Comment by adventured
4 hours ago
> The abundant supermarkets were not a product of free markets, they were a propaganda piece.
The US has abundant supermarkets to this day. It was overwhelmingly a product of the market economy and remains so. The US has between 45,000 and 75,000 supermarkets (75,000 if you include supercenter stores that also sell groceries). That's not counting smaller specialty food stores.
It's a product of consumer spending capacity (net disposable income), of which the US has an enormous amount and has for over a century relative to other nations.
The US subsidizes the supply side and the demand side.
On the demand side, the US spends about $100B on SNAP (food stamps) and another $40B on subsidies for WIC (women infants children) and school lunches.
On the supply side, the US is currently directly subsidizing farms $20B and giving disaster relief to the tune of another $30B.
If you want to imagine how well the free market in the US would do, just think about what would happen if Congress cut off those funds.
> subsidizes the demand side > snap > wic
So these people should just starve?