But, wait. Don't wingnuts always say that only liberal elites shop at Whole Foods. In fact, don't they say it's the only place we shop after we pick up a Soy Chai Latte from Starbucks? Then how can it be that the founder of Whole Foods isn't a patchouli, Birkenstock wearing dirty fucking hippie?

This guy is cruisin' for a boycott bruisin'.

Don't forget, Whole Foods is from Texas, and you know how those people are....

Absolutely...boycott and let's use this approach to show unity thru the purse!

A block or two away from the local Whole Foods store is the East Side Market. It is locally owned and operated, has much the same stuff, cheaper, and donates to local charities through a program whereby they collect cash register receipts from the market and receive a percentage of the total as a donation in return.

Guess which one I shop at? After reading that op-ed, guess how cold it would have to be in a place known for roasting temperatures before I'd return to Whole Foods?

Whole Foods CEO is also unapologetically anti-union.

I had read a few months ago he is a full wacko libretarian.

Here in the People's Republic of Portland Whole Foods has shut down all stores except the one in the 'Pearl' (formerly home of cheap apartments, SROs and now overpriced condo central) because we have a local store, New Seasons, which is local, better, cheaper, consumer friendly and socially conscious. The irony is the Wild Oats bought out the folks who had the original organic grocery stores in town - then Whole Foods bought out Wild Oats - then the contractual ban on the local folks opening an organic grocery ran out and boom! they put Whole Foods out of business. Karma can be fun

I really hate this blame the victim crap that Mackey is selling here.

I grew up on exactly the kind of diet that Mackey thinks is the solution to the nation's health problems. I had a very healthy lifestyle, never smoked, always wore seatbelts, etc. Nevertheless, I was diagnosed with cancer as a young adult.

Luckily I was still covered as a student under my parents' health plan at the time and was treated successfully.

However, within a few years, I found myself having to make impossible choices; COBRA premiums along with the costs of receiving my needed follow-up care were slightly more than my monthly income, leaving nothing for food or rent or gas. I was able to scrape by for a short while on savings (which were pretty meager - how much were you able to save when you were in grad school?), but soon found myself without insurance. And that fact shaped every major decision of my young life, from where I lived, whether I could continue my education, what I did for a living, and when and how I got married...

Yes, I did find a couple of insurance companies that offered to sell me a policy, at exorbitant rates, high deductibles and co-pays, and with a permanent exclusion on anything that had to do with my cancer or my treatments. Since the treatments could have impact on pretty much every system in my body, such insurance was useless to me.

I could find no insurance company who was stupid enough to think that healthy diet was going to make up for the fact that I would routinely need fairly expensive monitoring tests and that there was a significant chance that I would need some very, very expensive treatments: either in the near future in the case that I relapsed, or in the more distant future if I developed any of the myriad long-term or late effects of the treatment I received.

So I'm exactly the kind of person that this Mackey idiot thinks didn't need health insurance reform - and exactly the kind of person who needed it most.

For last couple of decades I have pretty much avoided shopping at Whole Paycheck for a variety of reasons, including having better alternatives - but have recently started shopping there more often, ironically, after meeting a recently-hired employee who was enthusiastic about the benefits, including health care.

Well, f*** that.

I'm going to make sure that Mackey knows exactly why I am no longer spending one red dime of my money at WF.

A few years ago I would walk to a swim club about a mile away, shop at WF then carry two bags home. Last year I started riding light rail to another swim club, shopping at another WF, then riding home.

But Whole Foods house brand, 365, hasn't been getting such good reviews lately. And now this.

(1) I called both WF stores we shop at, and told them I'll shop there no more.
(2) Called corporate HQ and told them the same.

PLEASE CALL YOUR LOCAL STORE (www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/service.php) AND CALL HQ (512.477.4455).

In the DC metropolitan area, we also have the alternative of MOMs Organic Markets. Whole Foods is history in our household (I was actually unaware that they were union-busters too). Boycotting Whole Foods will be a snap.

My shopping at Whole Foods just ceased. Brilliant move, Moron Mackey.

OK. I've been shopping less at Whole Foods lately anyway, but this is the last straw. From now on it's Trader Joe's, the local organic market, the farmers' market in season, and Food Lion.

So help me understand: Eating Whole Foods products will render me invulnerable to personal injury in a bad car crash? That is so KOOL!

And inoculate me against Influenza A H1N1 (current iteration)?? What a deal!

Where can I get me some!

To some extent, his message is right on. Being smarter is a good idea, even if it isn't easier. Still, valves go, gaskets and seals get compromised, and gunk builds up. Even eating the way my family does is certain to end in death.

My fear is that I'll have my heart attack before age 50, with no savings or insurance, or that I'll get the Swine Flu again this fall. I probably wouldn't die, but without fast action brain damage could take my IQ down below where it has to be to keep doing what I do. My wife and children would also suffer my heart attack.

And since we all have them, men, women, blacks... do hispanic people get heart attacks? Anyway, I can't understand why we don't just buy in bulk. RNC is stupid.

I just printed 30 copies of the Wall Street Op Ed and will be passing them out to customers at the WHole Foods down the street. It is mostly frequented by the dirtiest, f@ckingest hippies I've ever seen....they need to know. I urge you all to do the same and ask those you talk with to follow suit.

Dear [local WF outlet],

I was recently made aware of Whole Foods' CEO, John Mackey's position on our nations health care policy in an editorial he wrote the Wall Street Journal. I wanted you to know that although Whole Foods has been my primary grocery outlet since it opened, I will no longer be shopping there. Further, I will be influencing all of my friends to think twice about supporting your company with their patronage. We need action on the President's health care efforts that does not pander to ineffective conservative talking points. We need not water down the urgency of universal coverage with platitudes and thinly veiled marketing ploys for your company's products.

Thank you,

RangerMac

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MIN's TO READ AND COMMENT....

Yet, I am deeply concerned that the John Mackey, the "Hippy Hoover's" ideas are gaining traction, and am very disappointed in Obama's and, especially, congressional Dems handling of the health care issue to date. Too many of them are, at their cores, frightened soles.

The larger questions I'd really like to hear some feedback on are--

If there is a growing anti-government movement at a time when more and more Americans have never needed government more, what does it portend for the next few years?

If Obama is defeated on this issue-or given a Health Care Bill that is a sham and a shell--despite 60 Dems in the Senate, the support or acquiesence of the AMA, AARP, Pharmaceuticals, and the real reluctance of much of the insurance industry to oppose this with the resources and zeal they did in 1994 (because they know Obama is offering them the best deal they are are likely ever to get again)what, really, will be left of the Obama presidency?

Do you have faith that enough congressional Democrats have the fortitude to see beyond the shouters and daily polls and push this baby through?

Do any other readers feel, as I do, that the best shot Obama and the Dems have for future electoral success is to govern as if they were only going to have one term and do the right thing now?

Do any others feel that, if by a miracle real health care reform does make it, that most people will forget what it was they were against or uncertain about in the fist place?

Warning to Blue Dogs and the timid---trying to be GOP lites is almost certain to bring you one reward--Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell in 2011.

Um, I thought that the editorial made a lot of sense. There are too many incentives to pop a pill or get some fancy expensive procedure in the current system--it feels like you're getting something for nothing! It makes sense to incentivise cheaper alternatives, which in a lot of cases are actually wiser alternatives. High deductible plans with low premiums coupled with a savings account are a worthy idea. Taxing (or not taxing) employer-based and personal premiums the same is a worthy idea. The majority of this thread is a knee-jerk reaction to boycott Whole Foods--how about engaging the proposals with some deliberation?

Excellent example of the exercise of free speech. Similar to my not shopping there any more, except with a bigger effect on the stock price. BTW, I hear they're going out of business tomorrow.

while stupid and ridiculous, this does touch indirectly on a key part of health-care reform that MSM has only paid lip service to thus far: americans are unhealthy. obesity has skyrocketed, making for all kinds of expensive health problems that lead to higher health costs for everyone. we're obese in part because processed food is loaded with, among other unhealthy stuff, high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS is so plentiful because of government subsidies and tariffs that protect big corn growers like Archer Daniels Midland, which was instrumental in getting the subsidies and tariffs put in place. any serious discussion of health-care reform must take this into consideration.

Been a customer since the first store in Austin. No longer and let them--AND MOST OF MY FRIENDS ADN FAMILY--know it.

Alternatives in the Dallas, TX area are farmers markets, New Flower Market, HEB Central Market. . . Let me know if there are better alternatives.

Thanks for the info. I hope they get the message.

I've never been to a Whole Foods, or even seen one. Considering how everything I've heard is that it's ridiculously expensive, I'm kinda surprised by how many people say they shopped there in the first place.

Then again, I do live in Flyover Country.

Whole Foods in Portlandm Ore area has 5 stores. Portland goes about 80% progressive democrat. Since WF just decided to spit on the values of all its customers, Portlanders can decide they would rather shop New Seasons and Trader Joe's.

WF hates universal health care, WF hates unions. Screw'em.

I don't think this guy has any idea how many pennies I had to pinch to afford my Birkenstocks. How can I possibly afford to shop at Whole Foods?