Recently Whole Foods CEO John Mackey compared Obamacare to fascism, but after a good amount of outcry and criticism from Whole Foods customers, he’s now singing a different tune.
I made a bad choice of language. I was trying to distinguish it between socialism so I took the dictionary definition of fascism, which is when the means of production are still owned privately but the government controls it — that’s a type of fascism. However, I realize that that word has so much baggage associated with it from World War II, with Germany, with Italy and Spain, that’s a very provocative word, so I regret using it. What I do believe in is free enterprise capitalism, and I’d like to see our healthcare system really unleash the power of free enterprise capitalism to create innovation and healthcare progress. I don’t think we have that – I think we’re moving away from that. So I do regret using that word, I won’t be using it in the future.
I do believe that the government can provide subsidies for our poorer citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. One of the great examples that I point people to is what they’re doing in Switzerland, where you have still private health insurance markets and yet the government creates subsidies for all of its citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. There you let the private market, competitive capitalism work and yet the government makes sure that there’s a safety net for people – that’s where I wish we were going in the United States.
doesn’t this guy realize that what he described as “what he wishes we were doing” is exactly what we are? And the Republican noise machine descries it as “European-style” and “nanny state”.
Obamacare isn’t perfect, but it is progress. Remember when that was a good thing?
Just wondering what you all think of the recent H&R Block TV ads that say this:
“People don’t realize that taxes and health care are connected,” the ad says. “The Affordable Care Act means big changes this year when you file your taxes. I read the whole 900 pages. It literally took me weeks. I will give you a tax and health care review. I know the law. I have the solutions and I can help you figure it out.”
H and R Block should be ashamed of themselves. For the 98% of people who aren’t even close to being business owners or being wealthy, the ACA makes no real difference in tax preparation at all for 2012 taxes. But scare tactics get ordinarily smart enough people to pay someone to do thair taxes for them.
And I’ve read the whole thing, too. What small business owners should do is read that instead of reading the vitriol of the business associations who would better serve their membership by reading it too, and advising them on how to plan and comply…
just like the State of Wisconsin should have been doing for 2+ years now.
Instead, they choose to believe that Obamacare was going to be abolished by some kind of magical emancipation proclamation signed by Mitt Romney “on the first day.” I guess tomorrow was supposed to be a “big freakin’ deal”, to paraphrase Joe Biden.