Tag: free stuff

Mamdani’s Socialist Government Considering Subsidizing For-Profit Grocery Stores to Compete With State-Supported Ones

Recently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that he was making good on his campaign promise to bring down food costs by opening state-sponsored grocery stores that would sell goods at below cost. The stores will also not be required to pay taxes or rent.

By establishing these state-sponsored stores, Mamdani is not reducing food costs. He is reducing the price for consumers while placing a larger burden on taxpayers, most of whom will not be able to access the city stores.

To make matters worse, these stores are required to pay a “living wage,” which is estimated at more than double the minimum wage. Furthermore, they are required to provide healthcare and other benefits for employees. So, not only will the government have to supplement the lower prices of goods, but it will also have to support dramatically higher operating costs.

Apart from the fact that selling goods below cost in stores that cannot cover their operating expenses is an unsustainable model, the other problem with state-sponsored grocery stores is that they make it difficult for the private sector to compete. Private grocers and bodega associations have protested the decision. A bodega trade group, the United Bodegas of America, representing roughly 14,000 businesses, is preparing a lawsuit arguing that the taxpayer-subsidized stores create unfair competition, both on pricing and through the use of rent-free city land.

John Catsimatidis, CEO of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s, has threatened multiple times over more than a year to close, sell, or relocate his stores. Before the election, he told Fox Business, “If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move or franchise the Gristedes locations,” adding that he would also consider moving his corporate offices to New Jersey.

After Mamdani won the election, Catsimatidis predicted the plan “would collapse our food supply, kill private industry, and drag us down a path toward the bread lines of the old Soviet Union.” More recently, he has said he might relocate operations to Florida instead, citing declining sales and increased shoplifting that he attributes to city policy. He also said profitability has suffered for two years, making layoffs and operational scale-backs more likely. He has not announced a definite timeline for relocation or layoffs and is still evaluating his options.

On the unfair-competition point specifically, Catsimatidis told Fox News Digital, “The people that are going to run those five stores are not going to pay any real estate taxes, not going to pay any rent,” adding, “If I don’t pay any rent or real estate taxes, I can bring down the cost of a product 20% across the board.”

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Mamdani’s City Grocery Store Official Explains How Their Plan to Keep Privately Owned Stores in Business Will Make Things Even Worse

A woman who is supposedly the lead person from Zohran Mamdani’s team for city-owned grocery stores was recently asked if their plan will put privately owned stores out of business, which, it obviously will.

She explained that privately owned stores that are in trouble will be able to apply for grants from the city, which is only going to make things worse, and far more expensive.

To recap, taxpayers pay for city-owned grocery stores and then, when those stores threaten privately owned stores, taxpayers will fund grants for those stores. The taxpayers just keep paying and paying, no matter what happens.

Townhall reports:

In an interview on Wednesday, Waverly Neer, a senior vice president of the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), which is overseeing Mamdani’s city-run grocery-store rollout, revealed that one proposal under consideration would let nearby grocers apply for grants to offset revenue lost to the city’s subsidized stores. In other words, New York City may use taxpayer money to undercut local businesses, then use more taxpayer money to compensate them for the damage they caused.

“I think ultimately the goals of these locations, not just here in East Harlem, but you know, any borough location is to be complementary to the neighborhood,” Neer said. “And really, you know, rising tides, right? We can we can all cooperate and work together in a meaningful way. ”

“Do you mind? What is the I’ve heard that that term from EDC officials that these are meant to be complementary. What does that mean?” Spectrum News NY1’s Dan Rivoli asked. “What does that complimentary mean in terms of policy operations and things like that? ”

“Yeah, I think we’re, you know, as an agency, looking at a number of different complementary policies and programs, grants, incentives that can come alongside these grocery stores to support other, you know, local independent businesses that are in the neighborhoods,” Neer replied. “We’re going to continue to listen and we’re going to continue to engage and be, you know, alongside the operator as our partner. Like I said, making sure that we are complimentary to the other businesses that are here in the neighborhood.”

“So other locations, other grocery stores can get grants from the city under this?” Rivoli clarified.

“[That’s] something on the table,” Neer said.

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Minneapolis Public Schools Hosts Back-to-School Supply Giveaway for ‘American Indian Students ONLY,’ Professor Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Over Illegal Discrimination

Minneapolis Public Schools is facing a federal civil rights complaint after its American Indian Education Department announced a back-to-school backpack and supplies giveaway strictly limited to American Indian students, in clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

The event, scheduled for August 24 and 25 and promoted on the department’s Facebook page under the heading “2026-27 School Year Distribution of Backpacks & School Supplies,” is explicitly restricted to “MPS American Indian Students ONLY.”

Participants must be enrolled in Minneapolis Public Schools and have a completed Federal 506 form or tribal affiliation identification form on file to receive the assistance.

University of Michigan Professor Emeritus Mark Perry, who has filed nearly a thousand civil rights complaints against educational institutions for similar race-based discrimination, has submitted the complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

In the filing, Perry states that the event “illegally excludes certain students based on their race and ethnicity, including students who are Asian, Black, White, and Hispanic.”

Perry is seeking remedies that would require the district either to cancel the segregated giveaway or open it to all Minneapolis Public Schools students regardless of race, ethnicity, color, or national origin.

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Why Are They Getting Free Sh*t?

A major British telecoms giant is supplying thousands of free SIM cards loaded with six months of data to a charity that hands them out to illegal migrants arriving in the UK via boats, it has been revealed.

The charity Care4Calais has distributed more than 162,000 items to nearly 30,000 people, including 2,221 Vodafone SIM cards, 3,765 hoodies, 3,532 pairs of joggers, 1,174 T-shirts, 1,173 Ramadan food packs around Calais, 2,770 cold-weather “snug packs,” and 1,169 weatherproof garments.

The charity also ran 80 drop-in sessions and 17 large-scale distributions at British military bases housing asylum seekers, providing around 23,000 items, plus free haircuts, phone charging, English lessons, Ramadan food packets, and “new arrival packs” for about 1,800 people reaching England’s South Coast.

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf has accused Vodafone of “facilitating the invasion of Britain.”

In a letter to chief executive Margherita Della Valle he wrote that customers “will no doubt be astounded to hear that a British company of generally good repute is helping to facilitate the invasion of Britain by unvetted, military-age men” and that they “will be shocked to hear that their phone or broadband provider is actively endangering British women and girls.”

Yusuf demanded the company cancel the cards, end its relationship with Care4Calais, and hand over tracking data.

Under a Reform government, he said, “we will hold each and every officer and director of Vodafone Group Plc and all relevant subsidiaries personally and criminally liable for distributing SIM cards to illegal migrants. If found guilty, you would be liable to go to prison.”

The party has also pledged to review public contracts and exclude the firm from defence, national security and emergency services procurement.

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New York City Losing Millions to Fare Skippers as People Embrace Zohran Mamdani’s Promise of ‘FREE’ Buses

During the mayoral race, communist Zohran Mamdani made the promise of ‘free’ buses a central part of his campaign. He hasn’t delivered on this promise yet, but that hasn’t stopped New Yorkers from pretending that he did and skipping bus fares.

The lost revenue is costing the city millions, which could put a damper on the mayor’s many other promises of free stuff.

It’s just the sort of basic economics that people on the left refuse to understand.

FOX News reports:

New Yorkers take Zohran Mamdani free bus promise literally as MTA loses millions in skipped fares

Political promises of “free buses” in New York City are contributing to a spike in fare evasion that is costing the city’s mass transit system millions of dollars, transit officials warn.

In July, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Janno Lieber blamed political rhetoric for fueling fare evasion, though he never mentioned Mayor Zohran Mamdani by name.

“There’s a trend that broke out,” Lieber told reporters following a meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, according to the New York Post. “With malice towards none, I say all of the talk of free buses, it has an impact.”

The MTA reported that paid bus ridership fell nearly 8% in June compared to the same month last year. During Mamdani’s first six months in office, bus fare revenue fell by $31 million compared to the first half of 2025. Agency estimates show nearly half of bus riders now skip the $3 fare.

Mamdani made the slogan “fast and free buses” a major part of his 2025 mayoral campaign. However, the MTA is controlled by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state, rather than City Hall. While the mayor and Hochul unveiled plans on July 8 to focus instead on speeding up bus routes, experts and union leaders say the “free bus” rhetoric has already contributed to fare evasion.

Who could have predicted this, besides every conservative in the country?

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Socialism Simplified: A System Where Government Uses Your Money To Solve Everyone Else’s Problems

They are coming for your money, and they have a ton of momentum right now. Democratic Socialists are winning election after election by promising free stuff, but of course free stuff is never actually free. Somewhere along the way, someone has to pay for it. If you find yourself protectively reaching for your wallet as you read this, I don’t blame you one bit. Socialism is a system where the government uses your money to solve everyone else’s problems. Unfortunately, it is also a system that is becoming increasingly popular among our young adults.

In a previous article, I noted that a poll that was taken in 2025 found that a whopping 62 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 now have a positive view of socialism.

That should chill you to the core.

Meanwhile, Americans view capitalism less favorably than they once did…

  • Fewer than half of Americans say capitalism is working even “somewhat” well — down from 60% about a decade ago, according to a June Wall Street Journal-NORC poll.
  • 61% of Americans said they were bothered “a lot” by the feeling that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes, per a Pew Research Center poll in January. That included 41% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
  • The same poll showed another 60% overall — and 42% of Republican-inclined voters — said the same about some corporations paying their fair share.
  • And views of big business went from 19 points positive in 2012 (58%-39%) to 25 points negative last year (37%-62%), according to the Gallup data.

This is crazy.

So why is this happening?

Well, the truth is that a large portion of the population is very frustrated with the economy.

The rising cost of living has been absolutely eviscerating the middle class, and many young adults consider homeownership to be completely out of reach because home prices are so absurdly high.

When someone comes along and starts promising all sorts of free stuff in this very harsh economic environment, it can be very seductive.

But if the Democratic Socialists of America were actually able to implement their entire agenda on the federal level, it would more than triple federal spending…

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) propose new spending that could more than triple federal outlays. They propose the government pay for health care, housing, higher education, and electricity. Jobs are government-guaranteed, retirement benefits are expanded, paid family leave is universal, fossil fuels are eliminated, and reparations are paid.

The DSA platform claims that the bill for all this will be sent to “the richest individuals and corporations.” Tally up that bill, and it ballparks between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in new spending over the next decade. Confiscating every dollar of high-end wealth and corporate profits would cover only a fraction of those costs. The DSA agenda necessitates high taxes on middle-class Americans.

If you took every penny from every billionaire in America, that would only account for 8.4 trillion dollars.

So where is the rest of the money going to come from?

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NANNY STATE: Zohran Mamdani Launching City Government Babysitting Service so Parents Can Have a Date Night

Conservatives used to joke that the left was trying to turn the government into a nanny state. Now, Zohran Mamdani is taking it literally.

The New York City mayor is launching a service where people in the city can drop their kids off at the park to be looked after by government officials while the parents can have a date night. What could possibly go wrong?

Would you be comfortable dropping your kids off at a New York City park and then going out to dinner?

ABC News in New York reports:

Date night, anyone? NYC launching free babysitting program for parents

New York City is giving parents a chance for a night off through a new pilot program that will provide free child care for hundreds of families next month.

Mayor Mamdani announced the launch of “Parents’ Night Out,” a city-sponsored program that will offer free babysitting for up to 500 children on Aug. 16 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Registration opens at 8 a.m. Monday and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Every parent knows that a few hours to yourself can feel like a luxury,” said Mayor Mamdani in prepared remarks. “It shouldn’t be. That’s why we’re launching New York City’s first-ever Parents’ Night Out, so that parents can get a little time on their own to catch a movie, run errands or go on a date without worrying about who will take care of the kids – or how much it will cost.”

The program is open to families with children ages 6 to 13 and will provide free child care at designated city recreation centers.

City officials say the initiative is designed to give parents and caregivers a break while children participate in supervised activities.

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SURPRISE! Zohran Mamdani’s Universal ‘Free’ Childcare Program Projected to Cost Billions More Than Planned

Zohran Mamdani’s universal and ‘free’ childcare program in New York City is now being projected to cost billions more than originally planned.

Who could have predicted such a thing?

Only a leftist could devise a government-run program that costs billions of tax dollars and have the nerve to call it free. It’s a concept that is completely lost on the media.

In this case, no one should be surprised that the price tag keeps going up.

The New York Post reports:

Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost taxpayers billions more than planned as costs balloon: report

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost 50% more than he advertised, according to a new study.

The proposed program is estimated to cost a whopping $9 billion annually, approximately with an average cost per child roughly $27,000, according to the report from the Center for New York City Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with the New School.

“An estimated $8.7 to $9.3 billion would be needed annually to fund universal child care in New York City,” the report, which was released on Monday, states.

That’s $3 billion more than the mayor previously said his ambitious universal free childcare program would cost.

Hizzoner promised on the campaign trail that his plan to make childcare free for children from 6 weeks old to five years old regardless of family income would cost about $6 billion per year and be paid for by taxing the state’s wealthiest earners.

The $3 billion gap identified in the study was largely tied to teacher pay, with the Center for NYC Affairs estimating some 23,000 new childcare workers will need to be hired, mainly for infants and children under three years old.

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Scamdani and the Truth About City-Owned Grocery Stores

Some of my earliest memories are from a grocery store.

My mother, and later her sister, worked at a locally owned Key Market running the deli department. Baked goods, hot meals, sliced meats and fresh salads, and the best donuts you ever tasted made from scratch every day — it was a kid’s paradise. She would sometimes take me to work on Saturdays, and I’d help, doing everything but slicing the meat (age-restricted because it’s dangerous). It was fun for me, and I learned things I would not have learned watching cartoons.

Later, just before I married and became a military wife, I worked at my local Kroger regional office supporting loyalty card and marketing issues for, gosh, I guess it was about 200 stores. I learned a lot about the grocery business.

All this is to say: I know the difference between grocery economics and political theater.

Scamdani’s ever-evolving store plans

Zohran Mamdani, New York’s newest Hizzoner, ran largely on a pledge to create city-owned grocery stores, and today he’s working to fulfill that promise. Sort of. The idea was to decrease prices for consumers by removing the “gouging” profit model.

Some of his campaign promises included:

  • “Grocery prices are out of control. The cost of eggs and milk has skyrocketed. Some stores are even using dynamic pricing, jacking up the cost over the course of the day depending on what they can get away with. It doesn’t need to be this way. I’m Zohran Mamdani, and as mayor, I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores. It’s like a public option for produce. We will redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city-owned grocery stores, whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging.”
  • “I’m Zohran Mamdani, and as mayor, I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores. It’s like a public option for produce.”
  • “We will redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city-owned grocery stores, whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging.” (This one is especially rich, as you’ll see.)
  • “Last month, we announced that we would fulfill a campaign promise: that we would lower prices by creating a network of city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough. In these stores, prices will be cheaper.”

Sounds great. So last month, he announced the reality: a limited core basket including produce, meat, seafood, milk, bread, yogurt, and a few other things to be priced 30% below “typical retail,” whatever that really means, in city-owned and subsidized stores run by private for-profit operators. Operators are entitled to price everything outside the core basket at whatever they like. The discounted “basket” will be subsidized by the city. The city covers capital, rent, and property tax. And users, as announced today, will be required to prove residency with a “library card” style identification.

As Darth Vader said, the deal has been altered. Pray he does not alter it further.

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Canada: The Illusion Of Free Healthcare

With the rise in popularity of the Democratic Socialist movement in the United States, one of the promises made to voters is “free healthcare.” Advocates frame healthcare as a human right, pointing north to Canada as the example of universal coverage.

The slogan is simple, powerful, and politically effective: Canadians enjoy free healthcare. The belief that Canadian healthcare is free stems from the fact that Canadians do not pay at the point of service. Yet the question remains: Is it truly free, and what does “free” actually mean?

Anyone applying basic logic and common sense quickly realizes that a system as complex as healthcare, involving doctors, nurses, hospitals, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and administrators, cannot exist without someone paying for it. The real question is not whether money is paid, but how it is collected, who controls it, and how the system functions behind the scenes.

Canada’s healthcare system is often described as universal, equitable, and accessible. But beneath the surface lies a prepaid tax‑funded model controlled almost entirely by government. The mechanics of this system are not widely understood by the average Canadian consumer, largely because the costs are hidden within layers of taxation rather than presented as a monthly insurance premium or deductible.

In Canada, healthcare funding flows through a combination of federal transfers (CHT), provincial taxes, employer payroll taxes, and individual income‑based health premiums. These mechanisms create the illusion of “free” care because the consumer never sees a bill at the doctor’s office. Instead, the costs are embedded in the tax structure, quietly deducted long before the patient ever steps into a clinic.

One of the most significant components of Canadian healthcare funding is the Employer Health Tax (EHT)—a payroll tax applied to businesses based on total compensation paid to employees. In provinces such as Manitoba and Quebec, this tax can reach over four percent of payroll.

While the tax is levied on employers, its economic burden does not remain there. Businesses inevitably pass these costs on to consumers through higher prices, reduced wages, or slower hiring. Canadians may not see a healthcare bill, but they pay for healthcare every time they buy groceries, fill their gas tank, or purchase consumer goods whose prices have quietly risen to absorb payroll taxes.

Beyond employer taxes, individual Canadians also contribute directly through provincial health premiums and income‑based surcharges. Ontario, for example, includes a “Health Premium” on its tax return that can reach up to $900 per year depending on income. Other provinces embed healthcare funding within general income tax brackets, meaning a portion of every paycheck is siphoned into the healthcare system without explicit labeling.

This is why many Canadians believe they pay nothing for healthcare—because the payment is hidden inside broader taxation rather than itemized as a healthcare expense. In reality, most middle‑income Canadians contribute between $400 and $800 annually through these mechanisms, in addition to the indirect costs they incur due to higher consumer prices.

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