Monday, May 29, 2017

Whole Foods represents the failures of conscious capitalism

See the article here. Sales are declining in part due to competition from other stores that cost less. So WF is taking drastic measures, bringing in the Walmart types to save the day, exactly what it purported to be against. The WF simple-minded model that "if we just think right with good intentions and an integral model then the rest will take care of itself" is proving no match for the realities of capitalism. Hence WF is ripe for a capitalistic takeover that will revamp the entire chain along its usual vulture path.
"The point of this dour appraisal is not to crow over Whole Foods’s misfortune. It’s to take a hard look at models that claim to solve the ills of capitalism without challenging the in-built drives of our for-profit system. Mackey has loudly declared unions akin to herpes and state regulation little more than 'crony capitalism' — that all we need to solve things like the climate crisis are better, smarter, 'conscious' capitalists. The crisis of Whole Foods belies this notion. There’s no way to 'fix' corporations’ compulsion to produce ever more, ever more cheaply. It’s written into the DNA of global capitalism. Attractive as the conscious capitalism model may be, we simply can’t rely on companies to deliver dignified workplaces, equitable models of food production or a better relationship between consumers and the planet."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.