Mamdani’s latest whopper turns the truth about socialism on its head
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bragging that the budget he just pushed through proves socialists understand the economy as well as capitalists, and that, indeed, they’re cleaning up the capitalists’ mess.
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What utter bull. He’s proved nothing about socialism as an economic boon, and his spending plan actually makes the city’s fiscal mess worse.
No matter: The mayor pretends he’s an ultra-competent manager, a wizard of municipal finance and a dedicated socialist who’ll make New York affordable and “equitable.”
“If these past months have shown us anything,” he burbled, “it is that socialists not only understand economics just as well as the capitalists who came before, but that we can solve their years of mismanagement through an embrace of our principles.”
Get a grip, Mr. Mayor. None of that tracks with reality.
First of all, there’s nothing “capitalist” about balancing a city’s budget. It’s a question of making ends meet. And Mamdani only barely did that — and only through gimmicks and shoddy financing.
Besides, the budgets of his predecessor, Eric Adams, were nothing any hard-core capitalist would approve of.
If anything, any “mismanagement” on the former mayor’s part — bloated, ever-expanding budgets that understated outlays — is characteristic of socialists, not capitalists.
If Mamdani were truly fixing anything, it would be the mess of merely a somewhat-less socialist-minded mayor.
Yet Mamdani’s budget makes matters worse: His budget takes Adams’ last plan and adds another $10 billion in new spending, while, as city Comptroller Mark Levine (a fellow Democrat) notes, relying on “$6.1 billion in short-term and one-time measures.”
And he’s depending on Wall Street to fork over a disproportionate amount of the city’s income, including nearly a quarter of personal income-tax revenue, to pay for it.
Meanwhile, Hizzoner hasn’t done a lick to boost local economic growth, attract business or create new jobs (except for those on his propaganda staff).
Just the opposite: He’s gotten firms — like Ken Griffin’s Citadel — to look to do business elsewhere.
So he’s already hurt the economy, while having no plans to grow it. (And, no, adding government workers is not economically productive.)
If the mayor has some ideas for creating economic value as a socialist, we’d love to hear them.
But so far all he’s talking about is more spending, with the hope that he can find the money to close gaps later.
Of course, Mamdani might be right to talk up socialism now; it might be his only chance.
Because if he manages to employ too much of it, the damage it causes will be so obvious, no one will buy his boasts later.
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