>> Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey is in the news again.
This time in the middle of a pandemic where hundreds of thousands of Americans have died,
where tens of millions of Americans lost their employer provided health insurance as a result
of getting laid off.
He wants to make a point about how, no our healthcare system is fantastic.
In fact, if there's anything wrong, it has everything to do with the individual.
Here he is making the case.
>> We talk about healthcare, the best solution is not to need health care.
The best solution is to change the way people eat, the way they live, their lifestyle and
diet.
There's no reason why people shouldn't be healthy and have a longer health span.
A bunch of drugs is not gonna solve the problem.
>> So there you have it, CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey providing more evidence for us
that indicates that you don't have to be smart to be a CEO.
You can be just as dumb as Mackey is, because it didn't take into account genetics.
Maybe exposure to chemicals by corporations that just put it out into our air in our waters.
I don't know, maybe something like an unexpected pandemic that we have no control over, really.
Those kinds of things.
Didn't really consider those things when he made that argument, but this isn't the first
time he's made some pretty callous statements.
In 2009, for instance, he penned an op ed for the Wall Street Journal.
And it was along the same lines, the Whole Foods alternative to ObamaCare, in which he
advocated for less government control of healthcare in the United States.
In it, he wrote, this begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for
his or her own healthcare.
We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle
choices that will protect our health.
By the way, in the interview with Freakanomics, that's where that recent interview took place.
He talked about how he's like, you know what I do?
I monitor my sleep.
What about all these bums out there who aren't monitor monitoring their sleep to make sure
they stay up?
Poor people don't have money to buy gadgets to monitor their sleep moron, but like it
shows you the disconnect.
It shows you how they live in a different world and don't understand the reality the
vast majority of Americans are facing prior to the pandemic, destroying people's personal
finances.
We already had a situation in which more than 40% of Americans couldn't even afford a $400
emergency.
Okay, that's prior to the pandemic..
And since the summer, 8 million more Americans have fell into poverty, because of the lack
of real financial relief from our members of Congress.
And so this is a real problem.
He's totally unaware of it.
He's in his fantasy bubble where he's eating pineapple spears and feeling good about himself,
but the reality is very different for other people.
>> I think it's funny when someone who has the best healthcare tells people that they
don't need healthcare, but tell me how many people you know who can afford those $12 cotton
candy grapes at Whole Foods?
Not only is he the CEO of a corporation, but the the CEO of a corporation that peddles
the belief that eating better is eating in place and is buying your groceries from places
like Whole Foods which most people cannot afford, especially in this moment during this
pandemic.
It's very easy to say to take the whole holistic approach to things when you have access to
everything on the planet and that right there is just so problematic.
Because yes, it's true that we need to be healthier.
But also we are being fed this foolishness that this organic food is better for us and
it's way more expensive when you start doing the deep dives into what organic is.
A lot of times, it's about policy and about it.
It really isn't about the best foods.
But yes, Whole Foods has better foods than grocery stores like Food Four Less.
But the food costs so much money that the average person can not afford it.
And only a person who has no clue as to how much it costs to buy a whole chicken, because
they probably have someone preparing it for them that goes and buys it for them whose
names they probably don't even know.
I mean, you times that times 500, right?
The Fortune 500 and then times how many.
That's what's the problem that's happening in this country and that's why I'm so angry,
and I came for a yelling.
And I'm coming for all of these people, because that's the disease that is really the biggest
pandemic that we're dealing with iIs the the corporate infection that is running this country.
And that this man has a microphone to even speak to me who has to show up and find out
a way how I'm going to feed my family during this pandemic.
And I'm privileged compared to someone who works at a factory is like you shouldn't even
have an opportunity to say anything out loud.
Just go culture chips in public, buddy and stay off the airwaves.
Because what you're saying is not just offensiv, it's just clueless.
It's just bet up, go away, go away.
Go on an island with all the rest of the dummies and go, I don't know, but what do?
They do shoot into outer space and go figure out how you're gonna go live on Mars, and
never come back.
It's so insulting.
It's so annoying.
>> Right and also I mean, this argument clears the bad actions of people in positions of
power and places all of the onus, all of the blame on individuals, right?
So all of those children who ended up drinking disgusting, lead tainted water in Flint, Michigan,
is it their fault if they get sick?
>> That's right >> Right.
>> You're gonna tell them to kick rocks?
Is that what you're gonna do?
It's the same thing with environmental policy as well which is why I'm beginning to have
more and more of an irritable reaction to dumb local laws like no more plastic straws
or no more plastic bags.
Okay, fantastic, we can do that.
We can ban those things.
I'm okay with that, but that shouldn't be the first thing, okay?
Placing the onus on individuals while we allow fossil fuel companies to continue operating
with incredibly loose lacks laws.
And then you have Republican lawmakers who then proceed to further loosen regulations,
deregulate that industry which further pollutes our environment and accelerates climate change.
And so this is the same thinking.
It's the same place the blame on the powerless..
Let's get our tax cuts.
Let's get the deregulation.
At the end of the day, the foundation of this argument is all about what can I do to pay
less in taxes?
That's what this is about.
And they hear things like Medicare for all and they're like no, that means I'm gonna
have to pay more.
I'm not willing to do that even though these people are already so wealthy, they would
never have to work another day in their lives.
They don't care.
They just wanna keep hoarding more wealth, even knowing that people are suffering as
a result
of that.