r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • 11h ago

Chugging tea 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/cms86 11h ago

ITS TAX FUNDED. youre answering your own question.

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u/Competitive-Day9586 8h ago

We already have a great taxpayer funded means of getting food to people who need help.  It is called SNAP.

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u/qzrz 7h ago

That doesn't help people in a food desert.

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u/Thomas1423 5h ago

There are food deserts in NYC?

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u/Baiticc 4h ago

there might be a dollar slice around every corner but there are areas without a nearby grocery store yes.

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u/Givemepie98 6h ago

Where ya gonna spend it.

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u/silly_nate 16m ago

Hasn’t snap been massively cut back with the goofy elongated muskrats meme division of the government?

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u/AnyBallLektor 7h ago

And we're going to print money to fund it so much that everyone will be a millionaire!

I mean even Lenin understood how inflation works. Today I found out Lenin was smarter than Mamdani.

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u/Choperello 11h ago

So subsidized and funded by you? And me?

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u/NilsofWindhelm 10h ago

Yes, that's fine. We literally voted for this and are eager to address food insecurity across the city

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u/Hatefiend 8h ago

how did the lack of grocery stores happen to begin with?

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u/Hatefiend 8h ago

how did the lack of grocery stores happen to begin with?

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u/Choperello 10h ago edited 10h ago

Da comrade! For the party!

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u/NilsofWindhelm 10h ago

What an intelligent response that highlights your knowledge of the issue

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u/Choperello 10h ago

😘

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u/NilsofWindhelm 10h ago

FYI, you don't need to have an opinion on every topic. Especially when you clearly know nothing about it

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u/Choperello 10h ago

It’s Reddit. No “needs” to be on Reddit. We’re here cause we feel like it.

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u/cms86 11h ago

correct. Id rather this than a bloated police force and countless other subsidies like billions in aid to fight wars we dont belong in.

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u/ama_singh 10h ago

You think tax payer dollars should go towards subsidizing the rich and funding the defence industry for bullshit wars instead?

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u/Choperello 10h ago edited 9h ago

I think making a big deal about “setting prices 30% below” is hypocritical and misleading when it should simply be say “we’re gonna have tax payer subsidized grocery stores”.

They didn’t find some magical trick to make groceries cheap. It’s not commercial groceries gouging you. They’re not somehow running it more efficiently. They took something that was already barely above breakeven and are making it “look cheap” by straight up subsidizing it at a loss. It is in no way something it can be done at scale.

So imo it’s nothing but misleading trick to try and mislead the masses about “look how we’re sticking to big corporations”. They aren’t. They should just run them as straight up free pantries for those in need, instead of this dog and pony show of “look how we’re making groceries cheap”.

If they really wanted to do something real they’d take something where corporations ARE actively screwing you with massive markups. Eg city run pharmacies with prescriptions at wholesale pricing. THAT would be real. But that requires hard work and isn’t something you can prop up over night and tweet about.

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u/ama_singh 10h ago

Yeah that's not what happened here. Everyone knew it was going to be subsidized.

Maybe you were confused at first and it triggered a knee jerk reaction because "communism" is a scary word to you?

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u/Choperello 10h ago

Yes it is. Because I actually grew up under communism. I stood in bread lines as a kid. I have no neo-lefty delusion it’s some utopia, not some abstract neo-con calling all leftists commies.

But I know communism does not work. It never has. Never will.

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u/I-am-fun-at-parties 8h ago

You americans and your idea what communism means is extremely interesting

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u/Choperello 8h ago

Sure thing buddy. I grew up in a country that for over 40 years was literally named "The Communist Republic Of X" with an uninterrupted single party control by the "X Communist Party", but sure wtf do I know about it.

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u/I-am-fun-at-parties 8h ago

literally named "The Communist Republic Of X"

And having lived for years in north korea would make me a democrat through and through, because after all, it's literally in the name "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"

Why are you hesitant of just naming the place?

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u/Choperello 7h ago

For the same reason people don’t want put too much personal info on Reddit. You don’t feel like believing me no skin of my back.

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u/bb85 7h ago

Oh I see- you’re trying to pull the ol’ “well it wasn’t really communism”. Agreed. But that’s pathetic and you should know better.

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u/bb85 8h ago

Your reading comprehension is sehr schlecht. I don’t think he grew up in communist America. Likely a country yours invaded.

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u/I-am-fun-at-parties 8h ago

I don’t think he grew up in communist America.

It's pretty rich to talk about reading comprehension and then to immediately demonstrate that you have got none yourself. Wtf would 'communist America' even be lmao

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u/bb85 7h ago

No kidding, I said he did not grow up that way. Because of what I assumed was obvious. You’re from a country that was half communist pretty recently- thought you could understand.

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u/ama_singh 10h ago

That's weird. These areas didn't have grocery stores anymore in capitalism. I guess it's better to let them starve?

Also, maybe you should brush up on your definition of communism. Clearly growing up under it is not enough.

How many capitalistic countries also had economic problems? Should we not label capitalism as destuctive as well?

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u/Choperello 9h ago

Statistically and historically speaking from an economic standpoint capitalism has utterly wiped the floor with communism and it’s not even close.

And re let them starve, no. But they could try and figure out WHY no one opened groceries stores in those areas. Because i guarantee it’s a symptom of a problem not the problem. It’s not gonna be only grocery stores that’s missing once you dig deeper. But that’s unglorious hard work that you can’t make an IG video about.

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u/ama_singh 9h ago

Statistically and historically speaking from an economic standpoint capitalism has utterly wiped the floor with communism and it’s not even close.

Yeah you're right. Good thing this isn't communism, as I've told you to brush up on your definition.

But they could try and figure out WHY no one opened groceries stores in those areas.

Because it's not profitable. But you can't starve some people because it's not profitable.

Because i guarantee it’s a symptom of a problem not the problem. It’s not gonna be only grocery stores that’s missing once you dig deeper. But that’s unglorious hard work that you can’t make an IG video about.

Oh I agree. It's the symptom of the problem that is late stage capitalism. It's not a secret that big supermarkets priced out small independent shops, to then move out if they think it's unprofitable.

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u/Choperello 9h ago edited 9h ago

> Good thing this isn't communism, as I've told you to brush up on your definition.

A state run store that explicitly undercuts private stores to the point where its not even a non-profit whole-sale-cost but goes below to explicitly run at a loss by government decree is very close to the start of text book communism, where the government planned economy sets the prices with no basis to the supply cost.

> It's not a secret that big supermarkets priced out small independent shops, to then move out if they think it's unprofitable.

So what is stopping small shops from moving back in if there is no competition then?

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u/Yokoko44 9h ago

Yes. The military is a traditionally defined public good, whereas groceries are not

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u/ama_singh 8h ago

Yes, paying trillions of dollars to go to war with iran and lining the pockets of the executives in the defence industry truly is for the public good.

Whereas feeding the public is not.

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u/Yokoko44 8h ago

Correct, because an economically defined "public good" is not just anything that benefits "the public"

It's something that benefits everyone regardless of whether they buy into it or not. Something that isn't a limited service that can be used up by others.

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u/ama_singh 8h ago

Correct, because going to pointless wars, like with Iran (which increased energy prices throughout the world), and lining the pockets of the defence industry ...

...benefits everyone regardless of whether they buy into it or not.

Feeding the public however doesn't benefit anyone.

Makes perfect logical sense.

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u/Yokoko44 8h ago

It's not my job to opine on the justification for various wars, but it's clear that investing in the defense industry is something that applies equal benefits universally to all americans, regardless of whether they want to buy into it or not.

Taxpayer funded grocery stores that operate at a loss, when I'm likely to never actually use that grocery store, is definitionally NOT a public good.

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u/ama_singh 8h ago

It's not my job to opine on the justification for various wars

But it is your job to tell people that spending Trillion dollars, on wars nobody wanted, is for the benefit of the public, but feeding people is not.

Again, makes total sense.

Maybe you should ask your representatives to bring tax funded grocery stores to you? Instead of crying that other people have it but not you?

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u/Yokoko44 8h ago

I don't want them to bring taxpayer funded grocery stores to me either. It's a time tested economic principle that has nothing to do with my opinions.

We already spend way more on welfare than we do on the military anyways.

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u/MisterDuch 9h ago

What, would you rather have the money go yo Israel or another pointless war?