Investment group wants Mackey out
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25. PRNewswire
The CtW Investment Group called on the Whole Foods Market (NYSE:WFMI – News) board to remove CEO John Mackey as Chairman and to begin the process of naming a new CEO in a letter to Whole Foods’ lead independent director, Dr. John Elstrott, yesterday afternoon. Citing the risk to Whole Foods’ brand reputation caused by Mr. Mackey’s editorial opposing President Obama’s proposed healthcare reform, CtW urged the board to take immediate action to prevent continued damage in the face of a quickly-growing boycott by Whole Foods’ progressive customer base.
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[...] investment group called on the board of directors to oust [...]
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Steven M
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Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH
August 25, 2009 at 11:20 am
This guy emerged from his previous scandal with no problem. John Mackey wrote anonymous online attacks against a smaller rival and questioned why anyone would buy its stock, before Whole Foods announced an offer to buy the other company in 2007. What’s worse, he lords over an empire that makes claims about it’s food that do not always hold up to scrutiny. This guy is big business all the way–and he is showing us this again. It’s an outrage.
August 25, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I hope they pick a new CEO soon so I can start shopping at Whole Foods again!
August 25, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Much stronger medicine than simply a boycott is needed in this case, and we progressives must urge Obama himself to take action against Mackey. Please sign the petition at my name’s link and make your voice heard!
September 1, 2009 at 8:25 pm
i will never shop whole foods again ever!!!
August 25, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I love that you people admit to shopping at Whole Foods because of it’s image. Then, when the image is “tarnished”, you don’t want to shop there. So don’t.
There is nothing even remotely contentious in his article in WSJ. Read it. Right to healthcare!? Is that the problem? Show me the area of the Constitution that grants that right.
August 26, 2009 at 4:26 am
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
“promote the general Welfare” guarantees that right.
August 26, 2009 at 11:51 pm
The Constitution, as Logic points out, does address the issue. Aside from the Preamble, please turn to Article I, Section 8, line one for further details. If you don’t consider the “general welfare” to include something as fundamental as health, then that’s your opinion. It doesn’t change the fact that Mackey and people who share his views are wrong.
By the way, the Constitution doesn’t include a lot of fundamental policies that now exist and we take for granted. You might also be interested in the fact it evolves over time. Take a look at the Amendments. It was never meant as a document of exclusive ideals. It was meant as a document of major principles, inclusive to further progress. In regard to the US Constitution and policy, neocons/conservatives/libertarians who can’t comprehend something as simple as this are, indeed, quite troubling.
September 1, 2009 at 11:49 pm
And you and people who share YOUR views are wrong as well. So…it’s a draw. That was fun!
August 30, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I think Todd is a little confused about all of this. No one here said they shopped at WF because of “it’s (sic) image”.
The reason most of us used to shop at WF was the quality of its food and the relatively healthier ingredients in most of its products.
We also thought we were supporting a company whose policies were relatively progressive. “Image” was something no one mentioned, except for Todd.
Now we have new information, provided by the vile comments of their CEO, John Mackey.
And, based on that new information, we no longer choose to spend money at WF.
Any questions?
August 31, 2009 at 12:28 am
I thought we had free speech in the United States of America
August 30, 2009 at 4:06 pm
If I had a Whole Foods in my area, I would START shopping there. Mackey was right on the money. My wife and I have an HSA. We are in our mid 40′s and only pay $300/month for a $2500 deductible plan. We get 40% all health care expense in our HSA for what we have to pay for. This country became great because of our unique form of limited government that promotes freedom and rewards individual ambition and responsibility. The USA is being crushed financially by failed federal social programs. Social Security and Medicare alone is facing a $50 TRILLION DOLLAR UNFUNDED LIABILITY. IT IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. Our country is being destroyed by Congressional greed and mismanagement by BOTH PARTIES. The 10th amendment limits the federal government to the powers SPECIFICALLY listed in the Constitution – GENERAL WELFARE is not specific. The last thing we need is more responsible, tax-paying citizens being violated even more by the fed than they already are. The “Total Cost of Government” on each American is over 60% (all tax on business is included in the cost of the products we buy). If drastic cuts aren’t made in the federal government, the United States of America will cease to exist. We are headed towards total economic collapse thanks to the unconstitutional expanse and mismanagement of Washington. Federal Health care will just collapse us sooner rather than later. We are witnessing the demise of the greatest nation in the world – it really grieves me.
August 31, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Last I checked, France, the UK, Canada, and the countless other “westernized” countries that have public health care options have not collapsed. No one disagrees that wasteful spending must be curbed in all areas, especially wasteful military-industrial expenses. It’s damn time to correct the largest income inequality gap in history of the US and up progressive taxes on the wealthiest.
Health care, however, is one of the areas where we need to spend money. It’s a moral imperative. It’s fundamental to our future. The only way we’re going to witness “the demise of the greatest nation in the world” (as you so proudly or perhaps arrogantly claim) is if we continue down the path of leaving people to die and letting a corrupt market feed on their very lives. The path of returning to “greatness” in America is providing the security and peace of mind of health care for our entire society. That means giving people an option to have public health insurance.
August 31, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Back in 2008, this Whole Foods, CEO John Mackey (how old is this kid?), was caught posting negative comments (trash talk) about a competitor on Yahoo Finance message boards in an effort to push down the stock price. So now I am suppose to take this loser seriously? Please, snore, snore.
It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do not want “faceless bureaucrats” making medical decisions but they have no problem with “private sector” “faceless bureaucrats” daily declining medical coverage and financially ruining good hard working people (honestly where can they go with a pre-condition). And who says that the “private sector” is always right, do we forget failures like Long-Term Capital, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Of course the federal government will destroy heathcare by getting involved, Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. I can understand why some may think that the federal government will fail, if you look at the past eight years as a current history, with failures like the financial meltdown and Katrina but the facts is they can and if we support them they will succeed.
How does shouting down to stop the conversation of the healthcare debate at town hall meetings, endears them to anyone. Especially when the organizations that are telling them where to go and what to do and say are Republicans political operatives, not real grassroots. How does shouting someone down or chasing them out like a “lynch mob” advanced the debate, it does not. So I think the American people will see through all of this and know, like the teabagger, the birthers, these lynch mobs types AKA “screamers” are just the same, people who have to resort to these tactics because they have no leadership to articulate what they real want. It’s easy to pickup a bus load of people who hate, and that’s all I been seeing, they hate and can’t debate. Too bad.
September 5, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Come on – no new blog posts in over a week? You convey the impression that nothing is happening.