, both of which are significantly closer and cheaper and, as far as I know, much less hypocritical at the corporate level. (Please don't let TJ's turn out to have evil overlords, too. I love my TJ's.)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

For me, a drive to Trader Joe's or WF is a six-of-one situation. They're both 20+ miles away.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

We Brits are finding all these attacks on our evil socialist National Health Service utterly bemusing. Free access to health care is evil? Sorry, but I don't think you'll ever be able to explain that one over here...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

My humble opinion? People of a certain age associate "socialism" with "communism." Hearing about the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for a couple of generations didn't help. Explaining the difference between socialism and communism wouldn't help. Explaining that just about every person screaming about this 1) wouldn't be affected by a public option or 2) would be helped by a public option wouldn't help.

In some circles, it's about more than health care. There are cultural seismic shifts taking place over here, with about as much shaking and breaking as one might expect.

I feel that at bare minimum, we need a public option. We'll see if we get it.