Whole Foods founder John Mackey has issued a warning to America that “socialists are taking over” every part of American society.
During an interview on the Reason podcast, Mackey warns of the “threat” posed by socialists, who are “marching through the institutions.”
He said he will have more to say on the topic when he steps down as CEO of the international supermarket chain.
Mackey founded Whole Foods in 1980.
He sold it to Amazon for $13.7 billion in 2017 but continued as the company’s top executive.
He is retiring at the end of August.
During the interview with Reason, Mackey issued a dire warning to the public about the rise of socialism in America.
“My concern is that I feel like socialists are taking over,” he said.
“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.
“You know, I’m a capitalist at heart, and I believe in liberty and capitalism.
“Those are my twin values.
“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.”
“A lot of people were making as much money, if not more money, not working at all,” he said of the increased unemployment benefits offered during the pandemic.
“And so guess what? They chose not to come back to work. They got used to it.
“They only wanna work if it’s really purposeful, and something they feel aligned to,” he said of today’s youth.
“You can’t hope to start with meaningful work.
“You’re going to have 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,” he said.
“Pretty soon, you’re gonna hear about ‘Crazy John’ who’s no longer muzzled,” he added.
“I’ve got six weeks,” he said of his looming retirement.
“I can talk more about politics in six weeks than I can today.”
