China’s “Vegetable Basket” policy was built on one hard lesson: when food becomes expensive, society pays the price. New York is now starting to ask similar questions.
At last, an analysis that takes into account more than just food prices! I have been saying for so long that the pain at the grocery store is related to the other costs in working people's lives, such as housing, childcare, transportation and medical debt. These pressures underly the anxiety that builds when people calculate the cost of a cut of meat. Economists like Krugman just don't bring those factors into the picture when discussing consumer prices, because economists like him are unfortunately disconnected from the perspectives of working class people. They analyze food and gas prices in isolation, as though that is all people have to deal with right now.
To add to the point about Mamdani's public grocery stores, Toronto's Mayor Olivia Chow and City Council have approved piloting 4 public municipally run grocery stores in low-income neighbourhoods. Councillors Anthony Peruzza and Mike Colle moved the motion at Council.
This initiative addresses both the issue of affordability, which is huge because food costs have doubled since Covid.
And it addresses the issue fairness vs. price fixing. This issue first arose with the 2021 bread price fixing scandal involving Loblaws, Canada Bread Company (owned by Maple Leaf Foods, then Grupo Bimbo), with other major retailers, including Sobeys, Metro, Walmart Canada, and Giant Tiger, also implicated as participants in the industry-wide collusion.
Now we are confronting the issue of surveillance pricing where retailers are setting prices based on the data they have about individual consumers, instead of a fair, fixed price.
These corporate rip-off schemes must be dealt with decisively as schemes to defraud the public, punishable with jail time for CEOs. Not the pathetic hand slap of a fine, which was the consequence of the bread price-fixing scheme.
thank you for bringing this up Katheryne, good for toronto doing this.
Also, I think some of the walmart in the US they are puting tiny cameras on price tag? and also digital price tag? so they can change the price base on customer data.
At last, an analysis that takes into account more than just food prices! I have been saying for so long that the pain at the grocery store is related to the other costs in working people's lives, such as housing, childcare, transportation and medical debt. These pressures underly the anxiety that builds when people calculate the cost of a cut of meat. Economists like Krugman just don't bring those factors into the picture when discussing consumer prices, because economists like him are unfortunately disconnected from the perspectives of working class people. They analyze food and gas prices in isolation, as though that is all people have to deal with right now.
thank you Emilie, for reading this.
To add to the point about Mamdani's public grocery stores, Toronto's Mayor Olivia Chow and City Council have approved piloting 4 public municipally run grocery stores in low-income neighbourhoods. Councillors Anthony Peruzza and Mike Colle moved the motion at Council.
This initiative addresses both the issue of affordability, which is huge because food costs have doubled since Covid.
And it addresses the issue fairness vs. price fixing. This issue first arose with the 2021 bread price fixing scandal involving Loblaws, Canada Bread Company (owned by Maple Leaf Foods, then Grupo Bimbo), with other major retailers, including Sobeys, Metro, Walmart Canada, and Giant Tiger, also implicated as participants in the industry-wide collusion.
Now we are confronting the issue of surveillance pricing where retailers are setting prices based on the data they have about individual consumers, instead of a fair, fixed price.
These corporate rip-off schemes must be dealt with decisively as schemes to defraud the public, punishable with jail time for CEOs. Not the pathetic hand slap of a fine, which was the consequence of the bread price-fixing scheme.
thank you for bringing this up Katheryne, good for toronto doing this.
Also, I think some of the walmart in the US they are puting tiny cameras on price tag? and also digital price tag? so they can change the price base on customer data.