Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Whole Foods Exploits Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You
Off
________________________________________
Whole Foods Exploits Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You Off
By Ben Norton [1] / CounterPunch [2]
July 17, 2015
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, whose net worth exceeds $100 million, is a
fervent proselytizer on behalf of conscious capitalism [3]. A
self-described libertarian, Mackey believes the solution to all of the
worlds problems is letting corporations run amok, without regulation. He
believes this so fervently, in fact, he wrote an entire book extolling the
magnanimous virtue of the free market.
At the same time, while preaching the supposedly beneficent gospel of the
conscious capitalism, Mackeys company Whole Foods, which has a $13
billion and growing annual revenue [4], sells overpriced fish, milk, and
gourmet cheeses cultivated by inmates in US prisons.
The renowned green capitalist organic supermarket chain pays what are
effectively indentured servants in the Colorado prison system a mere $1.50
per hour to farm organic tilapia [5].
Colorado prisons already grow 1.2 million pounds of tilapia a year, and
government officials and their corporate companions are chomping at the bit
to expand production.
Thats not all. Whole Foods also buys artisinal cheeses and milk cultivated
by prisoners. The prison corporation Colorado Correctional Industries has
created what Fortune describes as [6] a burgeoning $65 million business
that employs 2,000 convicts at 17 facilities.
The base pay of these prison workers is 60¢ per day [7]. Whole Foods
purchases cheeses from these prisons, which literally pay prison laborers
mere pennies an hour, and subsequently marks up the price drastically.
This is by no means the only questionable practice of Whole Foodsa
corporation that presents itself as the leader in a new generation of
Benevolent Big Business. In June, it was revealed that the company had
systematically overcharged customers [8] in a variety of locations for at
least half of a decade.
The double standards are striking. One would think exploiting
prisonersindividuals incarcerated by the statewould contradict putative
libertarian values of voluntarism, voluntary association, and non-coercion.
Yet critics would argue right-wing libertarians have never been ones to
demonstrate moral consistency.
In fact, Mackey also firmly opposes basic libertarian values vis-à-vis
workers rights and labor organizing. He forbids Whole Foods employees from
unionizing, comparing workers democratic control over their own workplaces
and lives to herpes. A union doesnt kill you, but its unpleasant and
inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover, the
Whole Foods CEO declared [9].
Peddling Pseudo-Science While Worshiping the Market
Mackey is a disciple of Chicago and Austrian School libertarian gurus Milton
Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises. According to Reason [10],
Mackeys works are also peppered with references to
astrology.
It may ergo come as no surprise that a free-market aficionado who peddles
pseudoscience like astrology is also an anthropogenic climate change denier.
Close to 100% of the climate science community [11] agrees that climate
change is anthropogenic. Mackey, nevertheless, claims that climate
changewhich scientific research increasingly shows threatens human
civilization and the continuation of life on this planetis perfectly
natural and not necessarily bad.
Many an economist has long argued that the empirical data thoroughly and
conclusively debunk laissez-faire doctrine. Yet, a pseudoscientific
intransigence has appeared to lead Mackey to even flirt with astrology and
anthropogenic climate change denial.
Ian Plimer, a fringe figure popular in the anti-climate change community,
recalls Mackey saying [12] no scientific consensus exists regarding the
causes of climate change; [and adding], with a candor you could call bold or
reckless, that it would be a pity to allow hysteria about global warming
to cause us to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our
standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty.
In other words, just as Mackey contradicts his own purported values and
exploits prison labor for profit, Mackey too denies science when it is
convenient to his free-market capitalist ideology.
We should not be surprised. This, after all, is the inherently contradictory
logic of the capitalist mode of production. The Market is God, and profit
comes above all elseabove your principles, above fellow humans, even above
the planet we all share.
Ben Norton is a freelance writer and journalist. His website can be found at
http://BenNorton.com/ [13].
Share on Facebook Share
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [14]
[15]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/food/whole-foods-exploits-prison-labor-your-goodies-
while-ripping-you
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/ben-norton-0
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3]
http://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Capitalism-Liberating-Heroic-Business/dp/142
2144208
[4]
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/865436/000086543613000134/0000865436-
13-000134-index.htm
[5]
http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/from-our-prison-to-your-dinner-table
[6] http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/prison-labor-artisanal/
[7]
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-dairy-milked-prisone
rs-ends-up-on-whole-foods-shelves/372937/
[8]
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2015/0625/Whole-Foods-has-overcha
rged-customers-since-2010-NYC-probe-says-video
[9] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/04/food-fighter
[10] http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/01/rethinking-the-social-responsi
[11] http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
[12]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/04/food-fighter?currentPage=all#ix
zz0baVWuHq0
[13] http://www.bennorton.com/
[14] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Whole Foods Exploits
Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You Off
[15] http://www.alternet.org/
[16] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Whole Foods Exploits Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You
Off
Whole Foods Exploits Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You Off
By Ben Norton [1] / CounterPunch [2]
July 17, 2015
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, whose net worth exceeds $100 million, is a
fervent proselytizer on behalf of conscious capitalism [3]. A
self-described libertarian, Mackey believes the solution to all of the
worlds problems is letting corporations run amok, without regulation. He
believes this so fervently, in fact, he wrote an entire book extolling the
magnanimous virtue of the free market.
At the same time, while preaching the supposedly beneficent gospel of the
conscious capitalism, Mackeys company Whole Foods, which has a $13
billion and growing annual revenue [4], sells overpriced fish, milk, and
gourmet cheeses cultivated by inmates in US prisons.
The renowned green capitalist organic supermarket chain pays what are
effectively indentured servants in the Colorado prison system a mere $1.50
per hour to farm organic tilapia [5].
Colorado prisons already grow 1.2 million pounds of tilapia a year, and
government officials and their corporate companions are chomping at the bit
to expand production.
Thats not all. Whole Foods also buys artisinal cheeses and milk cultivated
by prisoners. The prison corporation Colorado Correctional Industries has
created what Fortune describes as [6] a burgeoning $65 million business
that employs 2,000 convicts at 17 facilities.
The base pay of these prison workers is 60¢ per day [7]. Whole Foods
purchases cheeses from these prisons, which literally pay prison laborers
mere pennies an hour, and subsequently marks up the price drastically.
This is by no means the only questionable practice of Whole Foodsa
corporation that presents itself as the leader in a new generation of
Benevolent Big Business. In June, it was revealed that the company had
systematically overcharged customers [8] in a variety of locations for at
least half of a decade.
The double standards are striking. One would think exploiting
prisonersindividuals incarcerated by the statewould contradict putative
libertarian values of voluntarism, voluntary association, and non-coercion.
Yet critics would argue right-wing libertarians have never been ones to
demonstrate moral consistency.
In fact, Mackey also firmly opposes basic libertarian values vis-à-vis
workers rights and labor organizing. He forbids Whole Foods employees from
unionizing, comparing workers democratic control over their own workplaces
and lives to herpes. A union doesnt kill you, but its unpleasant and
inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover, the
Whole Foods CEO declared [9].
Peddling Pseudo-Science While Worshiping the Market
Mackey is a disciple of Chicago and Austrian School libertarian gurus Milton
Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises. According to Reason [10],
Mackeys works are also peppered with references to
astrology.
It may ergo come as no surprise that a free-market aficionado who peddles
pseudoscience like astrology is also an anthropogenic climate change denier.
Close to 100% of the climate science community [11] agrees that climate
change is anthropogenic. Mackey, nevertheless, claims that climate
changewhich scientific research increasingly shows threatens human
civilization and the continuation of life on this planetis perfectly
natural and not necessarily bad.
Many an economist has long argued that the empirical data thoroughly and
conclusively debunk laissez-faire doctrine. Yet, a pseudoscientific
intransigence has appeared to lead Mackey to even flirt with astrology and
anthropogenic climate change denial.
Ian Plimer, a fringe figure popular in the anti-climate change community,
recalls Mackey saying [12] no scientific consensus exists regarding the
causes of climate change; [and adding], with a candor you could call bold or
reckless, that it would be a pity to allow hysteria about global warming
to cause us to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our
standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty.
In other words, just as Mackey contradicts his own purported values and
exploits prison labor for profit, Mackey too denies science when it is
convenient to his free-market capitalist ideology.
We should not be surprised. This, after all, is the inherently contradictory
logic of the capitalist mode of production. The Market is God, and profit
comes above all elseabove your principles, above fellow humans, even above
the planet we all share.
Ben Norton is a freelance writer and journalist. His website can be found at
http://BenNorton.com/ [13].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [14]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[15]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/food/whole-foods-exploits-prison-labor-your-goodies-
while-ripping-you
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/ben-norton-0
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3]
http://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Capitalism-Liberating-Heroic-Business/dp/142
2144208
[4]
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/865436/000086543613000134/0000865436-
13-000134-index.htm
[5]
http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/from-our-prison-to-your-dinner-table
[6] http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/prison-labor-artisanal/
[7]
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-dairy-milked-prisone
rs-ends-up-on-whole-foods-shelves/372937/
[8]
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2015/0625/Whole-Foods-has-overcha
rged-customers-since-2010-NYC-probe-says-video
[9] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/04/food-fighter
[10] http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/01/rethinking-the-social-responsi
[11] http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
[12]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/04/food-fighter?currentPage=all#ix
zz0baVWuHq0
[13] http://www.bennorton.com/
[14] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Whole Foods Exploits
Prison Labor for Your Goodies, While Ripping You Off
[15] http://www.alternet.org/
[16] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
