When Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) ran for office, he was propelled to victory by a growing socialist movement allied with the Democratic Party. The Socialist movement has elected a record number of socialists in Congress. However, Johnson now has one of the largest American cities to implement such policies with the support of the far left teacher’s union. Years ago, I wrote how a delegation of the union went to Venezuela and heaped praise on the murderous regime’s “progress.” Now Johnson appears to be moving toward a pilot program with great significance for socialist supporters: state-run grocery stores.
I am admittedly no fan of Johnson. I love Chicago where I was born and raised. However, rising taxes and crime had led many to leave, particularly businesses. This includes grocery chains. Walmart, Walgreens, Aldi are just some of the companies closing stores.
Johnson’s solution is telling. Rather than address the underlying conditions, he is suggesting a solution that has failed historically — government-run stores. Indeed, the failure in dealing with crime and hostile business environments has allowed socialist activists to realize a major new socialist agenda item.
The Chicago Tribune reported the start of the feasibility study to open government-run stores as part of Johnson’s pledge to advance “innovative, whole-of-government approaches to address … inequities.”
The mayor said in a statement:
All Chicagoans deserve to live near convenient, affordable, healthy grocery options. We know access to grocery stores is already a challenge for many residents, especially on the South and West sides. A better, stronger, safer future is one where our youth and our communities have access to the tools and resources they need to thrive. My administration is committed to advancing innovative, whole-of-government approaches to address these inequities.
His Economic Security Project senior adviser Ameya Pawar said that government-run stores are no different from other government programs “the way a library or the postal service operates.” It is all part of “reimagining the role government can play in our lives by exploring a public option for grocery stores via a municipally owned grocery store and market.”
Yet, we have previously “imagined” this approach in various governments with uniformly awful results. The government is not going to run these stores at a profit when actual businesses could not do so. Instead, it is likely to supply food at a higher cost for taxpayers in the red.
What is striking is that Johnson’s office said the grocery stores would be funded with the help of the Biden Administration as well as state funds. The use of federal funds to take another stab at state-run stores was hardly embraced by Congress in prior appropriation debates. If true, it is yet another example of how Congress has allowed billions to be spent without meaningful limits, including the massive and largely unrestricted spending tied to pandemic measures. That funding has been used for everything from office upgrades to state lottery systems.
In the Soviet Union, state-run grocery stores were the subject of gallows humor. The “reimagining” of grocery stores left shelves bare with only imagined essential products. The most widely told joke spread just before the fall of the Soviet Union:
Two men are in line waiting to buy vodka. An hour goes by, then two, and the line barely moves. Everyone is in a terrible mood. Finally, one of the men can’t take it any longer. “This is it! I’m sick of this kind of life. Everywhere there are lines, you cannot buy anything, and the store shelves are empty. I’ve had enough. I’m going to the Kremlin right now to assassinate him”. The man returns after two hours, still angry, and says, “To hell with it! At the Kremlin the line to assassinate Gorbachev is longer than this one.”
As the Johnson and Biden Administration try to make state-run stores work where the Soviet Union failed, history and economics are hardly on their side. Of course, as University of Chicago’s Milton Friedman noted, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
I live in a community with a high Hispanic population.
I can count 5 different stores specializing in serving those desires. The stores range from small bodega stores, to bakeries, to grocery stores to a new shiny supermarket. Private business will ALWAYS satisfy the desires of the public….ALWAYS.
The mayor, as ususal has zero business experience, training, or education. He is the typical example of “if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem is going to be a nail.”
He is the mayor. The tool he needs to deploy is the police. The police exist to protect the people and the peoples property.(and to protect the criminals FROM the people) Democrats hate the people and hate the cops more. The people of Chicago are getting exactly what the voted for….good and hard.
Carry on, people of Chicago, bask in the greatness of Democrat created version of easy living through Democrat policies.
Those who don’t know history and never study it are doomed to repeat it. So goes the saying. Seems the only people wanting socialism are those who don’t live under it. American Democratic Socialists always point to the Scandinavian states as the socialists democracies they revere whereas they are fiercely capitalists countries with high taxes to support an extensive welfare state. A very fine distinction. They also never to seem to understand that socialism in its ultimate state is total control of the economy. You have to go there before you can reach the ultimate communist state. They also never understand that political freedom without economic freedom is a political shell and hell. Ultimately, since the state controls all of the economy, that your only freedom is to vote for the socialists you like because the state will never go away.
And Joe Biden is a socialist at heart. He even acts like one with all the corruption that his political lifestyle has accorded him. About all he needs to complete the picture is a dacha on the Black Sea or the Crimea. And we all know how the offspring of the zampolits always get the cushy jobs since it is their due. The people need not apply.
They also never to seem to understand that socialism in its ultimate state is total control of the economy.
True
I heard a good explanation of Capitalism.
How much toothpaste does the city of Chicago need to be delivered to the city, in October, to meet the needs of the people?
A city Toothpast Czar would get that hilariously wrong every single month.
But 10’s of thousands of stores always have just the needed inventory to meet the needs of the people.
Well there better be teams of auditors watching the federal budget because Comrade Johnson will expect, indeed demand, that the rest of the country pay for his communist “grocery stores”. Ever notice how generous Democrats are when the bill goes on someone else’s Mastercard ??? Not. One. Dime. Of. Federal Funds. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
On the same subject of State run enterprises, Tucker Carlson just released his interview with the Argentinian frontrunner for president, Javier Milei. He is being described by mainstream media as the second coming of Hitler. Decide for yourself.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1702442099814342725
Governments in general, but especially those run by Socialist create a problem out of whole cloth, then tax their citizens to fund a solution to fix the problem . . . A solution which inevitably doesn’t work . . . Which they blame on a straw man. Over and over again.
After leftist mayor Lightfoot ruined Chicago, the brilliant voters elected someone even more left-wing. They get the government they deserve.
As always just follow the money. Who is getting paid to be on the Feasibility Study, who will be the President of State Stores? Who will be the Assistant to the President of State Stores? Who will be the Spokesperson for the President of State Stores? Who will be the Manager of Distribution? Who will be the Chief Buyer? Who will be the Head of Marketing?
We see that Biden’s Chief of Staff has a family member that owns a huge mine in Africa that is used for EVs. We see the Sec of Energy making millions off of the “Green Economy”. We see Biden making millions everywhere. They are killing the Golden Goose and we are letting them do it.
This new Chicago state store thing is the poisonous tentacles of the Teachers Unions and the power they have due to giving all of their money to politicians. The Teachers Unions need to be broken, they need to be defunded and they need to be shown the door before we have more cities with insane leaders like Chicago.
The margin of profit for a grocery store is already razor thin. Thieves take what they want and nothing is done. Thugs run freely. After “mostly peaceful protests” the stores looted and burned do not return. The result? Food deserts. The 7-11 and other convenience type stores are what remain. It is a problem, a law enforcement problem, a social problem and a spiritual problem. It is the logical conclusion to years of neglect, weakened family structure, moral decline, laziness and a dearth of competent leaders.
Short of a dramatic turnaround from moral decline and new leadership who have the fortitude to enforce the law, it will continue to be a race to the bottom.
When the State owns the grocery store what lines are the longest? Lobster and filet mignon.
Who can wait on line the longest? Those who do not work.
What will happen? No one gets what they want. The working people cover higher costs than before. To make ends meet the State run grocery store has to sell the cheapest foods and limit quantity.
In a “democracy” people get the government they deserve – good and hard. They voted for it. Let them live with the consequences.
Unfortunately, however, there are those who know how to pull the levers or power in order to skew an election. Why else would Mark Zuckerberg infuse over 400 million of his personal dollars into only a few key voting districts? Perhaps, before a person is allowed to pull the levers, they should take a ten question test to make sure they know where they live, what is the current date, etc. It would be interesting to do a random evaluation of voters to see what percentage have any idea what is going on. I am sure there are “election workers” (activists) who “guide” at least a certain number of voters in who to vote for, or do it for them on paper ballots and take those to drop boxes.
New York is such and example. It was the city of New York that tipped the scales to the current governor. It is the promise of free stuff. “Vote for this person and you won’t get free stuff. Vote instead for this person and you will continue to get free stuff and more! Yay! Stick it to the man!”
This all seems like it is going as planned. First the govt. causes the problem (high crime through defunding police and bail reforms) then they come in and solve the problem they created by taking over more of freedoms. Look around people, it is happening everywhere. College education, the auto industry and appliance industry to name a few. We are losing this battle and it will most likely be too late once we finally wake up to how far the cog of socialism has turned.
While I certainly feel for those that do not have easy access to low cost quality food, I do not see how a government run grocery store will work where private grocery stores either failed or gave up and left. The government run grocery store will certainly face the very same pressures that others did, but with even less ability to address them.
I cannot see how this works except I can see it fumbling through with low quality and even less choices.
I do hang my hat on the idea this is just a feasibility study and maybe they do not follow through. The real problem is not the lack of grocery stores, but what made them leave in the first place. Maybe if the Chicago government fixes the underlying problem, the real retailers return.
TQM,
“where private grocery stores either failed or gave up and left”
You are missing the point. Once they take it over they do not need to be successful. They will just steal more of our property to fund it. Every year we will hear how they need more money put into it just like the monopolized public education system or Post Office.
What did socialists use to light rooms before candles?
Electricity.
I like that.
Since government-run anything has proven everywhere to be inferior to privately-run enterprises, the interesting question is why socialism holds it’s appeal, esp to the well-educated. Well, look at who gets employed by the socialist enterprises and who gets to run them. It is power for the people at the top and an easier life for the people below them.
The Mayor sounds like a real Chooch!
“. . . state-run grocery stores.”
That’s brilliant.
Now Chicago will have “stores for people, not for profits” — along with standing in line for two hours to buy toilet paper that doesn’t exist.
Deprivation and starvation under socialist economies is supposed to be a warning, not a blueprint.
I have taught in the former USSR since 1990. The horror stories of survivors are so awful Americans cannot believe them.
As I watch the idealistic mismanagement of America I want to broadcast Dr. Sowell 24×7 to promote rationality.
Barbarians are not at the gates but in the drivers seat.
There is no possible way for this to end well for Chicago residents or US taxpayers. Is there any reason why looters would not clean out government run facilities as easily as private ones? “Government run” would just be way to hide actual costs. I can think of dozens of ways this could go horribly wrong, and only a few scenarios not totally disastrous.
I’ve been to Cuba a number of times, and I can assure you, a state run grocery store is NOT an option that you want. It will be entertaining to see how badly they can screw this one up.
Wally, just curious why you “have been to Cuba a number of times”? Would you have gone to South Africa during Apartheid? Would you have gone to Germany in 1938? Would you have gone to GA in 1850?
Maybe you have a good reason to have gone to Cuba a number of times, but there are many gadflies that have gone there out of ignorance and I find it troubling.
The Sate Department’s people to people program actively encourages people to go, so long as they patronize small privately run B&B’s and restaurants. The idea is to try to foster a small private business environment there. The idea is essentially to undermine Communism from within and not just go and sit on some beach.
A lot of owners of those famous classic American cars have become small entrepreneurs by offering rides and tours around town.
Personally I think riding around Havana in a big old open top 57 Chevy would be a blast.
I wonder how the City-Run grocery stores will handle the rampant shoplifting?
the black mobs that loot and ransack the grocery stores will steal from Krogers outside Chicago and place items in the grocery stores run by the gubbermint for trial runs. practice makes perfect
Further proof we will destroy this republic from within. Could Chicago voters have voted in a worse mayor! It’s been corrupt for a long time but this is trending towards the insane.
Ever take a look at the profit margin for grocery stores? It’s around 2.2%. It would virtually be impossible for a government store to offer competitive pricing. That 2.2% would quickly be eaten up by the inefficiency of the government. Since when does government do anything well or efficiently? The answer is “never” and it never will.
Like John Stossel wrote, “What bathroom would you rather use, public or private?”
That is such a great way to visualize the difference.