Whole Foods Postscript

The op-ed piece by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey criticizing Obamacare was the subject of a series of earlier posts: see here, here, and here. Now the Economist is weighing in, reporting that 13,000 people had joined a "Boycott Whole Foods" group on Facebook, and reporting that Mackey is distancing himself from the headline the Wall Street Journal gave his article. The Economist's take: "the best strategy, from the perspective of maximising shareholder value, is probably for customers to know as little as possible about the personal opinions of a company's boss." But it acknowledges that that approach "is bad news for society, which could do with hearing, from time to time, the logical arguments and wisdom built on experience that, at their best, business leaders can bring." On the other hand, maybe in the long run shareholders will benefit if CEOs speak out in defense of the capitalist and free market systems that allow their companies to prosper.