Subsidizing anything twists free market forces. Here, let me quote you something
when the prices became high in the Prophet's time and people asked him to fix prices for them, he replied, Allah is the One Who fixes prices, Who withholds, Who gives lavishly, and Who provides, and I hope that when I meet Him none of you will have a claim against me for any injustice with regard to blood or property. (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Daoud, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, al-Dari and Abu Y'ala.)
The Govt wants to give the impression that it can solve everything. Just like I am giving the impression that I am working on analysis. lol. Its just human nature. I can come up with 10 reasons why I am not useless in 9 seconds! Govt is trained to do that!
Remember, anything you subsidize, u get more of it. Subsidize eggs, and everyone will eat more of eggs. Subsidies will get larger and larger. If u look at it from the Hadith quoted above, u'll realize that Subsidies twist prices. And see the thing is, sure there will be poor ppl. Shouldnt the masjid manage these matters. It will maintain the dignity of the poor person as well. Charity works plays a major role in Free Market. Lekin there is a social aspect too it too and that is that
there is no honour in accept anything for free.
Economics, politics, science, anything you name is pointless if we dont act like humans. Science is what God left for humans to discover. Animals are taken the slaughter house..
1 thing I would add, that when a govt subsidize anything, or when banks "financialize" any field. Prices go up because of that. Let me give you an example. Pak Govt subsidizes farming in Pakistan. See the food shortages and price spikes? Banks in the US started giving loans to students for education. In 20 years, the education became so expensive that now even with the education, new grads cant pay their loans. Thats what I meant by financialization. Remember, Govts and Banks dont produce anything. They merely move capital around. And they suck at allocating it efficiently. So remember, the problem is the Govt and the Bank! They both are the problem. U remove subsidies and financialization, and prices of items will come down. Can you imagine a bread costing 1 Rupee? Which poor person will not be able to afford bread then? And why call him poor then when he can find a low wage work but the food prices are much cheaper.
Economics is not really my strong point, so excuse any mistakes. I've always feared free market as it gives huge power to entities foremost concerned with profits. In my lay man's opinion some sort of mechanism must be there e.g. govt ensures price keep within a limit for key food items. Which reminds me in India there was once a huge effort by Govt to educate people about benefits of having an egg in breakfast (specifically kids) would it not make sense in this scenario that govt. subsidizes the product i.e. egg? Look at it this way Govt may have to pay ten times more if the populations tolerance to diseases drops because of having no financial backing for healthy food and medical costs add up. Going this way if the health sector was also fully privatized (as public health care is subsidized) the public would be doomed!