John Mackey and I share at least one thing in common, we both work for Whole Foods Market (WFM). He is CEO, myself an average employee or "team member"–simple facts which yield striking disparities in wealth, power, and perspective. Facts which help to illuminate the stark contrasts between our views on healthcare and the importance of public opinion.
Over the last few years, WFM employees have watched their wages stagnate as top executives received the largest pay increase in the company’s history.
Recently, as Wall Street announced1 that WFM had beat third-quarter sales projections–raising "its full-year earnings forecast"–the company announced to its employee’s that they will be forced to shoulder the burden of rising healthcare costs. As a result, employees will be paying substantially more for medical insurance, including major increases in deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums.
So in the midst of the current "economic crisis," which continues to destroy middle and low-income families while much of the wealthiest sector of the population is reaping tremendous—in some cases, unprecedented rewards—it’s not surprising that in the "debate" over healthcare reform, John Mackey and others in the prosperous minority, have ignored public opinion choosing to extend corporate freedom.
In a notable study2 put out several years ago warning Americans of the "failure" of national health insurance and the "secret," assuredly fatal "risk" involved if they choose to follow the rest of the industrialized world, issues regarding the distribution of wealth and public opinion received scant attention. What little was discussed was perversely reserved to dispel common "myths" regarding so-called "socialized medicine." Thus it is no great surprise that in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (8/11/09) Mackey offers a "Whole Foods Alternative" healthcare strategy that takes near verbatim bullet points from this study.
Unlike the majority of Americans who favor some form of national health insurance and believe the wealthy should pay more in taxes to help fund it (Gallup Poll 7/31/09), Mackey insists we should grant more freedom to insurances companies, and place a greater burden on healthcare "consumers." No doubt truly admirable goals, sure to add to the prosperity of wealthy corporations "through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges," relegating his concept of "individual empowerment" to meaningless obscurity.
Along with his upmost and sincere empathy for the sick, disadvantaged, elderly, and disabled, Mackey tries to impart his generous and thoughtful wisdom, by reminding us that we have no "intrinsic right" to healthcare. However, contrary to his "careful" reading of our nation’s most revered documents (Declaration of Independence and Constitution), the Founding Fathers were quite explicit in acknowledging the obvious limitations inherent in predicting the future, including the choices of its citizens: ultimately, such decisions like guaranteed "rights," "must altogether depend on public opinion, and on the general spirit of the people and of the government…"3
To dismiss the overwhelming concerns of the public requires extreme contempt for democracy, or perhaps just a lengthy tenure in Austin as head of a "progressive" corporation. Here, inside Mackey’s cherished commune of private enterprise, right opinion is strictly reserved for wise leaders who promulgate with rhetorical flourish, guided by "passion and purpose."
Fortunately, unlike the corporation, democracies are not bound by the dictates of one or even a few outspoken CEO’s. To ensure a healthy democracy, the citizens of this country would do well to insist, as did the Founding Fathers, that it is the opinion of the general public, not the privileged few, we must "seek for the only solid basis of all our rights."
Nick Theodosis is a Whole Foods Employee in San Francisco.
1 "Whole Foods Profit Tops View, Shares Up." New York Times. 8/04/09.
2 Goodman, John C. et al. 2004. Lives at Risk: Single-Payer National Health Insurance Around the World.
3 Hamilton, Alexander. Federalist No. 84.
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