Socialism leads to worse things than expensive food

Before New York City opens government-run grocery stores, it should explore how the idea worked in Kansas City.

Socialist Zohran Mamdani remains the favorite to become NYC’s next mayor. He has campaigned aggressively against high costs. His website asserts that his plans for government intervention “will lower costs and make life easier.”

One might think voters would view that approach skeptically given that the city has long been run by big-government liberals. But many voters would rather continue down a failed path than acknowledge that their ideology is responsible for the conditions they find intolerable.

One of Mamdani’s ideas is for “city-owned grocery stores.” In his telling, groceries are expensive because of the profit earned by retailers in a capitalist system. This argument