"We have to recognize that some of the progressive insights are important, and they shouldn't go away, but we can't throw out capitalism and replace it with socialism. That will be a disaster," Whole Foods CEO John Mackey said throughout an event arranged by the American Enterprise Institute this week. "Socialism has been tried 42 times in the last 100 years, and 42 failures. It doesn't work. It's the wrong way. We have to keep capitalism. I would argue we need conscious capitalism."
He said capitalism will "be attacked for its motivations because its motivations are seen as somehow impure. Yes, of course, business has to make money. If a business doesn't make money, it will fail, but that doesn't mean that its purpose is to make money."
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Mackey showed the belief that capitalism lacks explanation more articulately.
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"It needs to evolve. Otherwise, the socialists are going to take over — that's how I see it, and that's the path of poverty," Mackey said. "They talk about trickle-down wealth, but socialism is trickle-up poverty. It just impoverishes everything. That's my fear, that the Marxists and socialists, the academic community is generally hostile to business. It always has been. This is not new."
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Mackey emphasized that he has been bothered through speeches at college campuses and has even been disinvited by school leadership even though it’s usually only the professors who are upset rather than the students.
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"But the professors are very skeptical. Their arms are crossed, and they want to argue with me about it," he said.
The CEO advised that more “business people” should be teaching at colleges.
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"Intellectuals teach, mostly intellectuals, who've never actually been in business at all, right? It's very interesting," Mackey said. "And [it's the intellectuals] who don't actually understand business, who don't particularly understand entrepreneurship, and, actually, can oftentimes be hostile toward the very thing they're teaching. So that's a particular challenge."
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Joe Biden's success in the 2020 election was due in part to grassroot assistance from progressives, some of whom are known as Democratic Socialists. The most famous of these is independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who wrote a unity platform with Biden after the former vice president won in the Democratic primaries.
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President Donald Trump's campaign extended concerns about socialism in triumphing over Latino voters. This strategy was especially effective in Florida, where there is a large Cuban-American population. Trump carried the state.
Mackey, who is worth an estimated $75 million, accused colleges and progressives of encouraging disquiet about capitalism.
"That's why we're seeing this move towards socialism because capitalism they see as inherently corrupt," he said.
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