The Fantasyland Of New York City's Discount Grocery Stores

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The Fantasyland Of New York City's Discount Grocery Stores

If you have paid attention at all to New York’s idiotic new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, you probably know that one of his big promises is to open a chain of City-owned grocery stores. These stores, supposedly, will solve the problem of “affordability” of groceries by offering a basket of standard items at prices some 30% below what the other stores charge.

Now I recognize that there has been some substantial inflation in the food sector of the economy in the past few years. In some cases, and for some families, the price increases have been unpleasant or even difficult. However, I submit that there is no way to look at the American food supply and delivery system without seeing it as something close to a miracle for human flourishing.

According to the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the share of disposable personal income spent on food by U.S. consumers in 2025 was 9.7%.

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The DSA Vision: Does Any Human Being Enjoy Living As A Zoo Animal?

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The DSA Vision: Does Any Human Being Enjoy Living As A Zoo Animal?

Here is a fundamental proposition to which I subscribe: The only thing worth being in life is an adult.

By the word “adult” I have something specific in mind. An adult is someone who, at a minimum, either alone or in a family structure, provides for himself or herself. That’s the minimum. Even more worthwhile is being an adult who also, through effort and within a family structure, creates and provides for a family. Still more worthwhile is being an adult who, after fully providing for a family, also assists others who may need help, beginning with extended family, and potentially then reaching to the broader society and to charity.

The alternative to living as an adult is living as a dependent on others or on society. You are relieved of all responsibilities, and somebody else somehow comes up with whatever you may need in life, be it food or housing or health care. Your own life is no longer burdened by the need to provide for yourself and family, and you can live without stress and without need to fulfill obligations.

In other words, this is the life of a zoo animal. Does any human being actually want to live such a life?

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"Red Scare"? Actually The Communist Resurgence In The Democratic Party Is Very Real

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  • If you are paying any attention, you will have noticed by now that all of the energy in the Democratic Party at the moment comes from the faction calling itself the Democratic Socialists of America.

  • As I reported in this post on June 24, DSA candidates had just won primaries for three safe-Democrat congressional seats in New York City, as well as eight safe-Democrat state legislative seats in the state, six in New York City plus one in Buffalo. In a ninth race in Syracuse that was still too close to call on June 24, the DSA candidate has since declared victory as well. Most of these districts had incumbent establishment Democrats (still far-left progressives), only one of whom had beaten back the DSA challenge.

  • Since the New York primaries, a DSA-backed candidate has won the a congressional primary in Colorado (defeating a 15 term incumbent), and others are running in August primaries in states including Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin.

  • The DSA calls itself the “Democratic” Socialists, but is there anything democratic about the form of government they are advocating?

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What Makes A Person Become A Communist?

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  • This year’s primary season features the rapid ascent within the Democratic Party of the faction going by the name “Democratic Socialists of America.”

  • Despite the gratuitous co-opting of the label “Democratic,” it is by no means clear that the DSA faction would continue open elections once they had achieved enough power to end them. Instead, the DSA adopts the hardest of hard-line socialist positions on every issue.

  • I previously reported in my June 24 post that the DSA candidates in New York had accomplished nearly a clean sweep of all the Democratic Party congressional and state legislative primaries in which they had participated. Since then, a DSA candidate has knocked out a 15-term incumbent progressive Democrat in a safe Democratic district in Colorado. And The Washington Examiner reports on June 25 that DSA candidates have succeeded in some 30 down-ballot primary races in “Oregon, California, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Utah, Maryland,” as well as New York.

  • So who are these people calling themselves “Democratic Socialists”?

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In New York, The Democrats Go Completely Crazy

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In New York, The Democrats Go Completely Crazy

  • Yesterday was primary election day in New York. I previewed it in my prior post, “Socialism: On The March, Or Not So Much?” There were no Republican primaries in New York City, and very few statewide. This was almost entirely a day for intramural contests among the Democrats.

  • It was the Far Left versus the Crazy Insane Left. In almost every race, Crazy Insane prevailed.

  • The most important races involved federal congressional seats within the City — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America had endorsed candidates in three of the races: Brad Lander over incumbent Dan Goldman in NY-10 (my district), Darializa Avila Chevalier over incumbent Adriano Espaillat in NY-13 (uptown Manhattan and West Bronx), and Claire Valdez over Antonio Reynoso for an open seat in NY-7 (Northern Brooklyn and Southwest Queens).

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