If anything I'll shop at Whole Foods more. A public option will continue to hide the costs of healthcare from the people who pay for it (in the form of lower salaries currently, and higher taxes if we get a public plan), and will not bring prices down.
I'd be really curious to know what percentage of these boycotters ever really shopped at Whole Foods to begin with. That said, I wonder how passionately they believe in their cause, after all if they are such "single issue shoppers" they should be shopping at Walmart that is advocating the public option along with the SEIU (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02...).
I believe wal-mart support such a plan in order to drive out their competitors. Wal-mart can bear the burden of the cost of healthcare while smaller employers can't.
If there is a good reason to hate wal-mart, this is it.
I'm not surprised that Walmart would be advocating the public option, as with most major employers that depend on cheap labor, they'll do anything they can to avoid paying for healthcare.
I doubt it. None of the articles I've seen in major news sites discuss anything more than that he is against a public option. I would love to see some links to an in depth rebuttal of his points by an op-ed in a major news site.
Here's the thing I don't understand. Right now the US pays more per person than any other country in the world, and yet we have very little to show for it.
So I find it hard to believe that a public option, a single-payer system like Canada, or a socialized system like the UK will actually bankrupt us.
I REFUSE TO DO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE WHO DOESN'T BELIEVE EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS I DO REGARDING ANY ARBITRARY SUBJECT!
Seriously, though, this sort of senseless group-think annoys me. It also seems to stem from some sort of misguided belief that this is an 'ethical' company and that 'ethical' is a binary toggle that has to encompass everything an entity does or says in every regard - Suffice it to say that an increasingly significant part of me just wants to crawl into a hole and wait for the world to grow up.
I hope that there is no intersection between those who believe that the free market can respond to ethical concerns, because people will make consumption decisions based partly on ethics, and those who find this boycott contemptible.
It basically argues for a libertarian approach to health care. I'm a bit skeptical about some of the claims, but I certainly wouldn't boycott a grocer over it.
His opinion was one of the few articulate, well-considered, and practical alternatives to government-run health care. It's one of few essays actually worth debating.
Whole Foods employees actually like the system he's set up. It works.
I'm not happy with their greenwashing by getting rid of plastic bags and only having environmentally bad paper bags, but to boycott someone for what they said?
If this becomes common then free speech is fiction.
16 comments
[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 56.2 ms ] threadIf there is a good reason to hate wal-mart, this is it.
Where is our Galts Gulch?
So I find it hard to believe that a public option, a single-payer system like Canada, or a socialized system like the UK will actually bankrupt us.
What am I not understanding?
Seriously, though, this sort of senseless group-think annoys me. It also seems to stem from some sort of misguided belief that this is an 'ethical' company and that 'ethical' is a binary toggle that has to encompass everything an entity does or says in every regard - Suffice it to say that an increasingly significant part of me just wants to crawl into a hole and wait for the world to grow up.
Me too, but when I go out side and talk to real people I find very few of them are as simple minded as the group think they spout sometimes.
The boycotters seem to be demanding his dismissal. So are they basically asking a company to fire an employee for their political beliefs?
It basically argues for a libertarian approach to health care. I'm a bit skeptical about some of the claims, but I certainly wouldn't boycott a grocer over it.
His opinion was one of the few articulate, well-considered, and practical alternatives to government-run health care. It's one of few essays actually worth debating.
Whole Foods employees actually like the system he's set up. It works.
If this becomes common then free speech is fiction.