If socialists needed more evidence that their economic model is financially disastrous, they can look no farther than the Modern Times Café in Minneapolis.
The 15-year-old neighborhood restaurant, owned by anti-capitalist Dylan Alverson, announced it will be closing permanently at the end of the year. In January, following the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents, Alverson eliminated all prices for a free/donation-based model open to everyone except ICE.
“Starting today, January 26th, and until the occupation of Minneapolis is over, we are a free restaurant,” he said on Instagram.
Alverson briefly closed in July and reopened with prices in August, but it wasn’t enough to save the business, which still collapsed under debt and unsustainable economics.
Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau, BlazeTV hosts of “Stu and Dave Do America,” think the demise of Modern Times is hilarious and predictable.
“You know, normally I'm not one to take joy in someone else's misfortune,” Dave says.
But given that this is the "inevitable outcome of someone's stupid choice, it's a little easier,” he says.
Stu reads Alverson’s announcement that the cafe will be permanently closing:
For the last 6 years, I’ve been trying to prove that Modern Times can continue to exist. I’ve exhausted every option without compromising the core fundamentals that make Modern Times what it is.
Because of this, we have made the choice to close at the end of the year. This has been an incredibly difficult decision and one that did not come lightly. I announce this decision now, with the hope that we can spend the next two plus months celebrating the nearly 16 years that Modern Times has stood for creativity over cost, kindness over profit, and uncompromising values as a business in this country.
This coming week I’ll start to explain how we got to this point and what the next couple months will look like. The only way for places like Modern Times to exist in the future is to actively challenge the reasons why it can no longer exist.
“[Alverson] doesn't believe in capitalism, but he does now believe in crippling debt,” Dave says.
But debt wasn’t Modern Times’ only issue. Stu reveals that “neighbors began to be crowded out of the restaurant by people who could not pay and who lingered around the restaurant all day.”
“Complaints mounted of open drug use, theft, discarded needles in the alley, and overdoses on the sidewalk,” he adds.
“That's strange. So they were stealing stuff even though it was already free,” Dave says.
Stu shares that Modern Times isn’t the only “pay what you can” restaurant to utterly fail. The EAT Café at Drexel University in Philadelphia closed in 2019 after just two and a half years for the same reasons that closed Alverson’s business.
“So in a country of people that are known … for taking advantage of every situation, including government programs that are there to help those that are in need — turned out to be awful? I can't believe it,” says Dave.
To hear more, watch the episode above.
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