The following article, Four Days of Utopia at this Free Grocery Store in NYC, was first published on The Black Sphere.

Nothing reveals the true character of a society faster than three words duct-taped to a storefront window: FREE. GROCERIES. TODAY.

You could announce a symposium on quantum computing and draw twelve people, eight of whom are related to the speaker. But whisper “free food” in Lower Manhattan and suddenly it’s the running of the bulls.

But these bulls won’t be wearing Patagonia vests and arguing about sustainable oat milk. No, this run will include mostly New York City’s great unwashed.

Mamdani’s dream of the government-run free grocery store is about to get a field test, courtesy of Polymarket. Polymarket is the prediction market company that lets you wager on everything from elections to geopolitical meltdowns. Now the company has decided to dabble in urban anthropology.

They’re launching what’s being described as New York City’s first-ever “fully-stocked” free grocery store. No purchase required. No catch. Just walk in and take what you want. The event runs from February 12 through February 16 at a Lower Manhattan location, according to NYC for Free.

Polymarket says the idea took “months of planning.” They paid for the lease. They stocked the shelves. They even donated $1 million to Food Bank For New York City to support what they call “an organization that changes how our city responds to hunger.”

Let me say this clearly: helping the needy is noble.

Feeding hungry people is good. Voluntary charity is one of the crown jewels of a free society. Conservatives do not oppose generosity. We oppose coercion masquerading as compassion. Because this isn’t Trump Accounts.

You remember Trump Accounts, right? The proposal designed to give every American child a stake in the future.

These account provide a tax-advantaged investment account seeded at birth, designed to grow with compound interest and reward work, savings, and ownership. You know: teach a man to fish versus give him free groceries.

Trump Accounts lean into what made America exceptional in the first place: equity, not dependency. Ownership, not rationing. It’s capitalism with a booster seat. The message was simple. You are not a mouth to feed, you are a future to build.

This free grocery experiment is something else entirely.

It’s a four-day pop-up carnival of zero price signals. A laboratory test of what happens when scarcity meets sentimentality.

And I would like to place a bet.

Not on whether people will show up. That’s like betting the sun will rise over Staten Island. I’m betting on how long the shelves last.

Polymarket, of all companies, understands incentives. Their entire business model revolves around the idea that people reveal truth through wagers. So here’s a question worthy of their platform: Will this store still be “fully stocked” by sunset on Day One?

Because here’s the thing about “free.” Free does not mean abundant. Free means first come, first served, and maybe last come, empty cart.

There is no means test. No verification. No sliding scale. No barcode that scans your annual income before releasing a carton of eggs.

Is Polymarket trolling Mamdani. Because he’s not happy about this. For a man so high on his idea, one would think Mamdani would have returned Polymarket’s phone calls?

If I lived in New York City, I would already be in line. I earned it.

I work hard. Millions of Americans work hard. We endured four years of what I affectionately call Bidenflation, where grocery bills looked like ransom notes. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices rose roughly 25 percent between 2021 and 2024, and 25 percent is understating reality.

Eggs alone had moments of triple-digit percentage increases. You didn’t need a PhD in economics to feel it. You just needed a receipt. So if someone opens a store and says, “Help yourself,” I consider it civic reimbursement.

I paid for my groceries at inflated prices. I paid higher energy costs. I paid more at the pump. And I watched as Democrats insisted the economy was “strong as hell” while Americans quietly downgraded from steak to ground turkey and from brand names to whatever came in a white box with minimalist font.

I watched as cities across America, particularly those run by progressive masterminds, allocated billions to house, feed, transport, and provide services to illegal immigrants and so-called asylum seekers. In New York City alone, the migrant crisis was projected to cost taxpayers over $12 billion by 2025, according to city budget documents reported by outlets like the New York Post and others. Billions. With a B.

We have seen reports of no-bid contracts for shelters. Food services. “Learning centers.” Entire bureaucratic ecosystems sprouting overnight like mushrooms after a rainstorm. If you’re a law-abiding citizen who pays taxes and follows the rules, you might be forgiven for wondering when your line opens.

So yes, if groceries are free for everyone, I’m everyone.

There is no way to regulate who takes what without destroying the premise. The moment you check IDs or income statements, it’s no longer a feel-good spectacle. It becomes a policy. And policies require math.

Let’s talk about math.

The average grocery store in the United States generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in weekly sales, depending on size and location. Inventory turnover is a science. Margins are thin. Theft is already a massive issue. The National Retail Federation has reported billions in annual losses due to shrink, much of it from organized retail crime. And that’s when items have prices attached.

Now remove the price.

You have created a retail Hunger Games with reusable shopping bags. Aside: are shopping bags free too? Because is most big cities, you actually pay for bags. {I know!}

My prediction is this grand opening will make Black Friday look like a christening.

There will be strategy then fights. Think “smash and grab” and you get the picture.

People will get groceries they would never purchase. This is NYers’ chances to experiment with food. At least until it runs out.

And then comes the second question. It’s not “Can you get groceries?”, but “Can you keep them?”

Because we are not talking about a pastoral farmer’s market in a Norman Rockwell painting. We are talking about Lower Manhattan in 2026. A city that has struggled with retail theft, public disorder, and a revolving door justice system that treats consequences like optional accessories.

If you walk out with three bags of free food, what happens next?

Is there security? Who’s paying for that, if there is? Or is it honor system meets urban Darwinism?

Can we predict the criminal possibilities?

How do you commit a crime against someone who got something for free? Legally, it’s still theft. Morally, in the warped logic of progressive relativism, it’s redistribution squared.

Do not be surprised if elitists around the world tune in like it’s a nature documentary. “Observe the native New Yorkers in their natural habitat as it competes for red meat.”

And why is this only four days?

If the model works, why not four months? Four years? Why not make it permanent?

Because deep down, even the architects know this is theater. It’s a publicity event. A brand activation with avocados. Polymarket donates $1 million to Food Bank For New York City, which is admirable. But the pop-up store is not a solution to hunger. It’s a spectacle about scarcity.

Real solutions to hunger involve economic growth, job creation, lower inflation, and policies that make food cheaper to produce and distribute. They involve secure borders so taxpayer resources are not stretched beyond recognition. They involve energy independence so transportation costs drop. They involve deregulation so farmers and truckers can operate without bureaucratic handcuffs.

Under President Trump’s first term, inflation averaged roughly 1.9 percent before the pandemic. Energy production surged. Wages for lower-income workers rose faster than for higher earners in several years prior to COVID, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is how you fight hunger. You grow the pie. You do not host a four-day buffet and call it justice.

Still, I admire the experiment. Truly. It will answer questions faster than a thousand white papers.

How much security will there be? How quickly will inventory vanish? Will people take only what they need, or what they can carry? Will the shelves look like a Soviet grocery aisle by Day Two?

Polymarket should open a betting market on its own event. “Will the store run out of milk before 3 PM on February 12?” I would put real money on it.

And then, just for balance, I have an idea.

Let’s open another grocery store across town. This one charges double Whole Foods prices. No discounts. No coupons. Only ethically sourced, carbon-neutral, emotionally affirming produce. Entry requires proof that you have posted at least three sanctimonious tweets about income inequality.

Call it Virtue Mart.

Let the same people who insist that capitalism is cruel voluntarily shop there. Let them pay $19 for heirloom kale and congratulate themselves for their moral clarity. Now that would be a real experiment.

Because here is the irony humming beneath all of this: markets work precisely because they respect reality. Prices are not punishments. They are signals. They tell us how much of something exists and how badly people want it. Remove the signal, and you remove the feedback loop that keeps shelves stocked and trucks moving.

Compassion without calculus becomes chaos.

So yes, I’m all for helping the needy. Donate. Volunteer. Build food banks. Support churches and charities. Encourage policies that make groceries affordable again. Empower families to provide for themselves with dignity.

But a free grocery store in Manhattan for four days is not an economic model. It’s a social experiment with lighting.

And I cannot wait to see the results.

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[H/T The Black Sphere]