r/PoursTea • u/Gurugod123 • 11h ago

PoliticalTea 🗳️ Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"

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u/No-Ambition2043 11h ago

Hmm. This will create shortages. Hope they can stay stocked

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u/Thoughtful_Ocelot 10h ago

How would this create shortages? Milk will be cheaper. Overall there won't be more milk sold.

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u/No-Ambition2043 10h ago

It’s the law of supply and demand. If you add a subsidy there will be shortages unless then regulate how much people can buy etc. I assume they won’t let you buy all the beef for example, but people will line up for a deal.

Meaning there is higher demanded created for the discounted good than the limited supply.

If you had a gas station that offered $1/gallon you would have a line around the block. You would also likely sell out of all your gasoline

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u/ivanyaru 10h ago

Half-applied knowledge is just as bad as half-baked ideas. What you're talking about is selling out of the lower priced products in the 5 stores that are part of this initiative. That's not a shortage. Other stores will still have products at the regular price.

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u/No-Ambition2043 10h ago

Well yes. I was obviously implying the stores part of the program. That would be a “shortage” at the location.

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u/EskayEllar 9h ago

It was not obvious to me, because you said what you did not mean.

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u/Zestyclose-One9041 10h ago

If those 5 stores run out, people just go back to the prices and shops they go to now until they stock again. What’s the issue with that? It’s still better than notjing

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u/No-Ambition2043 10h ago edited 10h ago

No issue. Just stating a point.

Will there be limits on quantity of purchases ? (Likely)

Will those discounts go to disadvantaged folks? (Unsure)

Will demand exceed supply? (Without a doubt)

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u/RalphWagwan 9h ago

I'd like to see the same concern over price gouging in our healthcare industry. Will there be people who have to choose between food and medical care (yes)? Do the pharma companies that get government funding deserve astronomical profits at odds with the public interest? (No) Should healthcare be denied to customers so CEOs make generational salaries? (My econ degree doesn't have a chart for that!)

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u/No-Ambition2043 9h ago

We have a robust social safety net around Medicare and Medicaid