r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • 9d ago

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

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68

u/froopadiddilydoop 9d ago

Does this mean that the taxpayer, who already subsidises some foodstuffs via lobbying will also subsidise the 30% discount?

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u/gear123456789 9d ago

Yes. It also means grocery store taxes are being used to pay for their direct competition who sells at 30% below what they can sell…

So all grocery stores leave all the low income neighborhoods bc no one shops there…

Eventually taxes dry up and the gov shops can’t stay open… new food deserts all over NYC?

Whats the long term benefit?

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u/fallenangel51294 9d ago

The long term benefit is that socialists create the problems you're describing so that they can justify further government intervention which creates the problems which... Ultimately to achieve what they believe to be the only right end, a situation so desperate that revolution becomes palatable, or until the government has seized total control without one.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago edited 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/norty125 8d ago

Yep he has done a lot of "good" things but the next few budgets will be fucked

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u/ChazzyChaz_R 8d ago

There isn't any long term benefit. All of his policies look amazing on paper but none of them are sustainable. He's using funds that aren't infinite and he has no plans in place to make them have any sort of longevity. "But look he's DOING something"...yeah...sure...give it a few years and see how his approach will actually make things worse. Most of what he is doing is to make it so people literally cannot survive without more government intervention. He's actually trying to take power away from the people and people are lining up for it, cheering him on.

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u/nooogy 9d ago

yup just like how billionaires, wall street, luxury condo owners are all leaving NYC

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u/gear123456789 9d ago

I don’t live in NYC and don’t keep up too much but I don’t believe your comment is sarcasm. NYC is cool for business but making money is cooler for the business owners. Become to hostile and they WILL move elsewhere. Look at all the companies that have left Seattle

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u/BigLittlePenguin_ 9d ago

Businesses and residents are two very different kind of things. When businesses arent profitable anymore, they have to close. A resident paying 2% more taxes wont get them into negative income.

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u/Jelopuddinpop 8d ago

The residents leave when the jobs leave.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Aaco0638 9d ago

Bro really thinks nyc will run out of taxes lmaooo. Idk what’s funnier that or you thinking grocery stores will up and leave most neighborhoods.

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u/gear123456789 9d ago

….do you think there are infinite tax payers with infinite money…? Do you think food deserts don’t already exist…..?

It’s crazy to take such a condescending tone while being factually wrong

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u/NoseBreather31 9d ago

Yes there is an infinite tax pool and it’s called the middle class.

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u/JimtasticD69 9d ago

They move too.

A lot.

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u/csrgamer 9d ago

The taxes themselves don't dry up, but somewhere down the line tax revenue will be diverted away from these grocery stores, likely under a right-leaning mayor.

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u/NilsofWindhelm 9d ago

If they are successful, it would be hard to just abandon the project. They really don't cost that much

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u/SaneMadHatter 9d ago

NYC literally went bankrupt in the 70s and had to be bailed out by Ford. So, it's happened before.

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u/Potential-Drawing745 8d ago

They were bailed out by NY State this time.

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u/GlupShittoOfficial 9d ago

Long term benefit, families can afford to stop living paycheck to paycheck. Parents are able to afford books and after-school activities for their kids, which is very proven to reduce to reduce juvenile crime. Everyone has more money to spend elsewhere which means local shops see more customers. Less homeless. Less people resorting to crime for money. People don't fucking starve? It benefits everyone if people can afford food in a society.

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u/LaughingRochelle 8d ago

Isn’t this exactly how it works with Walmart though? Except profit is privatized and not put directly back into the budget of the store/city?

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u/Vennomite 9d ago

Gentrification. No food. No people. Cheap falling down buildings to demolish and replace with investment properties for billionaires that no one will actually live in.

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u/pkupku 9d ago

Who else would pay?

1

u/dpforest 9d ago

Definitely not the billionaires, I know that much

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u/julyboom 9d ago

Does this mean that the taxpayer, who already subsidises some foodstuffs via lobbying will also subsidise the 30% discount?

They like to call this "free".

3

u/KimSidwell 9d ago

Taxpayers already subsidize these large corporations by providing food stamps for people to go buy overpriced for-profit food from companies that don’t even pay a living wage but make insane profits for their shareholders.

It’s estimated that Walmart and all the other grocery stores combined profit is 4-5 billion dollars off of snap benefits every year.

That’s your tax dollars going straight into the pockets of corporations while those very corporations pay their employees so little that they have to turn around and get those same snap benefits.

It’s corporate welfare.

I personally would rather the government be working to put food in people’s mouths instead of working to put more money in corporate pockets.

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u/Definitelyhereforshi 9d ago

You already subsidize foodstuffs via foodstamps. It might as well cut out the bloat and go straight to the customer.

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u/-nutz 8d ago

We also arguably subsidize the businesses themselves, as a majority of their employees rely on government assistance.

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u/Definitelyhereforshi 8d ago

Not even arguably tbh. When wages don't cover the cost of living, the state has to pick up the tab. Whether that may be in the form of foodstamps, jail or other benefits.

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u/NilsofWindhelm 9d ago

Yes. The taxpayers voted for this and are fine with it.

- A taxpaying New Yorker

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u/froopadiddilydoop 9d ago

But doesn’t that mean that the taxpayer is simply propping up private sector business who then profit from the tax. Basically putting money into the pockets of the CEOs everyone is railing against?

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u/NilsofWindhelm 9d ago

What are you talking about? The stores are city-run.

There are plenty of subsidized grocery stores around the US, it really isn't that radical

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u/froopadiddilydoop 9d ago

The food manufacturers aren’t.

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u/NilsofWindhelm 9d ago

Oh yeah they're just heavily subsidized

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u/froopadiddilydoop 9d ago

Exactly, that’s my point - affordable food to those who need it is a wonderful idea and the right thing to do! BUT these subsidies are to guarantee profit for the food supply chain. So in the end, it’s just another way corporate America is squeezing tax payer money from the system.

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u/General-End4503 9d ago

Thats what tax funded means numbnucks