This cartel protected its near monopoly in the bromine market by, among other things, threatening to flood the market with cheap bromine anywhere a competitor rose up to start selling the product. Meanwhile, the German cartel could survive the strategy because they set aside funds to survive this temporary offering of extremely cheap product. Even if none of the privately owned grocery stores were to take advantage of this situation, however, there’s a broader economic lesson here. Those who are first in line every day, whether they are regular consumers or people from competing grocery stores, will be the ones to scoop up the cheap groceries. “Mamdani’s cheap grocery scheme won’t help poor families” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.