Here's what I keep going back and forth on: does he know it's a bad idea and just figures the voters love it, or does he really not see it?
And it's bad for more reasons than the money. Sure, the stores open in a hole and lose money on every sale. But they also put subsidized competition next door to immigrant-owned bodegas scraping by on 2% margins, and all the time and cash he pours into this is time and cash not going to schools and roads, the stuff that's actually the city's job.
My answer is neither. He doesn't buy the premise. To him a grocery store is a public service like the fire department, and nobody asks if the fire department made money this quarter or whether it crowded out private fire brigades. That's why you can't tell conviction from vote-buying with this guy. The idea polls great and it fits his ideology, so he never has to pick.
The real test comes in a few years when the pilot misses its numbers. A cynic lets it die quietly once he's gotten his ribbon cuttings. A believer says five stores proved the concept and asks for fifty. I think he's a believer. Which is the worse answer.
Oh I agree that he's a believer. And he does not buy my assertion that tax money is finite. All things are possible of we tax evil rich people their "fair share."
Bravo. This piece by Stephen Smith explaining some much easier fixes that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime is worth reading if you haven't already: https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/nyc-grocery-cost-explained/
Wow, this is fascinating. The more you peel back the layers, the less sense it all makes.
Here's what I keep going back and forth on: does he know it's a bad idea and just figures the voters love it, or does he really not see it?
And it's bad for more reasons than the money. Sure, the stores open in a hole and lose money on every sale. But they also put subsidized competition next door to immigrant-owned bodegas scraping by on 2% margins, and all the time and cash he pours into this is time and cash not going to schools and roads, the stuff that's actually the city's job.
My answer is neither. He doesn't buy the premise. To him a grocery store is a public service like the fire department, and nobody asks if the fire department made money this quarter or whether it crowded out private fire brigades. That's why you can't tell conviction from vote-buying with this guy. The idea polls great and it fits his ideology, so he never has to pick.
The real test comes in a few years when the pilot misses its numbers. A cynic lets it die quietly once he's gotten his ribbon cuttings. A believer says five stores proved the concept and asks for fifty. I think he's a believer. Which is the worse answer.
Oh I agree that he's a believer. And he does not buy my assertion that tax money is finite. All things are possible of we tax evil rich people their "fair share."