World's Stupidest CEO

They just built a giant Whole Foods right near me, on the border between Santa Monica and Venice, and it has been packed to the gills every night since. I would imagine that the clientele you would get from this area - liberal, generally well-off people who privilege healthy food - mirrors the locations of Whole Foods stores throughout the country. Therefore, CEO John Mackey attacking the notion of health care as a right is about as stupid a move as anyone who caters to progressives can make. It's like the head of Wal-Mart announcing that their stores will now be sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants. Mackey can say whatever he wants, but you would think the board of directors would react to such corporate malpractice.

Unsurprisingly, progressives initiated a boycott. The Facebook group has 15,000 members. The Washington Post and CNN have followed up with stories. And it's hitting the bottom line.

CNN is consistently neck and neck with MSNBC for largest online news audience. Not surprisingly, when the CNN story hit the web at 5 p.m., WFMI fell 0.59 during after hours trading, a more than 2% drop. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. The stock is unlikely to go up if people read this trading advice column titled "Why Investors Should Cross Whole Foods Off Their Shopping Lists." Even Jim Cramer has noticed the boycott and is advising against the stock (for now) with an article called "Taking a Bite Out of Whole Foods."

If there's one thing Wall Street doesn't like it's controversy and uncertainty. Those two things pretty well describe Whole Foods in the current climate and I won't be surprised to see the stock sink lower in the days ahead. John Mackey, as noted previously, had the foresight to sell more than 1.39 million dollars worth of Whole Foods stock just days before he would have submitted his anti-Obama health care piece to the Wall Street Journal. The interesting thing about that sale is both the timing and that it dwarfed his previous sales of stock going back 2 years....the largest of which was less than $300,000. Happy coincidence?

Those who live in an area with a Whole Foods are pretty much the only people who have a range of options for healthy food close to them. The poor have to deal with the McDonald's around the corner in their food deserts. Whole Foods customers can go to Trader Joe's, or a farmer's market, or join a food cooperative or a CSA. These are people who associate pretty strongly with a brand, who integrate it into their lives. And they can just as easily integrate Whole Foods out.

This was about as obvious an outcome as you could imagine. If a CEO cannot get fired for this, they cannot get fired.

(Don't) Buy American

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed the Fiat-Chrysler deal pending a forthcoming order, perhaps because she simply wanted more time to make and informed judgment, or because she wanted to bring her associates into the decision. At issue are the protestations of three Indiana pension funds, controlled by a Republican state Treasurer, who simply want a better deal on their unsecured Chrysler debt they purchased about a year ago. Apparently the phrase "caveat emptor" doesn't enter into the equation.

Meanwhile, another genius collection of wingnuts have decided that the best way to restore American capitalism is to boycott American car companies.

"In the effort to reverse this lurch beyond the farthest left fringe of previous Democratic statist urges, individual Americans have a role to play. They have to say no to GM products and services until such time as the denationalization occurs," says Hugh Hewitt. He acknowledges that this is a serious step that could hurt people currently working for GM: "But there isn't any alternative, every dollar spent with GM is a dollar spent against free enterprise. Every car or truck purchased from Government Motors is one not purchased from a private car company that competes fairly against all other car companies."

Where Hewitt makes his point as a seemingly reluctant and composed agitator, Rush Limbaugh makes no bones about what he wants in his own praise of the idea. The most amazing thing here is that Limbaugh appears to be openly admitting that the purpose of this is economic and political sabotage -- to prevent President Obama from succeeding at something.

Limbaugh reassures any GM workers who might be listening that the boycotters aren't angry at them. "They don't want to patronize Obama. They don't want to do anything to make Obama's policies work!" he explains.

Quite a needle to thread - boycotting a US company while claiming to have nothing but love for that company's workers. Wow, I don't think Democrats will lose MIchigan for the next 200 years now.

As John Cole notes, just a week or two ago these same people were whining and crying about all the dealers being pushed out of business by Overlord Obama, and not they are conspiring to actively put whatever dealers are left out of business, if successful, by refusing to buy their products. Not to mention the fact that, at this point, the fastest way to return GM to the private sector would be to, well, buy a bunch of their cars, so the government can divest.

But none of this is supposed to make economic sense. It simply reflect the kind of lashing out at whatever perceived enemy that has become the sum total of Republican output these days. They are the wounded animal in the corner, thrashing about incoherently in the hopes that all of America beyond the myopic, paranoid corner that they inhabit will come to love them again.

JP Morgan Chase Greedier Than The Actual J.P. Morgan

Marcy Wheeler has been all over the effort by top banks who have been bailed out by the US government pushing Chrysler into bankruptcy by resisting pressure, as bondholders, to cut the carmaker's debt. Apparently there are a number of reasons for this.

The J.P. Morgan position, said these people, is that concessions by Chrysler's creditors should be treated as they would be in a normal bankruptcy -- meaning the billions of dollars of government debt and the UAW retiree health-care obligation should be wiped out before the secured lenders lose anything on their $6.8 billion.

In other words, JP Morgan Chase would be able to jump the line, as in a bankruptcy, and get repaid before US taxpayers and retirees. This is the same bank that's accepted at least $25 billion in public money, through TARP payments, AIG counter-party funds, and more, just to survive. But that's not all. A bankruptcy would cause, in Marcy's estimation, the loss of over 200,000 Chrysler jobs. You would think that a bank with substantial outlets in Michigan wouldn't want to see 200,000 unemployed Michiganders without the ability to deposit money into their Chase bank accounts. But they've got that covered.

JP Morgan Chase has figured out a way to profit off all the unemployed people it is creating in Michigan. Chase, you see, provides Michigan's unemployment insurance debit cards.

And the services can end up being pretty expensive for beneficiaries. Here's what Chase charges (and will be able to charge those that it causes to lose their job) for use of their debit card.

More than two withdrawals in a 2-week pay period: $1.50 each

Non-Chase withdrawals: $1.50 each

More than one bank teller withdrawal in a pay period: $4.00 each

Transaction denied for insufficient funds at POS, ATM, or teller: $1.50 each

More than one ATM balance inquiry in a pay period: $1.00 for each

Statement delivered by regular mail: 95¢ per statement

Granted, if an unemployed person manages their meager finances well and has Internet access (those inquiries are free), they probably can get by on one weekly withdrawal. But if someone loses track of their spending or doesn't have Internet access or likes dealing with human beings, these fees are going to start to take a huge bite out of what little they get.

Though debit card users can spend all they want in stores. As with Chase customers normally, Chase loves when you use your debit card at stores, because they get a bigger fee from merchants (back in the day when we still banked at Chase, that's what the Chase guy told me) than if you use a credit card. They're profiting coming and going.

The word "conflict of interest" fails to describe JP Morgan Chase at this point. And so if they want to force workers onto the street while keeping corporate welfare for themselves, consumers have a choice as well. They can cut up their cards.

My husband and I decided the only way to pressure JP Morgan Chase to negotiate in good faith with Chrysler was to close our Chase accounts. We want our money to go to a bank that is investing in rebuilding Michigan--not bankrupting it.

Now, FDL and Progress Michigan are calling on others to join our Chase boycott.

Sign the petition

Join the FaceBook group

Find your Michigan Chase branch and close your account

We don't have much more than our purchasing power at this point. Help out if you can.

End Harassment Now

Amanda Terkel sat down with Keith Olbermann last night to discuss how Bill O'Reilly's lapdog of a producer stalked her for two hours across state lines to harass her with an interview as "payback" for daring to criticize the Papa Bear in a blog post.

I think enough is enough and it's time to fight back.

On Saturday, March 21, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly sent one of his producers to stalk, harass, and ambush ThinkProgress.org’s managing editor Amanda Terkel. Upset over a ThinkProgress report that noted O’Reilly’s insensitivity to rape, O’Reilly sent two men to track Amanda in a car for two hours, and then confronted her with hostile questions while she was on vacation.

Sadly, Amanda is just one of at least 40 different victims of O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine. O’Reilly has hired producers whose job is to track, harass, and intimidate anyone whom O’Reilly perceives as an opponent. That’s not “journalism” — that’s a mafia-style operation. And we need to put an end to it.

Tell O’Reilly’s advertisers that you want them to issue a clear statement explaining their opposition to O’Reilly’s “ambush journalism.” Fill out the form below to tell O’Reilly’s corporate advertisers to stop supporting the O’Reilly Harassment Machine.

Clearly, an ego like Billo's will not be shamed out of doing this. He may understand if his minders tell them the ambushes specifically hurt his bottom line. The line has been crossed and he needs to stop.

Sign the form.