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"The socialists are taking over." | Weeks before retiring, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey complains about gun control and Gen Z not wanting to work

ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
76,079
Providence, RI
www.theguardian.com

‘The socialists are taking over,’ Whole Foods CEO John Mackey laments

Libertarian co-founder of Amazon-owned grocery chain, who once compared Obamacare to fascism, is to retire in September
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Just weeks before retiring, he has apparently decided to create a PR mess for the incoming CEO in what seems to be petty payback for the board telling him to shut the fuck up back in 2009 when he compared Obamacare to fascism.

The "socialists are taking over" Whole Foods' CEO and co-founder, John Mackey, has lamented in a recent podcast interview.

"They're marching through the institutions. They're taking everything over. They're taking over education. It looks like they've taken over a lot of corporations. It looks like they've taken over the military, and it's just continuing," he told the libertarian magazine Reason in a podcast released on Wednesday.

"I feel like with the way freedom of speech is today, the movement on gun control, a lot of the liberties that I've taken for granted most of my life, I think are under threat," Mackey said.
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"In six weeks, I will retire from Whole Foods, and I have muzzled myself ever since 2009," Mackey said, referring to the op-ed he penned for the Wall Street Journal that year where he compared Obamacare to fascism.

"My board basically shut me down. It's like a father, they started attacking the child, and I was intimidated enough to shut up," Mackey told Reason. He compared his upcoming experience to the Home Depot billionaire and conservative Bernie Marcus.
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"I was telling my leadership team, pretty soon, you're going to be hearing about 'crazy John' who's no longer muzzled, and you're going to have to say, 'We can't stop John from talking any longer.'"

Though the Whole Foods executive has long been outspoken about his libertarian beliefs – the New Yorker in 2010 referred to him as a "rightwing hippie" – Mackey said he would be able to "talk more about politics in six weeks than I can today".
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In 2020, it was revealed that the company created a heat map to track stores that were at risk of unionization. Even before Amazon's acquisition of the grocery chain, the company had a history of working against unions, including hiring an anti-union consulting firm and amending the employee handbook to ban recording of all work-related activities without management approval. When Amazon enacted a $15 minimum wage for workers, including Whole Foods employees, in 2019, workers at the chain said they saw their hours cut.
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What a clown piece of shit.
 
Melpomene

Melpomene

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 9, 2019
18,282
well-bye.gif

Asshole
 
Shig

Shig

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,230
Bro, you got rich off a chain of stores featuring overpriced organic and boutique foods. Shit-talking the libs is the very picture of biting the hand that fed you.
 
Skoje

Skoje

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,538
The boomers didn't want to work.
Gen X were slackers and didn't want to work.
Mellineals didn't want to work.
 

Gyro Zeppeli

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,289
Why do all these dumb fuck wealthy people act like our current anti-poor capitalist system is a full blown communist government? lmao

Any time a proposal is made for socialist policies, millionaires/billionaires go from 0 to 100 in what that would result in: gulags and Communist Russia/China!
 
Freezasaurus

Freezasaurus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,962
I like how whenever Republicans say "No one wants to work..." they always leave out "...shitty jobs for low wages that negatively impact quality of life."

It's always the people who are looking to exploit labor that complain about not having any takers.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,494
When rich people will understand humans in general don't like working for them
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,095
Sydney
"My board basically shut me down. It's like a father, they started attacking the child, and I was intimidated enough to shut up," Mackey told Reason. He compared his upcoming experience to the Home Depot billionaire and conservative Bernie Marcus.
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the dang socialists on the board of directors!
 
RedVejigante

RedVejigante

Member
Aug 18, 2018
5,640
Libertarians are the worst, full stop.

As a side note, anyone else always find it incredibly irritating that Libertarians had the sheer ego and lack of self-awareness to name their flagship publication "Reason". Might as well go whole hog and just call it "My Dipshit Political Philosophy is Inherently Right" the magazine.
 
Shig

Shig

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,230
Also hey, maybe the little people wouldn't be quote-unquote "looking for handouts" so much if a huge chunk of the country weren't largely spending 50%-75% of their wages just to pay for the basic human need of keeping a goddamn roof over their head.

Any ETA on when the socialists are gonna take over the housing and rental markets, chief? Cuz the invisible hand of the free market is kind of beating the shit out of us here. It ain't particularly endearing us to it.
 
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WereSalamander

WereSalamander

Member
May 21, 2018
2,020
Whine whine whine whine whine whine, why are right libertarian-types always such whiny, spoiled overgrown brats?
 
rognas

rognas

Member
Feb 23, 2021
203
Socialists are taking over? Oh, I fucking wish. If they were, leeches like him would be sent to the guillotine and we wouldn't be in this mess
 

noquarter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,480
viandante said:
the military is being taken over by socialists? huh? which part yo
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In a sense, the military is socialist-lite. You get paid based on rank, no matter the work you do. You also get extra money based on needs (those with dependents get paid more just for having dependents). Everyone gets the same Healthcare and education. You get a stipend for food and uniforms (officers do not get the uniform stipend).

It is very close to a closed socialist system. Just don't bring it up, since then everyone I've talked to while in kind of freezes and gets confused.
 
Palette Swap

Palette Swap

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
11,199
That's what he was saying a decade back on climate change, so yeah, he's a moron and an asshole. Which I guess perfectly describes libertarians.

Contrary to what has been written about me, I am not a "climate change skeptic." Climate change is clearly occurring, and based on what I have read global temperatures have increased about 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past 150 years. We've been in a gradual warming trend since the ending of the "Little Ice Age" in about 1870, and climate change is perfectly natural and not necessarily bad. In general, most of humanity tends to flourish more when global temperatures are in a warming trend and I believe we will be able to successfully adapt to gradually rising temperatures. What I am opposed to is trying to stop virtually all economic progress because of the fear of climate change. I would hate to see billions of people condemned to remain in poverty because of climate change fears.
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Enterprise1701

Enterprise1701

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,659
Hull, England
If he thinks socialists have taken over then he is crazy. If they had we would be in a far better state right now. The USA and my country the UK are a mess due to greedy / selfish cunts like him.
 
killuglypop

killuglypop

Member
Jan 9, 2020
976
This guy should just stick to walking the Appalachian trail for ten months a year instead of slagging off his customer base. Remember when he was pedalling his 'whole foods diet' as the best thing ever. Even Joe Rogan didn't want his vegan cheese board lol
 
Stuntman

Stuntman

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
2,155
User Banned (5 Days): Inflammatory generalization
I can't seem to find the coorpotations i own according to this motherfucker, maybe because the last time i checked i'm fucking broke and the 5% of the population of the world owns the 95% of the wealth.

And of course he's a libertarian, manure grade fucking person, prolly a child molester.
 
APOEERA

APOEERA

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,061
noquarter said:
In a sense, the military is socialist-lite. You get paid based on rank, no matter the work you do. You also get extra money based on needs (those with dependents get paid more just for having dependents). Everyone gets the same Healthcare and education. You get a stipend for food and uniforms (officers do not get the uniform stipend).

It is very close to a closed socialist system. Just don't bring it up, since then everyone I've talked to while in kind of freezes and gets confused.
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Let's not forget the police/firefighters/EMTs where taxes pay their salary and they are in a similar situation and structure. Which is sorta why "defund the police" is gaining steam (why should tax money go to pay for military grade weapons and equipment for the police when all they do is murder unarmed black/brown citizens?).

Bring that up to the "back the blue" people and their heads explode.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,326
Hah, I remember this guy. He's a libertarian, with a lot of the usual derpy libertarian views. Can't wait for his inevitable book.

I imagine American socialists would love to be even 1% as successful at "taking over" the government as right-wingers constantly love to say they are, lol.

Stuntman said:
And of course he's a libertarian, manure grade fucking person, prolly a child molester.
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...?
 
Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
23,738
has he ever considered slaving for his own organization?
 
Xeonidus

Xeonidus

“Fuck them kids.”
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,269
"Nobody wants to work anymore."

"Maybe pay them better and provide better incentives like benefits and opportunities for career growth to attract more workers?"

"Nah."
 
UltraMav

UltraMav

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,723
Stuntman said:
And of course he's a libertarian, manure grade fucking person, prolly a child molester.
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My uncle is a Libertarian. He's a good person with shit political views. He doesn't smoke weed and I have no indication he was or is a diddler. Sometimes people are just dumb about politics. Especially older white people.

Just sayin'.
 
Advance.Wars.Sgt.

Advance.Wars.Sgt.

Member
Jun 10, 2018
8,822
Like I care what a libertarian says lol.

They don't even have the balls to call themselves right wing. The fuck I look like heeding words from a coward?
 
Snagret

Snagret

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,757
I worked at WF about ten years ago, I remember being really shocked that such a "progressive" company spent a significant portion of the training period telling us that unions are bad lol
 
UltraMav

UltraMav

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,723
Snagret said:
I worked at WF about ten years ago, I remember being really shocked that such a "progressive" company spent a significant portion of the training period telling us that unions are bad lol
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I mean that was every job since my first as a scab at Vons at 16 years old. Until I got a degree and nobody brought it up again. But the propaganda is real.
 
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