Grocery stores in New York have devised a clever marketing tactic by preying upon the economically vulnerable. The latest example is the so-called "free grocery store" stunt in New York, which was quickly seized upon as proof that groceries can somehow be made affordable simply by eliminating prices. This is the same naïve thinking that has failed every single time it has been tried throughout history.

Polymarket and Kalshi agreed to provide free groceries for a limited time. That is not a solution; it is a publicity stunt designed to exploit public anger over the rising cost of living. The real danger is that politicians like Zohran Mamdani seize on this spectacle as justification for government-run grocery stores and price controls.

I have warned repeatedly that price controls never work, especially on necessities like food. Price is not some arbitrary number that greedy corporations invent. Price is the signal that tells producers whether it is worth planting crops, transporting goods, hiring labor, and absorbing risk.