The Majority Report with Sam Seder

3560 - Zohran’s Food Desert Solution; Private Prison Profits Soar w/ Omar Ocampo, Whitney Wimbish

Aug 14, 2025
Guest
Whitney Curry Wimbish
Guest
Omar Ocampo
Omar Ocampo, a researcher focused on economic inequality, discusses a groundbreaking initiative to open city-run grocery stores in each borough, tackling food deserts head-on. Whitney Curry Wimbish, a staff writer at The American Prospect, sheds light on the private prison industry's booming profits from harsh immigration policies. Together, they explore the real-world implications of these issues, revealing how economic strategies can either uplift communities or exploit vulnerable populations.
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INSIGHT

Government Can Fix Grocery Market Failures

  • Food deserts result from both low profitability for grocers and market concentration by a few chains.
  • City-owned stores can correct market failure by using public purchasing power to lower prices.
INSIGHT

Oligopoly Drives Food Inequality

  • Market concentration forces smaller grocers to pay higher wholesale prices, driving them out of low-income neighborhoods.
  • Distributors provide discounts to big chains, creating a self-reinforcing oligopoly that harms food access.
INSIGHT

Military Commissary As A Replicable Model

  • The military commissary shows a public grocery model that sells at cost and is subsidized for operating expenses.
  • That system achieves grocery prices 20–30% below retail by covering operating costs and buying huge volumes.
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