Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Join the discussion… Avatar oneleft1 • 3 days ago 'I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.' – Thomas Jefferson. “The power of all corporations ought to be limited . . . the growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.” – James Madison 26 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil oneleft1 • 3 days ago I'll vote for that. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Ron • 3 days ago 'There’s no way to ‘fix’ corporations’ compulsion to produce ever more, ever more cheaply. It’s written into the DNA of global capitalism.' Now combine the above with the enormous spending elephant in the giant capitalism room. Well actually the LACK of spending elephant. The aforementioned elephant in the room, which is seemingly being ignored, is actually a very simple math problem. The lower, lower middle and middle classes by percentage, purchase the overwhelming majority of goods and services produced. As the income levels for these demographics continue to drop, there will be less goods and services purchased. Who's going to buy the cars, shoes, clothes, services, even food, in our worldwide consumer based economy? After all the upper 5% can only purchase so many cars, or clothes, or shoes, or food, or whatever. So who's going to pick up the slack here? The wealthy and ultra-wealthy? The reality? You can't sell a product or service if people are not being paid enough to afford it. And the bottom line is more and more people are reaching that point in our wonderful (sarcasm intended) neoliberal/globalist based economy. 23 • Reply•Share › Avatar WeGotta Ron • 3 days ago A stopgap solution of the capitalists is to steal tax revenue so we can't even tell we pay for it. 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar Ron WeGotta • 3 days ago A very valid point. And they do so by controlling legislation that allows them to continuously write tax laws that enable them to do so. Which of course I'm sure you already know. All while convincing gullible Americans (and for that matter citizens in other countries as well) that those tax laws will help EVERYBODY. Which of course is royal crock. 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar Chris Donovan Ron • 3 days ago the poor serfs will buy.....will make them lol....your point is valid :) 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Ron Chris Donovan • 3 days ago 'You load sixteen tons, what do you get Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store' • Reply•Share › Avatar SticksInMyCraw • 3 days ago Whole Foods is a poor model to cite. First, it's publicly-owned, so it must answer to shareholders rather than its own employees. Second, John Mackey, their CEO, is a libertarian who infamously published a Wall Street Journal editorial bad-mouthing public health care (WTF?), and later opined that global warming 'may not be such a bad thing'. I don't understand why self-described progressives would even consider shopping there. A better and more authentically progressive model is New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado (the brewers of Fat Tire Ale): privately-owned, with its workers having considerable say in company operations, and enjoying really nice benefits if they stick around for a few years. New Belgium develops & buys renewable energy for its own business operations. It has done much to promote cycling transportation alternatives in Fort Collins and nationwide. And it won my heart in 2014 for sending a representative to hostile Senate hearings in Washington to testify in SUPPORT of the proposed new 'Waters of the U.S.' rule (which would extend Clean Water Act protections farther into our nation's headwaters and wetlands ... so, of course, Republicans oppose it). I know there are many other good models out there. Bob's Red Mill food products (worker-owned) in Milwaukie, Oregon, for another example. Worker-owned businesses need to be the wave of the future if we want to reverse the continued decimation of worker rights and benefits. 21 • Reply•Share › Avatar Steve1027 SticksInMyCraw • 3 days ago Worker coops FTW!! As Richard Wolff puts it, 'Democratize the enterprise'. 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar alex carter Steve1027 • 3 days ago This is the answer. Co-ops. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar Wide Awake In America alex carter • 3 days ago The Co-op in here in Reno is incredibly expensive, it makes Whole Foods look like Walmart. • Reply•Share › Avatar Stephanie SticksInMyCraw • 3 days ago King Arthur flour, out of Vermont, is a employee-owned B Corporation. They specialize in flour, baking items, baking pans. People in the baking business know about them. I've been a loyal customer for 15 years. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar gininitaly • 3 days ago It's time for the mega corporations to die... on a finite planet unfettered growth is suicide! It's time to get back to a real 'free market' economy that's smaller, local, seasonal and more cooperative, with a sense of community that cherishes human connection and feels responsible for the health of the planet that nurtures us... and accept that being less Wall St. profitable is to the benefit of everyones quality of life. We should be able to choose and even encouraged to be surrounded by people who don't need to be lured into being addicted consumers and debtors for the profits of the very few who already have so much money that they have decided that humanity and the planet itself are expendable as long as they hold all the chips. This is madness. 19 • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett gininitaly • 3 days ago As someone knowingly said back in the 1970s - 'Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell.' In a country obsessed with 'MORE!' that obvious truth was largely ignored. 8 • Reply•Share › Avatar gininitaly brucebennett • 3 days ago Absolutely! • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil gininitaly • 3 days ago Free Enterprise. We can do it but it needs some remodeling for the times. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar bill gorrell Sybil • a day ago Free enterprise is the problem this article is about. It needs to be abolished. • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil bill gorrell • a day ago Piracy is the problem and Capitalism has taken on the costume of the Pirate. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar larrymotuz • 3 days ago Why do I get the feeling that 'conscious capitalism' requires 'unconscious buyers'? 16 • Reply•Share › Avatar Jackie larrymotuz • 3 days ago And enough woke up, that sales fell. It is a good sign! 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar jrny2ixtland larrymotuz • 3 days ago zombie capitalism ! 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar George Washington larrymotuz • 3 days ago Unconscious buyers who are living the American Dream because they´re asleep. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar larrymotuz George Washington • 3 days ago Living a nightmare; thinking it's a dream. Tisn't. • Reply•Share › Avatar BRCitizen (Greg) • 3 days ago Conscious capitalism is like humanitarian war. 16 • Reply•Share › Avatar nineteen50 BRCitizen (Greg) • 3 days ago It is a oxymoron. 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar George Washington BRCitizen (Greg) • 3 days ago And Hillary owns stock in Whole Foods. Cuz she´s such a conscious capitalist and compassionate conservative and humanitarian warrior!! Hurray for Hillary! 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar airvicemarshalpark • 3 days ago Whole Foods is nothing more than a throwback to the Yuppie era of the 1980s. As such, it can never veer from that path of cultural antiquity, conspicuous consumption, big shoulder pads and sheepskin car seats in your BMW. It was an era when paying too much for things that used to be cheap was a virtue itself. It is not without notice that the WF model arose in the Austin of the '80s. A time when Austin stopped being weird for weird's sake and turned Yuppie. 16 • Reply•Share › Avatar Drclaw99 airvicemarshalpark • 3 days ago it really depends on what you buy there. Processed goods are as you say, but their basic produce is competitive with others, particularly when you are buying local and regional. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil airvicemarshalpark • 3 days ago What are you remembering about a time before you were even born? • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett • 3 days ago I used to live in southern Marin County, CA and I once paid a visit to the Whole Foods store in Mill Valley to get a sense of what all the hype was about. The first thing I noticed was the large number of high-end cars parked outside. Inside, I did indeed see the 'mood' of the store and the happy high-end consumers paying too much money for their goods. Later, I heard about Mackey's aversion to unions and regulations and decided that I would never return to his fancy, pretentious store. I was quite satisfied to shop at two local markets that had lower prices and none of the attitude. Looks like Mackey's bullshit about 'conscious capitalism' is going down in flames. What a surprise. 13 • Reply•Share › Avatar nineteen50 brucebennett • 3 days ago Just like compassionate conservatism, coined by the same Wall Street ad agency. 12 • Reply•Share › Avatar George Washington nineteen50 • 3 days ago Well, surprise surprise surprise!! 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar Stephanie brucebennett • 3 days ago My family and I decided to stop shopping at Whole Foods when we compared prices with our local Co-op. Our teeny tiny Co-op offered better prices overall. An unbelievable proposition when you factored in that they had absolutely no purchasing power to speak of. 12 • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett Stephanie • 3 days ago In my new home here in the Northwest I also shop at the local Co-op. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar Stephanie brucebennett • 3 days ago Co-ops are wonderful. I'm glad you found one. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar Political Atheist • 3 days ago mackey, once a democrat, became a libertarian when he made the big bucks. funny how that is. there is no conscious capitalism at whole foods: once they strove for good customer service and to educate the public on eating better but now, they have cut staff and dept budgets to the bone, screwing employees and the 'good customer service' they always, in the past, extolled. and if you actually read the ingredients on their 365 products, they are no better, and in some cases worst than the stuff you by at regular super market. macky just wants his bread buttered on both sides. just another bullshit artist. 12 • Reply•Share › Avatar Neo-prog • 3 days ago There's no such animal as 'conscious capitalism'. That's just bullshit jargon dreamed up by bubble-dwellers and PR whores. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar ky ho • 3 days ago But, but where will I get my 6$ Asparagus Water now? So 'Conscious Capitalism' is along the lines of 'Compassionate Conservatism', the descriptor is the exact opposite of what it purports to be and what goes on behind the curtains. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett ky ho • 2 days ago The same shameless, cynical approach that Regressives use when they name their appalling legislation. The so-called 'Clear Skies Act' of 2003 decided that air polluters should be self-policing and regulating. Yeah, that'll work. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar KarlWheatley • 3 days ago The healthiest foods are whole foods without added salt, sugar and fat, and such foods have inherently low profit margins compared to processed foods. The healthiest economy is one with broad prosperity, and that requires strong unions, highly-progressive taxation, effective regulation, and vigorous monopoly busting. Given these premises, the kind of economic system and kind of food sellers we need simply will not be returning high rates of return to investors--much more money will end up in the pockets of farmers, clerks and people stocking shelves, and consumers. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar WeGotta KarlWheatley • 3 days ago Ah shucks. You mean investors will have to get a real job for money that will be taxed at the same rate as farmers, clerks and people stocking shelves? 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar Ptl_Mancuso WeGotta • 3 days ago All these vulture capitalists and hedge funds and lobbyists and deregulators! The financial sector's control over the wealth of our nation has grown like a huge tumor over the past 35 years (since Reagan, at least). They add NOTHING of value. NOTHING! And merely push papers and rumors and people to manipulate and suck out any and all value from the system. But everything is couched in terms of 'we know what we're doing and it's all for the best in the best of all possible worlds', which is echoed by all the MSMs and Gov't critters, while we get bled dry. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar WeGotta Ptl_Mancuso • 3 days ago Preach! F'n cancer is right. It doesn't make sense (to me anyway) to argue amongst ourselves about anything political unless and until the corruption is dealt with. All the left/right republican/democrat stuff is a distraction. Let's get a transparent, open and accountable government and then we'll see whose ideas are 'best'. 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar Mr. Kite! Ptl_Mancuso • 3 days ago Particularly apt description for the healthcare racket errrr insurance syndicate errrr industry as well • Reply•Share › Avatar MarkN KarlWheatley • 2 days ago Those same foods you mention are also incredibly boring to eat - probably one of the reasons they're 'healthy' is that no one sane would want seconds! Making boring food varied, interesting and still 'healthy' tends to be labour intensive and involve expensive ingredients, and the results are therefore expensive overall. Whole Foods Market does a pretty good job at getting a decent balance, (and I know people who work there who enjoy it and are passionate about their work) but when you add the need to give shareholders dividends and the antics of their CEO, it becomes a problem. I would want to give them credit for pioneering a concept of delivering decent food on the same scale as the big supermarkets and forcing them to up their game, but capitalism is brutal if you don't keep innovating..... • Reply•Share › Avatar Agamemnon_man • 3 days ago Whole Foods is a temple to food myths. It is not a champion of 'Conscious Capitalism.' It capitalizes on the society's food myths which it can charge higher prices. Apparently, the number of people who believe in food myths, and have the finances to afford their myths, has not increased so that Whole Foods could grow as required by Wall Street. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil Agamemnon_man • 3 days ago They opened a store in Eugene where we have 6 excellent Natural and Organic foodstores owned by locals and in business for over 35 years, not to mention the local stores that are happy to carry the foods their customers want to buy. Rather than support the business that have stuck by this town for so long they approved this new business and it's building at the promise of a handful of jobs. The business was already in trouble and being sued for false claims on products and false labeling of products. They started-up in Eugene with many locals already on record to Boycott the business. And now WholeFoods is already circling the drain. That is Capitalism, delusional myths and self-destruction. In a few years it will be another empty building in town or the latest Goodwill store. 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar George Washington Sybil • 3 days ago Sundance Natural Foods will always be a thousand times better than Whole Foods. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar WeGotta Sybil • 3 days ago Ah yes, the fake charity called goodwill. Goodwill, dollar store, check cashing and chilis. No matter where in the us you live. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil WeGotta • 3 days ago And their terribly exploitive worker programs (mentally challenged adults). 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar WeGotta Sybil • 3 days ago Yes, it's disgusting. Gold star to you for being a responsible citizen. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil WeGotta • 3 days ago Just one of Eugene's crusty old Greens. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar Steve1027 • 3 days ago Whole Foods represents the failure of just plain capitalism. Remember how they used to use prison slave labor? The profit motive is a crappy way to organize a global civilization. In fact, it's precipitated the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth. Kill the system before it kills us and much of everything else too. 11 • Reply•Share › Avatar Imbebe Umbeaucoup • 3 days ago Actually the problem could be solved by corporations simply following Henry Fords' (not altogether altruistic) model of paying their employees a decent enough wage that they could afford to purchase the products they are producing. 10 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil Imbebe Umbeaucoup • 3 days ago And as Ford discovered Capitalism just doesn't work that way. It is either Bust immediately or Boom and Bust but there are no stable or sustainable Capitol ventures. They just keep busting. 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar Richard Coolidge Sybil • 3 days ago Yes I often thought that the boom bust cycles of capitalism mimics mental illness. Bipolarity really with its manic highs and lows. Capitalism, as it is now, is insane. No disrespect intended to those with mental illness. My oldest brother is schizophrenic so I know the turmoils of such 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar madisontruth • 3 days ago It is important that the predatory nature of the model be reframed in as many ways as it takes to trigger a grass roots reaction. While Whole Foods may seem innocuous enough to the well-meaning urban resident or suburbanite, it is not one which will ever evolve into a more sustainable version of itself. But don't take my word for it, ask the company's employee's who tried to unionize there. 9 • Reply•Share › Avatar NoldorElf • 3 days ago Isn't it obvious? Whole Foods' business model has been to use appeals to emotion to sell the same organic food at 3-4x the price you can get anywhere else. Meanwhile they are participating in the destruction of the middle class. Without a good middle class, nobody can afford their overpriced food. Fewer and fewer people can afford to buy, while the few who can cannot justify the costs. You know, the rich can only eat so much food. It's not like other items, like when you hear about the rich with dozens of cars or mansions. Capitalism is its own worst enemy. Ironically, at least here in Canada, I find prices are better and the meat is better quality at my local farmer's market, along with some local butchers who personally know the farmers they buy their meats and other food items from. This whole 'hipster' appeal shows what is wrong with capitalism. Hipsters and the target demographic are under financial stress. That's because of Wall Street and capitalists. Meanwhile, they try to stuff goods down people's throats using PR and feel goodism that people cannot afford any more. Capitalism as a model is facing a self-inflicted problem in that class warfare is totally unsustainable. 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar C Knox NoldorElf • 3 days ago Whole Foods has just opened in Victoria B.C. Some prices are even lower than my usual market. Generally they are same as other organic stores However, there were about 10 patrons in 2 acres of floor space 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Neo-prog C Knox • 3 days ago I went to that store once. Drank one of their overpriced smoothies then stepped outside to gack it up by Save-on-Foods. Never went back and never will. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar berrylium • 3 days ago Mr. Mackey fails to appreciate the difference between conscious capitalism and capitalism with a conscience, which is, perhaps a contradiction in terms. Now his business model will be eaten alive by the mindless cancer of growth that is American capitalism. All that aside, where will one be able to go to buy food that isn't long-term slow poison? I cannot help but think of the Kushner family viewing slums as real estate 'asset classes' and ignoring the health and comfort of the tenants who are seen only as objects to be exploited. In like manner, the new owners of Whole Foods will not care what harm they do to customers as long as they can keep a productive asset class in their portfolios. 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil berrylium • 3 days ago The only way I can buy fresh organic food these days is to grow it myself or buy it from farmers that I know. Even the organic food stores are buying corporate organic vegetables and fruits and like all food grown in mass without a diverse landscape, there is no flavor in the food. 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar Dana Clark • 3 days ago Whole Foods can start by getting rid of their snooty attitude too.. why should people have to pay more for healthy foods anyway? 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar smith Jones Dana Clark • 3 days ago they seemed pretty reasonable to me. Just went there once.There attitude? they left me alone mostly. Safeway has the same price food , They try to be friendly to the point of being passive aggressive and their food sucks I have to wear earplugs to block out the loud sleazy music 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Wide Awake In America Dana Clark • 3 days ago You obviously have never shopped there. • Reply•Share › Avatar soapboxofrocks • 3 days ago Hey lets not forget the experience of actually working in one of these abortions. To the testimonial, not one has described it as anything more than the underpaid, exploitative, toxic, deprived, worse than retail or restaurant 'job' than it truly is. There is nothing the least bit enlightened about this reportedly shitty workplace. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar JT soapboxofrocks • 3 days ago Actually, I know several people who work for Whole Foods and it's good job with great benefits. They take care of their people. • Reply•Share › Avatar sherlockhemlock JT • 2 days ago No they don't. http://socialistworker.org/... Those people you know--that is, if they aren't fictional--have been smoking the kale. • Reply•Share › Avatar smith Jones soapboxofrocks • 3 days ago do you work there? • Reply•Share › Avatar Drclaw99 • 3 days ago I shop at WF (for fresh stuff only) and will continue to do so for as long as they have regional organic produce, which cannot be found at other places, including my local food co-op. Still-it had a positive impact for a time, as the rise of it's competitors shows. But-one cannot complain about the cost of local and regional organic food while at the same time bemoaning the ascendance of walmart; local and regional is always going to be more expensive because the cost of labor dominates the final product cost. Walmart, and now WF has gone to large scale producers precisely because people value cheap over good. No-capitalism will not save the planet, but it also is possible to have a better model for it. The problem is that Mackey is committed to capitalism first, and ethical behavior is used as a selling point. There are other companies reverse these priorities. Clearly though,the system is broken since it rewards rapacious behavior. lack of shareholder transparency, no checks on executive compensation, crony boards etc all incentive the extraction of wealth as opposed to the creation of it. Models that incentivize worker owned means of production, penalize large differences between worker and white collar salaries, make corporations responsible for the product over it's entire life cycle can ameliorate this. Unfortunately this is impossible when or govt is a wholly owned corporate subsidiary. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar bill gorrell Drclaw99 • a day ago .'The system' isn't broken, it's working perfectly for those who run it. 'The system' is the problem for the rest of us. 'The system' needs to be destroyed. • Reply•Share › Avatar VoxFox • 3 days ago Only 100% family-owned businesses can resist the unlimited greed of parasitic share owners. Capitalism was a flawed system from its birth - based on the WORST assumptions about human beings. Rockefeller and the other Robber Barons were despicable human beings, as are most of today's CEOs; criminals seeking out of jail. Good Riddance, you Rotten Slobs! 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar Daniel Lavigne • 3 days ago 'Conscious Capitalism'? Is that what might save us as the world falls apart due everyone's greed for 'More!'? Gads! Why are we exposed to this non-stop continuity of CONSCIOUS CRAP? For any Parents that MIGHT still care about their Children's future: Our collective drive for 'More!' must now END as we face the desperate need to STORE all Personal Vehicles . . or tell our Children that, due our love affair with 'Our Prized Mobility' . . their future will not be what was hoped and anticipated! A special note to any who, totally distraught by the reality of what we face, are now considering 'Suicide': Please note that 'Pre-Departure Donations'are being accepted from individuals prepared to outline 'why' they have decided to choose that route . . as opposed to joining the effort to otherwise wake the world. http://PreDepartureDonation... 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar TheRealMidnite • 3 days ago Lol! Well, if you fell for such an obvious red herring as 'conscious capitalism' (or it's even lamer and just as thoroughly inbred cousin, 'green capitalism') you really have only yourself to blame... 4 • Reply•Share › Avatar nineteen50 • 3 days ago ' We don’t need to rein in corporations through onerous labor and environmental regulations, he writes, because the virtuous feedback loop of honoring stakeholders plus innovation will leave 'unconscious' firms like Walmart in the dust.' Just what they have been saying since the 20s 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar Stephanie nineteen50 • 3 days ago Innovation and Technology, two words that have been continuously abused and misused to fool the masses, by the corporate world. 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar Richard Coolidge Stephanie • 3 days ago Thing is innovation and Technology are not inherently good. Some aspects are good some are not. Sure we have wonderous things now like refrigeration, the Internet and TV that people hundreds of years ago didn't have. We also live under the threat of extinction due to Nuclear War and climate change. Also things people hundreds of years ago didn't have. 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar Veri1138 • 3 days ago Couple of years ago, it was revealed that Whole Foods had some unsavory members of the board. Then, WF gets caught drastically overcharging customers in NY and elsewhere. While using prison labor. Whole Foods? Whole Scam. 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar zeusspeaks • 3 days ago This partial 'neoliberalism' matched to the phony 'libertarian ideology' as some sort of business creed is as empty as your wallet leaving the stores. It is vacuous nonsense and dribble from the profiteers of the old school variety designed to fool the 'ready to buy into any vaguely airy statements about doing good while I profit from you' types. As if they are doing you a favor... 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar Pat Goudey OBrien • 3 days ago Whole Foods drove people away with their CEO's libertarian pronouncements as much as with anything having to do with 'prices' or 'sourcing.' I remember the cold setting in there about two years ago, at least. It trashed its own reputation. Not smart capitalism of ANY stripe. 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar Jay Reedy • 3 days ago Yes; and I predict a renewal of interest in Marx's insightful and prescient analysis of the exploitative workings and dynamics of capitalism, whether in Trump's America or Putin's Russia.. 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett Jay Reedy • 3 days ago Marx also said something which has come true in the U.S. He said that history repeats itself - first as tragedy (Bush the Idiot) and then as farce (Trump the Bloated Buffoon. We could very well be witnessing the end of our republic by so-called 'Republicans'. 9 • Reply•Share › Avatar alex carter • 3 days ago Years ago there was a write-up on the internet about Whole Foods' Republican background and ties with the Bush family. It's long been disappeared, but anyone who thinks WF is run by cool hippie-dippies is delusional. I grew up with 'health foods' as a 70's kid on the North Shore of the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It was funny how many of the brands were German names. When I got older, I got into reading about history and politics and to put it bluntly, 'pure food' movements are much more prevalent on the Right than on the Left. To simplify: Rightists tend to want pure food for *their* people while leftists were always more concerned with everyone getting fed. I'll keep going to Whole Foods because a lot of things there are cheaper or a better value than at Safeway. Safeway's even stopped selling my favorite tea, so I'll go to WF for that. They have the best sunflower seeds, and their sardines are better/cheaper. They're a go-to for many vitamins and things like that. Their 'buffet' setup, beer from cheap and common (PBR) to expensive, and a place to sit and eat/drink, is super nice. A bit of olives and cheese and a tall can of PBR on a hot day? Yes, please! That their CEO is a libertarian asshole does not surprise me. What am I supposed to do, boycott WF and shop from some *other* libertarian asshole's store? Changing out one CEO is not going to fix things. Capitalism's gonna capitalise. Buy ... whole foods. Cook at home. Buy stuff that's as little processed as possible. My cart looks like a typical cart in a 1970s health food store - bunch'a nuts, seeds, veggies, really basic stuff. If everyone shopped like me WF would be in deep shit. 5 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sirios • 3 days ago Whole Foods is the super market with rodeo drive prices. You go Shopping for cheese at $10 dollars a pound , while wearing your fifty dollar calvin klein briefs. 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar Wide Awake In America Sirios • 3 days ago They also sell cheese for five dollars a bag/brick. If you had ever really shopped there you would know this . • Reply•Share › Avatar Sirios Wide Awake In America • 3 days ago Mostly sarcasm. It's my all time favorite store, San Rafael that is. Love the store hate the prices. • Reply•Share › Avatar wildthang • 2 days ago It is the economy. Too much excessive profit taking on society limits the limited discretionary spending to what can be afforded and that leaves some spending impossible. Plus our complex society is constantly increasing necessities while not increasing paychecks. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Historical • 2 days ago This article is inherently untrue from a shopper at all the stores mentioned, with the exception of Kroeger. None of the stores mentioned in WF competition can compare to WF organic veg/fruit varieties. I think what is driving away WF;s customers is price. They are too expensive to be a family store, yet if families could they would buy organic products regularly; afterall we are all conscious of the dangers of pesticide laden foods and want to eradicate them from our diets; people with limited budgets want the same food choice opportunities. It is just that simple. If WF would roll back their organic fruit/veggie prices, it is certain that they will regain an edge on their competitors. Start there first. Just lowering these prices without compromising on other items in the store would be the winning ticket for this company. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar JT • 3 days ago Maybe the problem with Whole Foods is that their prices are just too high. And, when Aldi's has organic produce for 1/4 the price that Whole Foods charges, well, consumers are spending wisely. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Jackie • 3 days ago You know the little shoppin carts they got... https://www.youtube.com/wat... 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar PeterBurgess • 3 days ago Capitalism has worked well for a long time, not perfect by any means, but a system that has enabled a huge improvement in quality of life over the past 200 years. I studied engineering and economics at Cambridge and graduated in 1961. I became a Chartered Accountant in 1965 and have been involved in both corporate decision making and assisting in international development and humanitarian relief. Much of capitalism is very good, but bits of it are rotten to the core. I believe it is important to be clear about what is good and what is not ... and in fact to start measuring not only the profit of the company and the increase in the stock price, but to measure with numbers the impact a business has on society and the environment. Without such metrics, serious long term value investors cannot make good decisions and are always in danger of being upstaged by the gamblers. Peter Burgess ( http://truevaluemetrics.org ) 1 • Edit• Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett PeterBurgess • 3 days ago Your comments seem to support the notion that capitalism was the only way to achieve a 'huge improvement in quality of life' but that isn't true. Social democracies like Sweden are making the American system look archaic and inhumane while creating vibrant economies that are better than ours. For evidence of this I urge people to look at the Young Turks on YouTube by typing in 'How Swede It Is' and see for yourself. One of the great con jobs of our time is that the present form of capitalism is the best way that goods and services can be created. The glories of the so-called 'free market' from apologists like Milton Freeman is a myth. 8 • Reply•Share › Avatar blonderealist brucebennett • 3 days ago I submit that a key reason those Social Democracies - such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, etc. are able to finance their generally excellent social welfare programs is because of capitalism. I say this not as a criticism of those countries' systems, only as a recognition that capitalism is in many ways alive and well throughout Europe. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar brucebennett blonderealist • 3 days ago Yes, a REGULATED form of capitalism, something which is anathema to the American way of triumphalism, market dominace and greed. They also have 'proportional representation' in some of the governments of Europe which will likely never happen in 'winner take all' America. It is quite fitting that European leaders should seriously talk of separating themselves from the machinations of the U.S. 9 • Reply•Share › Avatar jrny2ixtland blonderealist • 3 days ago They use the 'Dog Feed Dog' version. 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar bill gorrell blonderealist • a day ago They're not selfish assholes like US people. • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil PeterBurgess • 3 days ago What wrecks this argument is the attempt to mush Free Enterprise and Capitalism into the same definition. They are not the same thing. Free Enterprise is the oldest and most widespread economy amongst humans around the globe, second to it and existing with it communal ownership. Capitalism is the exploitation arm of private ownership and market control. It does not reach back into our deep human past. It is a product of late agricultural development and social stratification. 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar bill gorrell Sybil • a day ago Free enterprise is capitalism. • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil bill gorrell • a day ago Propaganda! 1 • Reply•Share › Avatar Sybil bill gorrell • 5 hours ago Bait by bullshit. • Reply•Share › Avatar VoxFox PeterBurgess • 3 days ago Numbers don't cut it. We need clear, GOOD values. Accountants help capitalists, not society. 7 • Reply•Share › Avatar alverant PeterBurgess • 3 days ago What I've found is that many pro-capitalism conservatives won't admit their economic system has flaws. It's like how they think about God, perfect and if you say otherwise then you're EVIL-LE! The issue is investors have the least stake in the company but have the most power. 6 • Reply•Share › Avatar George Washington PeterBurgess • 3 days ago Sounds great. Triple bottom line as the proper metric of a good company. And how do you suggest that this new metric be enforced in a country that is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Wall Street and predatory monopoly corporations? 2 • Reply•Share › Avatar Harry Warren PeterBurgess • 3 days ago Another bean counter has escaped from his cubicle. Call DHS. 3 • Reply•Share › Avatar bill gorrell PeterBurgess • a day ago Capitalism needs to go. It's an irrational belief system that's destroying the livable environment while destroying or stunting countless human lives. I have an MS in Communicaton, blah blah blah.... I've spent two days crawling around on structural steel running a chipping hammer to remove old fireproofing. I've been scared of falling the whole time. I'm 61 years old and am terrified of a crippling injury before I can afford to retire, mainly due to the US's for-profit health care system. I'm pretty pissed at capitalism destroying my life and our livable environment. Shit man, capitalism has brought us to the point where it's now probable that humanity may not survive this century. I'd like to have a retirement without civilization collapsing around me. You're doing a hell of a lot better with capitalism than I am. • Reply•Share › Avatar rtb61 • 14 hours ago Free market capitalism is a system designed around failure not success. A system designed around success, means do good enough and you succeed. A system designed around failure means, no matter how good you do, if you do not make enough profit you fail. Note it has nothing to do with how good a job you do, just how much you make, if you make a lot and the whole thing implodes after you make your profits, fine. If you do a good job but someone else makes more money doing a crap job, you lose, they put you out of business. All companies fail in capitalism, they win for a time and then they lose and collapse, leaving massive holes in the economy. Not too damaging if they are small but the bigger they are, the more damage they do when they go bankrupt, under capitalism when they get big enough they are protected because their collapse would collapse the entire system. The accurate title for capitalism is psychopathic capitalism, a socio economic system designed by psychopaths to suit their rapacious psychopathic nature, where they value their ego and lusts over the rest of the entire society they rule over. • Reply•Share › Avatar Michael Titchenal • 17 hours ago Whole foods is a company that overcharges for their products. I can tell you 100% that the 'Organic' products that are sold there are from the exact same companies that are selling Wal-Mart. Kroger; Publix, Albertsons. and Target their 'Organic' items. The fundamental issue is that Whole Foods costs so much that it is referred to as 'Whole Paycheck' • Reply•Share › Avatar airvicemarshalpark • a day ago It is a rule of thumb on Wall Street that three straight quarters of declining same store sales are enough to put a company 'in play' whether it wants to be or not. That means it becomes the target of a buyout, whether that means absorption by a competitor, going private or an attack by vulture capitalists who see the individual parts of the company as worth more that the whole. WF seems to fall into the last category, clearly. I can't think of a competitor who would want to own it and there is no advantage in taking it private. There is, however, value to be gained by selling off individual parts of the operation. What is dragging the company down is a seriously flawed management philosophy that doesn't realize that the 1980s Yuppie era is over and blatant anti-worker measures are soooo yesterday. If you are a bunch of pretend hippies pretending to espouse progressive values it doesn't help to have actual hippies and socially conscious types out on the sidewalk picketing your stores. All the Asparagus Water in creation won't wash that away. • Reply•Share › Avatar Disqlosure • 2 days ago I'd rather see an article smack down on BigAg taxpayer subsidized food & the privatize-profit/socialize-cost/treat employees- like-slaves Walmarts then go after a place like Whole Foods that provides a market for organic & sustainable products. A savvy shopper can do well there. • Reply•Share › Avatar Carlo Parcelli • 3 days ago CONSCIENCE CAPITALISM - not 'Conscious Capitalism'. • Reply•Share › Avatar Michael Lindsay • 3 days ago So 'concious capitalism's' central argument is 'trust us'. From the people who have been screwing you over for several centuries now! • Reply•Share › Avatar alan johnstone • 3 days ago The IWW said capitalism cannot be reformed Socialists say that you cannot have a humane capitalist system, i have posted on this site that cooperatives and WSDEs are doomed to failure. But are people listening? • Reply•Share › Avatar Chris Donovan • 3 days ago What are you thoughts on Wegmans? I go there sometimes...never heard bad things.....but the model is the same relatively.... • Reply•Share ›