Mackey, a self-described libertarian, was asked by NPR's Steve Inskeep to revisit his 2009 assertion that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is socialist.

Mackey responded, "Technically speaking, it's more like fascism. Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn't own the means of production, but they do control it — and that's what's happening with our health care programs and these reforms."

Mackey first voiced his views about President Barack Obama's signature healthcare policies in an August 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed.

"While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system," he wrote.

Mackey began the editorial with a former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's quote: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/whole-foods-obamacare-fascist-socialist/2013/01/16/id/471765#ixzz2IDe2MK7S
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!