@stewartdompe.bsky.social
I agree, the government should stop wasting money because poorly spent resources represent lives not improved and opportunities lost.
To underline my point: spending $60M to save a 100 lives is good.
It is not good if that $60M could have been spent in a way that saved 200 lives.
Choose more.
To underline my point: spending $60M to save a 100 lives is good.
It is not good if that $60M could have been spent in a way that saved 200 lives.
Choose more.
November 27, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I agree, the government should stop wasting money because poorly spent resources represent lives not improved and opportunities lost.
To underline my point: spending $60M to save a 100 lives is good.
It is not good if that $60M could have been spent in a way that saved 200 lives.
Choose more.
To underline my point: spending $60M to save a 100 lives is good.
It is not good if that $60M could have been spent in a way that saved 200 lives.
Choose more.
If a mayor wants to spend money on a suicide prevention hotline for lgbtq+ youth, that is the government spending real resources that could have been spent on food are not going to hungry people.
The cost of spending on those stores are the unrealized opportunities of alternative spending.
The cost of spending on those stores are the unrealized opportunities of alternative spending.
November 27, 2025 at 12:32 PM
If a mayor wants to spend money on a suicide prevention hotline for lgbtq+ youth, that is the government spending real resources that could have been spent on food are not going to hungry people.
The cost of spending on those stores are the unrealized opportunities of alternative spending.
The cost of spending on those stores are the unrealized opportunities of alternative spending.
As I responded to you in another post, do the spending exercise. As I have repeatedly noted, you are assuming only one goal (feeding) when there are others (literally all other govt healthcare programs and spending).
November 27, 2025 at 12:32 PM
As I responded to you in another post, do the spending exercise. As I have repeatedly noted, you are assuming only one goal (feeding) when there are others (literally all other govt healthcare programs and spending).
And these people who know
About poverty, there solution is to spend $60 million on 5 stores that pass on the rent and property taxes savings to consumers?
Also, death is permanent (except for that one guy). I would not be so quick to trivialize non-poverty social loses.
About poverty, there solution is to spend $60 million on 5 stores that pass on the rent and property taxes savings to consumers?
Also, death is permanent (except for that one guy). I would not be so quick to trivialize non-poverty social loses.
November 27, 2025 at 12:19 PM
And these people who know
About poverty, there solution is to spend $60 million on 5 stores that pass on the rent and property taxes savings to consumers?
Also, death is permanent (except for that one guy). I would not be so quick to trivialize non-poverty social loses.
About poverty, there solution is to spend $60 million on 5 stores that pass on the rent and property taxes savings to consumers?
Also, death is permanent (except for that one guy). I would not be so quick to trivialize non-poverty social loses.
Because the $60 million he is proposing to spend could be used in ways that are more effective at improving lives.
If you were tasked with spending that money, if you hadn’t already heard it, would grocery store be in the top ten? Would it be above suicide prevention?
You would have good ideas!
If you were tasked with spending that money, if you hadn’t already heard it, would grocery store be in the top ten? Would it be above suicide prevention?
You would have good ideas!
November 27, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Because the $60 million he is proposing to spend could be used in ways that are more effective at improving lives.
If you were tasked with spending that money, if you hadn’t already heard it, would grocery store be in the top ten? Would it be above suicide prevention?
You would have good ideas!
If you were tasked with spending that money, if you hadn’t already heard it, would grocery store be in the top ten? Would it be above suicide prevention?
You would have good ideas!
If you can’t think of a better use for $60 million that says more about you than me. 🤷
November 27, 2025 at 6:18 AM
If you can’t think of a better use for $60 million that says more about you than me. 🤷
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November 27, 2025 at 6:15 AM
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The entire plan is that not paying rent or property taxes will lower prices meaningfully.
Everything else is an assertion that it will be as efficient as Walmart, but not evil. No profit incentive needed.
Why is this convincing?
Everything else is an assertion that it will be as efficient as Walmart, but not evil. No profit incentive needed.
Why is this convincing?
November 27, 2025 at 6:08 AM
The entire plan is that not paying rent or property taxes will lower prices meaningfully.
Everything else is an assertion that it will be as efficient as Walmart, but not evil. No profit incentive needed.
Why is this convincing?
Everything else is an assertion that it will be as efficient as Walmart, but not evil. No profit incentive needed.
Why is this convincing?
I would gently point out that low margins suggest prices cannot get too much lower without becoming negative value added.
Driving price below cost is just an extreme subsidy and at that point, why not give the money directly to people in need? Maybe they need clothes or an emergency car repair?
Driving price below cost is just an extreme subsidy and at that point, why not give the money directly to people in need? Maybe they need clothes or an emergency car repair?
November 27, 2025 at 5:54 AM
I would gently point out that low margins suggest prices cannot get too much lower without becoming negative value added.
Driving price below cost is just an extreme subsidy and at that point, why not give the money directly to people in need? Maybe they need clothes or an emergency car repair?
Driving price below cost is just an extreme subsidy and at that point, why not give the money directly to people in need? Maybe they need clothes or an emergency car repair?
Because the comparison isn’t to doing nothing it is to all the other alternative uses.
I think we intuitively understand this if we talk about reallocating some of the police budget to mental health services.
One can believe policing has value while acknowledging other priorities exist.
I think we intuitively understand this if we talk about reallocating some of the police budget to mental health services.
One can believe policing has value while acknowledging other priorities exist.
November 27, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Because the comparison isn’t to doing nothing it is to all the other alternative uses.
I think we intuitively understand this if we talk about reallocating some of the police budget to mental health services.
One can believe policing has value while acknowledging other priorities exist.
I think we intuitively understand this if we talk about reallocating some of the police budget to mental health services.
One can believe policing has value while acknowledging other priorities exist.
Your definition of 1 is too broad. A city run comic book store would be providing a service.
Your definition of 2 is too broad because almost anything can be tortured into protecting the public. We see this with the current administrations policies towards immigration and trans rights.
Your definition of 2 is too broad because almost anything can be tortured into protecting the public. We see this with the current administrations policies towards immigration and trans rights.
November 27, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Your definition of 1 is too broad. A city run comic book store would be providing a service.
Your definition of 2 is too broad because almost anything can be tortured into protecting the public. We see this with the current administrations policies towards immigration and trans rights.
Your definition of 2 is too broad because almost anything can be tortured into protecting the public. We see this with the current administrations policies towards immigration and trans rights.
I disagree. I think the stores are ugly, the prices too high, the selection too limited, and the physical locations too far apart. As a monopoly it faces little competition and therefore little incentive for customer service.
Do you expect good prices or service from the local cable monopoly?
Do you expect good prices or service from the local cable monopoly?
November 27, 2025 at 5:32 AM
I disagree. I think the stores are ugly, the prices too high, the selection too limited, and the physical locations too far apart. As a monopoly it faces little competition and therefore little incentive for customer service.
Do you expect good prices or service from the local cable monopoly?
Do you expect good prices or service from the local cable monopoly?
I don’t understand your argument. The issue isn’t that customers are forced to shop there but that it is a poor use of funds.
Squandering resources means that fewer people are helped than what could otherwise be achieved.
Squandering resources means that fewer people are helped than what could otherwise be achieved.
November 27, 2025 at 5:26 AM
I don’t understand your argument. The issue isn’t that customers are forced to shop there but that it is a poor use of funds.
Squandering resources means that fewer people are helped than what could otherwise be achieved.
Squandering resources means that fewer people are helped than what could otherwise be achieved.
I think many policies are desirable but not politically palatable, for example: full bodily autonomy for trans people, ending the drug war, and freedom of movement for persons and goods across borders.
We should only do both if no other budget line or idea would be a better use of funds.
We should only do both if no other budget line or idea would be a better use of funds.
November 26, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I think many policies are desirable but not politically palatable, for example: full bodily autonomy for trans people, ending the drug war, and freedom of movement for persons and goods across borders.
We should only do both if no other budget line or idea would be a better use of funds.
We should only do both if no other budget line or idea would be a better use of funds.
Food deserts are a challenge to municipalities because as you’ve pointed out, other businesses seem to successfully exist and definitionally people must be getting calories from somewhere.
I have an easier time wrapping my head around it in low density rural areas than denser urban areas.
I have an easier time wrapping my head around it in low density rural areas than denser urban areas.
November 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Food deserts are a challenge to municipalities because as you’ve pointed out, other businesses seem to successfully exist and definitionally people must be getting calories from somewhere.
I have an easier time wrapping my head around it in low density rural areas than denser urban areas.
I have an easier time wrapping my head around it in low density rural areas than denser urban areas.
C: The point of the cash transfer line is that I think the resources and time would be better spent increasing the real incomes of people in those areas, not marginally lowering grocery prices through indirect policies like not charging gov’t grocery stores rent and “passing on the savings.”
November 26, 2025 at 5:14 PM
C: The point of the cash transfer line is that I think the resources and time would be better spent increasing the real incomes of people in those areas, not marginally lowering grocery prices through indirect policies like not charging gov’t grocery stores rent and “passing on the savings.”
B: The Farm Bill’s annual looting of the American public by politically connected special interests is NOT a model for public policy. The fact that it is repeated worldwide should be a warning about how such systems are abused.
November 26, 2025 at 5:14 PM
B: The Farm Bill’s annual looting of the American public by politically connected special interests is NOT a model for public policy. The fact that it is repeated worldwide should be a warning about how such systems are abused.
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November 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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To use a different example, many states in the process of legalizing marijuana have to make choices about how dispensaries are owned and operated.
Is there any push for state owned dispensaries that isn’t a Trojan horse for prohibitionists?
Is there any push for state owned dispensaries that isn’t a Trojan horse for prohibitionists?
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
To use a different example, many states in the process of legalizing marijuana have to make choices about how dispensaries are owned and operated.
Is there any push for state owned dispensaries that isn’t a Trojan horse for prohibitionists?
Is there any push for state owned dispensaries that isn’t a Trojan horse for prohibitionists?
I have lived in red and blue states and in California it was nice to buy liquor at a grocery store or a CVS. Once one does so, it is hard to see the reason for much of the ABC system. I doubt it does much to reduce alcoholism or underage drinking.
The concept isn’t horrible, merely bad.
The concept isn’t horrible, merely bad.
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I have lived in red and blue states and in California it was nice to buy liquor at a grocery store or a CVS. Once one does so, it is hard to see the reason for much of the ABC system. I doubt it does much to reduce alcoholism or underage drinking.
The concept isn’t horrible, merely bad.
The concept isn’t horrible, merely bad.
I’m surprised he didn’t go with “poker, a game where one lies to trick people out of money, like most commies.” /sarcasm
November 26, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I’m surprised he didn’t go with “poker, a game where one lies to trick people out of money, like most commies.” /sarcasm
Yes. No cruelty concerns there.
November 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Yes. No cruelty concerns there.
I also find it interesting that fentanyl is never suggested as a method.
November 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I also find it interesting that fentanyl is never suggested as a method.