Ever heard of a "pump and dump"?

15 years ago he opened a store in suburban Richmond, VA WAY before the soccar moms cottoned to organics. The store failed BECAUSE it was too far from it's customer base, the urban hipsters in the city near the university. Instead of admitted he didn't do his due diligence and find out where his demographic customer base was, he scorned Richmond and said the city was too backwards for natural food. The truth is, there were a few very sucessful natural food stores IN THE CITY. Now, of course, even the suburban soccar moms have climbed on the wagon on healthy food, so natural stores do well in the suburbs too. But I've never fogotten what a jerk the CEO was to try to make the city look unsophisticated when the real problem was his failure to do minimal market research.

I'm not sure "Liberal Fascism" quite describes John Mackey's MO: more like "Capitalists Gone Wild."

Mackey is the personification of 'greenwashing,' a typical Gordon Gekko corporate creep wearing a thin disguise of hippy-dippy, save the earth, faux sincerity.

Whole Foods is a purveyor of yuppy-chow that is little different from what one finds in any other supermarket. Grow your own food or source it at a local farmer's market and stop lining Mackey's pockets.

I like it, and he was a man of hid word - lost a bet and agreed to stop posting. Clearly there's something a bit inappropriate about his actions, but I like the personal involvement and care. As for Whole Foods itself, i find generally too expensive. However, I think they treat their employees well, and as far corporate values is pretty good... Sure alot of it is just for publicity, but I'll take good policies even if it's based on the pursuit of good publicity.

Anyone really interested in delving into the mind of John Mackey should check out the recent hour long conversation between Mackey and the philosopher Ken Wilber. It's one of the most interesting interviews/conversations I have ever heard with a major corporate CEO. In the words of the musician Stuart Davis, John Mackey is "Good Weird". It will be a shame if this bit of foolishness on his part brings his corporate life to an end. Love him or hate him. This interview will take you farther into the mind and madness of John Mackey than any article I've read so far.

http://in.integralinstitute.org/contributor.aspx?id=122

Peace,

Another Anon Posting CEO