Zohran Mamdani: The Next in a Long Line of Socialists Doomed to Failure

When a little known New York State Representative threw his hat into the race for New York City mayor, no one paid any notice. Not only was that man a "proud Democratic Socialist", he was also going up against a titan in New York politics, former governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo was hugely favored to win behind a massive name recognition and his popularity as governor during COVID(albeit ending in sexual assault allegations). However, Zohran Mamdani was underestimated by the Democratic establishment at every turn. Mamdani, a child of academic minded immigrants, is a perfect representation of the young diverse culture of today's New York City. His message of economic relief hit home for the young people struggling to survive in nation's largest city. He won the Democratic primary for Mayor in a landslide, defying all odds. He now is the frontrunner in a 4 man general election with Current Mayor Eric Adams, the erstwhile defeated Andrew Cuomo, and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

In New York City, the cost of living has become a nightmare.

• Housing - 200% higher than the national average

• Utilities - 13% higher than the national average

• Food - 13% higher than the national average

• Healthcare - 16% higher than the national average

• Transportation - 11% higher than the national average

• Goods & Services - 24% higher than the national average

All together that makes living in NYC about 70% more expense than in other places. Some estimates say that someone would need to make around $130,000 a year to live a middle class life in New York. These are the points that Mamdani made during his campaign, and unlike the other Democrats, he has potential solutions. Those solutions are radical, but they are a different message than the one pushed by the wealthy Democrat establishment. The desperate people of New York are willing to try something different after decades of establishment Democratic rule. So, what does Mamdani propose as solutions?

Zohran Mamdani's Platform

• Freeze Rents on all Stabilized Apartments, Build More City-Owned Apartments, and Crack Down on Landlords

• Create City Owned Grocery stores with No Profit Motive

• Make City Buses Free

• Free Child Care for All families

• Raise the Minimum Wage to $30 a hour by 2030

• Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 11.5%

• Raise a flat 2% tax on Millionaires

This all sounds great! The average worker gets a load off while the wealthy pay for it. However, there are a myriad of problems to Mamdani's plans.

First and foremost, he will need the support of the state government to increase any taxes, and the current Gov. Kathy Hochul has ruled that out. Mamdani will have to come to the table with establishment Democrats statewide to achieve his policy goals. Without the additional revenue from his proposed new taxes, he cannot provide free child care or open city owned grocery stores. Those kinds of policies do not have the support of state Democrats who are backed by Wall Street elites. Wall Street does not want to see taxes raised any higher. The laffer curve is a principal in economics that says that there is a limit to how much tax a government can raise by increasing tax rates. At some point, people stop earning income to avoid paying taxes to the point where tax revenue actually decreases. Corporations currently face a combined state and city tax rate of about 17.4%. This is the highest combined burden of any city in the country by a wide margin. So, I doubt Mamdani can convince the state to make it any higher.

Secondly, the millionaires he wishes to tax have already been leaving New York City in droves. According to a report by the Citizens Budget Commission, about 125,000 NYC residents have left in the last 5 years taking $14 billion in income with them. Adding another punitive tax would lead to more of the wealthy leaving in droves. The problem with "taxing the rich" is that the rich always figure out ways to avoid paying taxes. They have many ways of doing this, and they have the money to pay an accountant to figure it out. In addition to just leaving the city, the rich can manipulate their income by taking stock options, funneling it through other entities, and just taking loans to pay for expenses instead of collecting an income. The people Mamdani will be milking are the few honest and/or patriotic high earners that stay in NYC, or those that can't afford the fancy tax schemes.

Lastly, Mamdani's solutions are inherently flawed and do not fix the fundamental problems plaguing New York City. NYC is a cramped, overcrowded place, so there is abundant demand for limited items. That drives up prices. Already high taxes and heavy regulation also drive up prices. An abundant, highly educated work force raises average wages and also drives up prices. You can't fix those issues by handing out free stuff.

The free market always wins out no matter what good intentions are had. Lets take the "Free Child Care" plan. The plan is estimated to cost the city around $12 billion a year. Those funds previously allocated to child care by parents, will now go into other sectors of the economy creating more demand on still limited goods and services. More people will move in to take advantage of the this plan, driving up the cost of rent and food. Eventually, the money saved by parents with this program will be eaten up by inflation. Meanwhile, the city would add thousands to its payrolls and to teachers union rolls, creating yet another bloated government program. All the while putting Mom & Pop daycares and babysitters out of business.

What is my solution to child car costs? Reduce the regulations on private child care services like obtuse licensing & staffing requirements. Create tax credits for child care costs, and tax breaks for starting day care services. With those solutions, costs would go down, and it would be much less expensive for the tax payer in the long run.

That is my answer to each of Mamdani's proposals. The free market hasn't failed, New York City has failed to allow the free market to work properly by restrictive regulations, subsidizing people's basic needs creating artificially high demand on goods and services, and allowing crime to go unpunished creating a higher-risk environment for businesses and insurers.

Maybe once the people of New York get a taste of socialism, they will wake up and see the better solutions out there.