JosephMeyer’s Recent Comments

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  Unfed Reds redux

  Hmm...the Venona cables, decrypted communications between Soviet spymasters and their agents in the US government, were declassified and published in the 80s, and make it clear that everyone Joe McCarthy fingered was indeed a Soviet spy. Check it out. So I'll take the charge of "McCarthyism" as a compliment.

  The parts of the USSR where millions starved had been able to feed themselves before they were collectivized. How Federal domination is supposed to lead to more local produce is beyond me--especially if lack of infrastrucure for a huge land mass was the Soviet difficulty! The food pyramid is one of my favorite federal contributions to nutrition.On Why the FTC is right to block Whole Foods' buyout of Wild Oats posted 2 years, 4 months ago 28 Responses

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  WF's "appalling" labor record.

  What is most appalling? Consistently ranking near the top of Fortune's list of the top 100 companies to work for (#5 this year)? The fact that only one of their stores has gone union, and voted the union out the next year (we're probably getting warmer)? Or the fact that many former disgruntled Wild Oats employees now work for Whole Foods?On Why the FTC is right to block Whole Foods' buyout of Wild Oats posted 2 years, 4 months ago 28 Responses

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  Worked for the Soviets!

  That's it, in order to prevent "monopsony," lets have the government get involved with agriculture! Oh boy, I can't wait for the first "boy meets tractor" inspirational opera. Last time government invested really seriously in agriculture, millions of people starved. For one thing, they got behind Lysenko's daft genetics, i.e. the idea that acquired traits could be transmitted. Government is the ultimate "monopsony," not a defense from it. For one thing, it has guns and the ability to tax and imprison, tools which even big bad John Macky doesn't have at his disposal.On Why the FTC is right to block Whole Foods' buyout of Wild Oats posted 2 years, 4 months ago 28 Responses

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  Office Depot/Staples

  The FTC blocked the proposed Office Depot/Staples merger a few years ago, thereby keeping the price of printer ink cartridges artificially high. On Why the FTC is right to block Whole Foods' buyout of Wild Oats posted 2 years, 4 months ago 28 Responses

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  Goodbye to Wild Oats

  So what is it, the merger will be bad because prices will go up, or because prices will go down? Or because they will remain the same? The primary result of the FTC's increasingly likely-looking success blocking WFM's acquisition of Wild Oats is that Wild Oats will continue to go broke, its employees will lose their jobs, and its assets will be picked up for pennies on the dollar by Safeway, Kroger, et al. I'm so grateful to the FTC for its protection!On Why the FTC is right to block Whole Foods' buyout of Wild Oats posted 2 years, 4 months ago 28 Responses