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by gruez 221 days ago
>"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives [...] are

That's a pretty important difference you're eliding. "state run" is where most of the objection is. Coops get nowhere near the pushback (if any) that state run businesses (ie. "communism") get from Americans.
2 comments
tpm 221 days ago
"state run" is also probably incorrect. AFAIK Mamdani will be the mayor of New York City, which is a city, not a state. Cities in Europe tend to run businesess outside of their core competency quite often. Is that not the case in the US?
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gruez 220 days ago
>"state run" is also probably incorrect. AFAIK Mamdani will be the mayor of New York City, which is a city, not a state.

"state" in this case refers to "government", not US "states". You see this type of usage elsewhere, for instance "state" schools[1], which are often operated at the city/county level, not state level.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_school

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tpm 220 days ago
> You see this type of usage elsewhere, for instance "state" schools[1]

Schools operated at the city/county level are called public schools in the US, no? So in the same vein these stores should either be called public or city stores.

Note that the Guardian article instead talks about "city-run" and "municipal-run" grocery stores. And the reason I'm mentioning this is that "city-run" sounds harmless while "state run" is exactly what you mention: "Coops get nowhere near the pushback (if any) that state run businesses (ie. "communism") get from Americans."

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gruez 220 days ago
>Schools operated at the city/county level are called public schools in the US, no?

Right, I'm pointing out that "state" in the english language isn't limited to just US states. If you're not convinced by that, there's also "state" owned enterprises in countries that don't even have "states" (eg. China).

>Note that the Guardian article instead talks about "city-run" and "municipal-run" grocery stores. And the reason I'm mentioning this is that "city-run" sounds harmless while "state run" is exactly what you mention: "Coops get nowhere near the pushback (if any) that state run businesses (ie. "communism") get from Americans."

The only difference between municipally and states owned enterprises (both the US state kind and "government" kind) is in scale. Objections to state ownership mainly revolve around state coercion (you can't opt out of a municipal grocery store, especially if it's funded by tax dollars), and potential for self-dealing. Both these concerns exist for municipal grocery stores, but not coops.

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tpm 218 days ago
I actually did live in "communism" with only state-run enterprises and let me assure you that scale is very far from the only difference.

> in countries that don't even have "states" (eg. China)

China is the state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity)

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seba_dos1 221 days ago
We've got plenty of state run businesses though, that's certainly normal as well. Just not grocery stores in particular, or at least I'm not aware of any around.
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