A New York City mayoral candidate is proposing that the city open its own grocery stores to bring down costs. The idea has also gained momentum in Chicago and other cities.
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This is asinine: “Municipal grocery stores could lower costs by…buying food wholesale.” Do grocery stores today buy their food retail? Will 5 store chain would be able to negotiate the same wholesale price as a company with hundreds of stores?
The co-operative movement in England started so the community could provide itself goods & services at reasonable cost and stop greedy business owners exploiting them. It worked. It could work in each city.
MTA...NYCHA...yeah, it would fail miserably but it would be entertaining to those of us who don't have to deal with it and can just observe from the outside.
This has been tried in smaller communities with very mixed results. Sioux Falls has had decent results with a "bookmobile" model where they can test demand w/o first committing to a building/lease that might not pan out. (Also, a non-profit runs it w/some city assistance)
OMG.. 🙄
The inflation is Global!!! It's expensive all over the world!
It's 25-70% more expensive here in Sweden since the inflation hit.
New grocery stores won't bring down costs.
It might help but the problem is the groceries that go in the stores. Almost all meat in America comes from a monopoly of 4 corporations. They keep the prices high. The same is true of cereal, eggs, etc.
FANTASTIC idea. NYC still has an appalling # of food deserts. If a government-funded initiative is the only way to eliminate them (at least in part), so be it.
Hmmm, kind of like how Cuban has dramatically lowered drug prices. They could still make a profit but without forcing people to choose between rent, food, meds, etc.
How about also inviting expansion by low cost grocers like Trader Joes and Aldis? Throughout pandemic, TJ eggs, milk, butter, bread, bacon and ground beef have been half of what they were at major chains.
Using the words socialism and capitalism triggers a minimum of 20 million votes against Democrats. I prefer to use USA words and phrases like "for the common good", "liberty and justice for all" and others. The propagandists pick up on your two words and drive righties out of their mind.
almost like capitalism has failed us in providing us with basic needs. The intention of making food for profit contradictions the purpose of food, which is to feed hungry people.
The purpose of any business is to make a profit.
You don’t have any understanding of what capitalism is.
And, actually, you don’t seem to have any idea what you’re talking about.
It hasn’t failed us at all on a grand scale. Most people do have access to groceries unlike in other countries. But there needs to be a government to keep it in check and provide for where it falls short, like in low income areas.
It has failed us, in first world countries that throw away metric tons of food all the time you have thousands starving including children. We are cooked and it will only get worse.
And compare it to former socialist or communist countries. It’s not even a contest. Capitalism has faults which is why I said a gov is needed to check it. But it hasn’t “failed” us. We’ve never had a famine, for example.
Breadline argument is not good because that’s right before collapse of USSR. And shortly before collapse they did reformist policies and became more accepting of some capitalist policies.
I lived in Russia and that’s just blatantly not true. Their food is bland. Loved everything else about the country (minus the political system) though.
I also lived in Belgium and travelled around Europe. Italy had the best food hands down.
They are obese because they are being fed processed trash as cheap as possible. Again we have been failed. Not only the food has 0 nutrients but it also makes people obese.
That is a terrible way of comparing things? Do you think without the shareholders there would be a famine? Lets be real.
Without businesses setting their own prices and attending to the needs of the community there would be famine. It’s why we have so many different stores, products, etc. from all over. In areas where it doesn’t make Econ sense, that’s where gov steps in. It’s worked in every county esp euro countries
There are many co op grocery stores in Vermont and New Hampshire. I don't know what their model of business is. But the ones I have been to ( wealthier towns) are not cheap, but offer great quality and a small footprint.
We have a chain of "cost plus" stores that offer very competive pricing as well as generic branding. Generic branding alone can drive down costs significantly.
This is the way. Creating national change is impossible. We need to take over our cities, then counties, then states. The “United” States is a pipe dream. We will continue to be 50 third world countries with the biggest military on the planet otherwise.
Capitalism decrees that poor people should not have access to wholesome foods, because they don't spend enough money to make a store in their area profitable. Which leaves Dollar stores and 7/11s as their only source of groceries. City-owned stores are a great idea.
That is a very interesting idea. We need more forward thinking like this to battle the complex problems the country is facing. We can't depend on corporations to do anything for the American people. If there was a city store they could set the market prices.
Some govts (very frew in the USA) provide social housing. Is social food the next logical step. How about also regulating private markets so they actually function for those in need, not just those pursuing greed?
Government should subsize basic small footprint stores that supply the basic nutritious foods without the processed poison like soda & chips. Guarantee fresh/healthy foods to the public as a right for any working class American.
This morning in a comment thread on I quickly calculated the cost of breakfast from Walmart: 2 large eggs, 2 slices of bacon and two pieces of toast, 6 oz glass of milk = $1.55 and that is with the price of eggs elevated due to N5H1 culling of layers. Things are not as bad as poiticians are selling
Not a bad idea but like many good ideas it will likely be exploited by theft, graft, and corruption. When FEMA is activated to help during our hurricanes the fraud and corruption is off the charts. However, they have been nailing a few, including local township officials ripping off goods.
Providing government subsidies to compete against private competition will work well. But at least the candidate has admitted part of what is driving cost up.
I wonder how much the giant food distributors will charge these city grocery stores for the product they want to sell?
They very well may not get the deals the suppliers make with the large grocery chains, which means they won't actually be able to offer food at better prices.
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Maybe they should ask BC’s government owned car insurance monopoly
There are pros and cons to government owned business that generate profits for the tax base … but not if it becomes a monopoly
Article from September. Store is currently open.
…. said no one
The inflation is Global!!! It's expensive all over the world!
It's 25-70% more expensive here in Sweden since the inflation hit.
New grocery stores won't bring down costs.
We need a mix of capitalism, socialism, and communism.
Government subsidized food banks are not a total solution, but in some communities they may be a good fit.
You don’t have any understanding of what capitalism is.
And, actually, you don’t seem to have any idea what you’re talking about.
And compare it to former socialist or communist countries. It’s not even a contest. Capitalism has faults which is why I said a gov is needed to check it. But it hasn’t “failed” us. We’ve never had a famine, for example.
I also lived in Belgium and travelled around Europe. Italy had the best food hands down.
That is a terrible way of comparing things? Do you think without the shareholders there would be a famine? Lets be real.
— Jimmy McMillan
We-ThePeople2024.com
Fuck off @nytimes.com .
trump is going back in thanks to you cowards sanewashing everything he did and said.
You failed, miserably.
They very well may not get the deals the suppliers make with the large grocery chains, which means they won't actually be able to offer food at better prices.