Zohran Mamdani is taking office in less than two weeks, and one of his big ideas is to bulldoze the free market by opening grocery stores that are owned and operated by the city. It's an undertaking that attracts applause from some lefty New Yorkers, but even the Washington Post has warned that versions of the scheme have "failed elsewhere."

When the government steers grocery carts, a head-on collision with economic reality is inevitable.

Government-run grocery stores mean City Hall's calling the shots on everything from pricing to inventory. That will include picking and choosing what food is sold and putting in place a strategy to source the products. And that's on top of twisting themselves into knots to placate labor unions when hiring workers.........

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