For all his radicalism, Zohran Mamdani\u2019s program is often as vaporous as steam wafting from a Midtown manhole.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lot more about vibes than about delivering real change. <\/p>\n
His city-owned grocery store scheme<\/a>, for starters, is almost entirely symbolic \u2014 not any real answer to the price-gouging he and his fans pretends is common at privately owned markets.<\/p>\n The initial plan is only for one city store in each borough: That literally can\u2019t make any difference for most New Yorkers.<\/p>\n And those five stores can\u2019t even be a meaningful test because it\u2019d be a disaster for the new mayor if any of the stores failed.<\/p>\n Tellingly, Mamdani brags that Chicago has already done a \u201cfeasibility study\u201d for city-owned groceries<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n Problem is, no one can read the Chicago analysis, because city leaders shelved it \u2014 almost certainly because they discovered that municipal-owned supermarkets have no chance of success.<\/p>\n Contrary to what the hipster socialists imagine, groceries\u2019 profit margins are not rich but as thin as deli-sliced ham: Keeping the store going requires obsessive management \u2014 not the casual oversight that\u2019s given the world the phrase \u201cgood enough for government work.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, even Mamdani\u2019s plans to finance his stores is as airy as coffee-cart bagels: He said he\u2019d tap the $140 million that the city already gives away to corporate grocery chains as a subsidy \u2014 except his crack crew misread the facts on the city\u2019s \u201cFood Retail Expansion to Support Health\u201d program. <\/p>\n That $140 million, it turns out, is how how much private store owners invested in the local economy after getting much smaller tax breaks, not city outlays a mayor could redirect.<\/p>\n The socialist\u2019s confusion here recalls fellow DSAer Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s celebration when Amazon pulled out of the plan<\/a> to build a major headquarters in Queens: This freed up $3 billion that New York could spend on schools instead of a corporate giveaway, she exulted.<\/p>\n But no: The massive e-tailer had simply been promised (just like many other companies) tax breaks if it created so many jobs; with the deal dead, Amazon wouldn\u2019t generate any income for the state to hold off on taxing.<\/p>\n Zeroed-out Zohran must have the same math tutor as AOC, because zilch is how much the city has on hand to pay for his food pantries posing as groceries.<\/p>\n Of course, Mamdani actually got the funding for another of his pilot-project schemes \u2014 then lost it because he couldn\u2019t even cooperate with fellow Democrats.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n