Welcome to Moscow . . . 1965.
It wasn’t a Mamdani Mart, but it was a good indication of what the socialist grocery stores that Comrade Mayor promised to bestow upon New York City will be like. Last week, the cryptocurrency outfit Polymarket opened, for five days only, what it billed as “New York’s First Free Grocery Store.” And so the triumph of socialism was on full display in the Big Apple, right? Well, socialism certainly was, but “triumph” wasn’t exactly the word.
Fox News reported Thursday that “in a busy stretch of restaurants and boutiques in the West Village, hundreds of New Yorkers queued up outside a pop-up shop offering free groceries.”
That’s right: the first glory of socialism that New York’s First Free Grocery Store brought to Gotham was long lines. As one of the last sclerotic rulers of the declining Soviet Union, Konstantin U. Chernenko told the Politburo in 1985: “Comrades, it is not unusual for one type of merchandise or another to disappear from shop counters, goods that are often the easiest to make and the most needed on a daily basis.”
Hence the long lines, which became so much a feature of ordinary life in the workers’ paradise that the New York Times observed: “So common and pervasive are the lines that they have evolved their own etiquette, even their own slang. Shoppers in a busy store can have their place held in one line while they stand in another. Women with small children pass freely to the front. Other privileged people, ranging from disabled war veterans to recipients of the title ‘Hero of Socialist Labor,’ are also allowed to go to the head of the line. Goods, in this world, are ‘handed out,’ not sold, as if to underline that the issue is not one of cost or choice, but simply one of finding the stuff.”
Chernenko also asked the Politburo: “Is there any explanation other than gross blunders for the obvious lack of good-quality footwear, especially children’s shoes?”
Why, sure, Konstantin. One primary explanation is that socialism, by confiscating the worker’s wealth and making it useless for him to try to work harder to get ahead, removes all incentive to do anything more than the minimum that will keep him out of the gulag. A shoemaker in a capitalist society can get rich by providing cheap and comfortable shoes for the masses. In a socialist society, the shoes are even cheaper: they’re free. But there is no reason for the worker to ensure their supply, as there is no reward for him in doing so. And so in the land where shoes are free, going shoeless becomes a fact of life. --->READ MORE HERE
New Yorkers are embracing a free market.
Hundreds of people lined up Thursday for a chance to shop at the city’s “first free grocery store” — launched by Polymarket as it and other prediction betting platforms face increased scrutiny from state regulators.
The West Village shop — an apparent nod to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s government-run grocery store pitch — drew more than 400 New Yorkers, who lined up hours ahead of the 2 p.m. opening, eager to fill blue tote bags with no-cost produce, nonperishables and toiletries.
“Times are hard. Things are very expensive, so this helps,” said Forest Hills resident Tori Hall, who was second in line outside the pop-up store. “It goes a long way.”
The stunt followed a similar move from rival prediction market Kalshi, which hosted a $50 grocery giveaway for East Village shoppers earlier this month.
Mamdani cheekily responded to Polymarket’s free store announcement this month on X, posting a photo of a sardonic headline reading: “Heartbreaking: The worst person you know just made a great point.”
The popular betting app, which allows users to gamble on world events like military actions and political outcomes, has drawn concerns over the possible use of classified or otherwise “insider” information to wager.
Just this week, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and a civilian were indicted in Israel over allegedly using classified military information to place bets on the platform, according to the Block, a cryptocurrency news site.
Prediction markets have also drawn the ire of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who in a pre-Super Bowl “consumer alert” warned that the platforms could violate state gambling laws and put users at “significant financial risk.”
State Assemblymember Clyde Vanel (D-Queens) introduced a bill last year that would categorize prediction market contracts as “unlicensed gambling.”
Violator sites would get dinged with civil fines of up to $50,000, or up to $1 million each day that platforms offer bets on “sensitive” categories like deadly incidents and political elections.
Shoppers at Polymarket’s free store, however, seemed unbothered by the controversies, telling The Post they hoped the market’s offerings were here to stay. --->READ MORE HERE
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