The Whole Foods Approach
Culture 4:19 AM
by Nick Stone of Drawnlines Politics.
How fascinating is the current boycott of Whole Foods Market from the same crunchy granola people that made the home of the five dollar carton of eggs popular in the first place?! When you think of Whole Foods, you don't usually think of conservatives coming to their defense nor of liberals boycotting organic greens. Yet that's exactly what's happening this week.
Blogger and Policy Expert Radley Balko of The Agitator describes Whole Foods as "...everything leftists talk about when they talk about “corporate responsibility.” Yet many on the left are agitated enough by the idea that a common sense approach might not involve Uncle Sam that they are willing to throw the yuppy market under the bus.
For all the talk from federal bureaucrats over the current health insurance debate, we've lost sight of two major facts:
1) The US Government nearly always has inferior results when compared to the open market in terms of efficiency and efficacy in business ventures. Richard Branson can get into space cheaper than Barack Obama. Fedex and UPS are thriving while the USPS is an unmitigated disaster. Nationalized airlines nearly bankrupt countries. Communist economies leave their citizens starving. And in Canada or England, a cancer patient or elderly patient is exponentially more likely to die from their ailment.
2) Barack Obama is NOT a health care professional. Neither is Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Yet many otherwise sane Americans propose to have them make life or death decisions on our behalf.
No thanks.
The horror from The Left over free market success is palpable. A tremendous example of a company acting in good faith to deliver low cost, high quality health insurance to their employees is Whole Foods Market. Because of the backlash, I'm compelled to post part of the recent Wall Street Journal Oped from their Co-founder and CEO John Mackey:
Whole Foods Market knows something about healthy employees and is leading by example.
Read more detail about each of these ideas on WSJ Online.
How fascinating is the current boycott of Whole Foods Market from the same crunchy granola people that made the home of the five dollar carton of eggs popular in the first place?! When you think of Whole Foods, you don't usually think of conservatives coming to their defense nor of liberals boycotting organic greens. Yet that's exactly what's happening this week.
Blogger and Policy Expert Radley Balko of The Agitator describes Whole Foods as "...everything leftists talk about when they talk about “corporate responsibility.” Yet many on the left are agitated enough by the idea that a common sense approach might not involve Uncle Sam that they are willing to throw the yuppy market under the bus.
For all the talk from federal bureaucrats over the current health insurance debate, we've lost sight of two major facts:
1) The US Government nearly always has inferior results when compared to the open market in terms of efficiency and efficacy in business ventures. Richard Branson can get into space cheaper than Barack Obama. Fedex and UPS are thriving while the USPS is an unmitigated disaster. Nationalized airlines nearly bankrupt countries. Communist economies leave their citizens starving. And in Canada or England, a cancer patient or elderly patient is exponentially more likely to die from their ailment.
2) Barack Obama is NOT a health care professional. Neither is Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Yet many otherwise sane Americans propose to have them make life or death decisions on our behalf.
No thanks.
The horror from The Left over free market success is palpable. A tremendous example of a company acting in good faith to deliver low cost, high quality health insurance to their employees is Whole Foods Market. Because of the backlash, I'm compelled to post part of the recent Wall Street Journal Oped from their Co-founder and CEO John Mackey:
"While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:"
Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).
Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits.
Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines.
Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover.
Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost.
Enact Medicare reform.
Revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Whole Foods Market knows something about healthy employees and is leading by example.
Read more detail about each of these ideas on WSJ Online.
Posted by Nick Stone
on 4:19 AM.
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