Chicago’ Problem Is Crime, The Mayor’s Solution Is City-Run Grocery Stores

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Walmart closed 4 stores. Whole Foods closed another, all due to theft, looting, and worker safety.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, Grocery Mogul, to the Rescue

“Will the progressive mayor be willing to stop shoplifting at his government-run stores?” asks the Wall Street Journal in its take Brandon Johnson, Grocery Mogul.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said recently the city that used to work should consider opening government-run food stores because “all Chicagoans deserve to live near convenient, affordable, healthy grocery options.” He’s upset that at least six grocery stores have closed in the past two years on the city’s South and West sides.

Walmart closed four stores in Chicago because they were losing tens of millions of dollars a year, and CEO Doug McMillon said annual losses had doubled in the past five years.

The problem isn’t corporate racism. It’s crime. In 2022 Chicago reported 54,000 thefts and a mere 4% resulted in an arrest. Of the 8,730 retail thefts, there were 1,450 arrests, or less than 17%, according to Wirepoints and the Chicago city data portal.

Questions Abound

• What will the mayor do to prevent theft at his government grocery chain?

• Will Johnson consider it the cost of doing business (supported by higher tax hikes)?

• Or will Johnson provide more police protection for the stores the city opens? And if so, what won’t get protection that now does?

• Then again, what is getting any police protection now?

That’s a lot of questions.

Meanwhile if you are a store owner in Chicago suffering huge losses to theft or if you are an individual tired of the crime and piss poor public schools, I have a suggestion: leave.

But think about where your going. Leaving Chicago isn’t enough. I advise leaving the state.

Just remember It Takes 3 Weeks to Escape Illinois, at least it did for us because all of the U-Haul rentals were leaving.