Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Laments Socialists ‘Taking over’ Major American Institutions

Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey recently expressed his worry that “socialists” are seizing major institutions within American society while noting that certain liberties are “under threat.”

“My concern is that I feel like socialists are taking over,” Mackey told Reason Magazine in a podcast interview on Wednesday. “They’re marching through the institutions. They’re…taking over education. It looks like they’ve taken over a lot of the corporations. It looks like they’ve taken over the military. And it’s just continuing.”

The libertarian businessman explained that “capitalism” and “liberty” are his primary values but noted they are something not to be taken for granted.

“And I feel like, you know, with the way freedom of speech is today, the movement on gun control, a lot of the liberties that I’ve taken for granted most of my life, I think, are under threat,” he said.

Later on in the interview, Mackey explained that one of the biggest challenges he found coming out of the coronavirus pandemic was hiring and retaining employees within major American cities, especially among younger people.

The outgoing CEO listed New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC, as some of the cities that he found “straining” to hire people.

He then criticized younger people for wanting “meaningful work” early on in their careers and was adamant that they need to “earn it over time.”

“Some of the younger generation doesn’t seem to be willing to pay that price, and I don’t know why,” Mackey said.

Mackey founded Whole Foods Market almost 42 years ago in Austin, Texas, and has since opened over 500 stores across North America and the U.K.  He is set to retire on September 1.

Mackey is one of the more outspoken corporate executives to criticize certain aspects of left-wing thought, particularly socialism, at a time when more corporations appear to be embracing “woke” culture.

Breitbart News has noted that the left has criticized Mackey in the past for downplaying “global warming” and blaming “obesity” for the high number of deaths amid the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.