10 Comments

Having lived in Chicago, I know that there are areas that are called "food deserts" because there is no traditional grocery store to serve residents. And so, residents rely upon neighborhood food stores which of course charge higher prices and make things harder on the honest poor. If former Mayor Lori Lightfoot hadn't been so busy with rhetoric then she might have beefed up the police presence including inside the Walmarts and if necessary offered subsidies to encourage these stores to stay in business. Of course, getting rid of bail is just a red flag to these thieves. This is what I call the "barbarization" of our cities and the process is just accelerating.

Expand full comment
author

"Food deserts" were purported to be a thing in NYC as far back as Bloomberg's mayorship. The usual suspects said they were the result of racism, of course, and figured to try and zone some "good" grocers into existence there.

They are, in fact, market forces operating. There are a lot of Latinos in my locale, and the markets, restaurants, etc, cater to their preferences.

Expand full comment

Within Chicago, the food deserts did in fact reflect market forces. The cost of doing business in these areas was higher due to crime and the profits less due to poor people having less to spend.

Expand full comment
author

Apart from that, they also reflected eating habits. There were stories in NY about shops stocking fresh produce, but getting insufficient sales to sustain that stock.

Expand full comment

That certainly plays a part.

Expand full comment

“Rocket surgeon” ... a delightful pastiche of metaphors 😁

Expand full comment
author

Peter! These malaphors are just delightful!😁👍

Expand full comment

Ipso Facto Absurdum...(i.e. the reality of the unreality you have so artfully described.)

Expand full comment

“Holy [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]! What could possibly go wrong?

Do they think that the shoplifters might relent because a store is owned by the government, rather than Evil Corp? Or are we safer in assuming that this is how they will paper over the harm done by their policies?”

Expand full comment