Austonia AM
100% Austin news, info, and entertainment, straight to your inbox at 6 a.m. every morning.
In five minutes, you're fully informed and ready to start another great day in our city.
×
John Mackey, the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market, railed against Americans' growing interest in socialism on the Joe Rogan Experience.
"Capitalism is the greatest thing humanity has ever done," said Mackey, who is worth an estimated $100 million.
The episode launched as a Spotify exclusive Tuesday, as Rogan's podcast episodes are now exclusively available on the music platform.
Mackey attributed American's warming attitudes toward socialism to left-wing academics, whom he said have long been the enemies of entrepreneurs, stemming from a jealousy because "society doesn't value them" as much as business people.
Mackey has made similar statements about socialism and capitalism in other interviews in recent weeks, including with the American Enterprise Institute. He recently published the book "Conscious Leadership"—a follow-up to his previous title, "Conscious Capitalism"—that sparked the conversation on capitalism and socialism with Rogan.
Rogan offered a few thoughts about the topic himself.
"The problem a lot of people have with capitalism is that they attribute capitalism to greed," Rogan said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with contributing to a better community—making healthcare more affordable or free, making education more affordable or free. But human beings need incentives to perform."
A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found half of young adults under 30 expressed positive views of socialism — about an equal number to those who felt positively about capitalism. In another indication, the Democratic Socialists of America membership has jumped from 6,500 to 70,000 over the last six years.
Mackey co-founded Whole Foods Market from Austin in 1980. The grocery chain reportedly employs about 100,000 people, and was acquired by Amazon in 2017.
Whole Foods came under fire last year when Oxfam, an international nonprofit that focuses on global poverty, published a report that ranked Whole Foods as the worst on workers' rights issues among 10 major supermarkets, including Walmart.
More on Joe Rogan:
'Iconoclast' Joe Rogan is hard to define—can Austin figure him out?
From Your Site Articles
- Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey talks preserving Austin ... ›
- Joe Rogan's new home is a $14 million mansion on Lake Austin ... ›
- Timeline of Joe Rogan moving to Austin - austonia ›
- The names behind the Joe Rogan podcast studio - austonia ›
- New Austinite Joe Rogan visits the Governor's Mansion - austonia ›
- The 10 best places to work in Austin since the pandemic began - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Popular
From the California coast to Scandanavia, here's where each Austin FC player is from. (Claire Partain)
Austin FC's first signee, Rodney Redes, hails from Paraguay. So does the club's first Designated Player, Cecilio Dominguez. Five other players' hometowns are in South America, while five others are from Europe or Africa. While most on the roster signed to Austin FC from other MLS teams, Austin FC players have played as far north as Finland, as far east as Israel and as far south as Argentina.
English and Spanish are the most spoken languages on the team, although Zan Kolmanic speaks Slovenian and the club is well-traveled, too: Jon Gallagher has lived in six countries, while Kekuta Manneh, the club's only true Austinite, left behind all he knew in Gambia to move to the city in high school.
The multiculturalism on the pitch goes hand-in-hand with the city of Austin itself. Over 30% of the city's population is of Hispanic or Latino descent, and Austin is a majority-minority city (meaning non-Hispanic Whites make up less than 50% of the population).
It's brought even the most unlikely groups together; while supporters of Liga MX and the English Premier League used to be on opposite sides of the bar, now they come together in green.
Jorge Chavez, a member of Austin FC fan club Austin Anthem, said that Austin FC helps unite a city full of travelers and move-ins.
"A lot people here are from all these different places, and they might not have that much in common with each other, but now they do," Chavez said.
From Your Site Articles
- Austin FC's Jon Gallagher has lived in six countries - austonia ›
- Julio Cascante comes from Portland Timbers to Austin FC - austonia ›
- Sebastian Berhalter is Austin FC's youngest team member - austonia ›
- Designated Player Cecilio Dominguez is joining Austin FC in his ... ›
- Rodney Redes brings young talent to Austin FC - austonia ›
- Kekuta Manneh's says there's no place like Austin FC - austonia ›
- Austin FC fan Brad Tillery gets Verde Keeper kit from Stuver - austonia ›
- 12 Austin FC fans get inked up in tattoo marathon - austonia ›
- Austin's Latino's feels "close to home" with Austin FC - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Austin's tech industry is hardly insulated from the post-pandemic labor shortage. Its workers stand to benefit as a result. (Joe Jungmann/CC)
"We are living in times when the employees are the king or the queen," said Angelos Angelou, founder and CEO of local consulting firm AngelouEconomics.
A talent center
Lured by the state's business-friendly climate and Austin's growing tech scene, California-based companies such as Tesla, Oracle and TikTok built factories, relocated headquarters and opened offices. Austin posted the highest tech migration rate of any city in the country between May 2020 and April 2021, according to a recent LinkedIn analysis.
With so many new resident businesses, job growth kept pace. The Austin metro ranked fourth nationally for tech job postings growth in March, according to Silicon Valley Bank's latest State of the Markets report.
Oracle relocated its headquarters to the Riverside location in Austin. (Shutterstock)
To fill these roles, local tech companies have to look beyond the city limits. Employers poach from their competitors, recruit recent graduates from area colleges and universities or look to the national labor market for talent, Angelou said.
Summer Salazar, director of employer engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, has seen a huge influx in tech sector job postings on the university's job board in recent months. "We feel that demand," she said.
An employee's market
Jaime Cabrera, 28, recently graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and is looking for a policy job at a social media company. He didn't go into his job search with plans to stay in Austin but has seen various intriguing openings, citing Bumble, Lyft and TikTok. "I didn't realize how many companies are here," he said.
The tech labor market also affects employees who are not looking for a new job but instead seeking better benefits or internal policy changes from their current employer.
Lawrence Humphrey, 27, lives in North Austin and works for IBM. Shortly after the murder of George Floyd, he co-founded Tech Can Do Better, which advocates for a more equitable industry. Since then, there has been little quantitative progress in terms of more diverse hiring and other metrics. But there has been a qualitative shift. "Issues around racial equity are just far more of a priority from the perspective of the employees, so therefore it's far more of a priority for the employers," he said.
OG vs. newcomers
Although the pandemic has accelerated the growth of Austin's tech industry, the industry was already established. In the latter half of the 20th century, the city attracted big tech originators like IBM because of its enticingly low labor cost and spawned homegrown giants like Dell—trends that continue today.
The arrival of Silicon Valley tech transplants in other growing tech cities, such as Miami, has led to tension with the so-called old guard. In Austin, such competition has forced companies to compete for workers, leading to more mobility.
"When I was in the job market, my god if you changed jobs often—and often meant once every three years—you were considered a traitor," said Angelou, who headed the Austin Chamber's economic development department from 1984 through 1995, helping to recruit companies such as IBM, Apple and Samsung to town. "Now people change jobs every nine months, it appears, and that is considered a plus."
From Your Site Articles
- California tech employees move to austin for business and way of ... ›
- Burnt out? Austin companies offer new employee benefits - austonia ›
- Austin millennials lead recent labor union drives - austonia ›
- Buc-ee's avoids national workers shortage with benefits - austonia ›
- Austin has worse national worker shortage with less workers ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
