Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor, claims that he confessed his sympathies for “democratic socialism” only after Senator Bernie Sanders’s unsuccessful presidential bid in 2016 gave him the confidence to do so. If he is being honest about this, he has taken to his philosophy with the convert’s zeal.
On paper, Mamdani’s economic plans are about as sound as the business model for the blood-testing start-up Theranos. Since his first election to New York’s State Assembly, Mamdani sponsored legislation that would make New York City buses “free” — by which he means funded by extracting even more wealth from the city’s already fleeing tax base. He has backed reforms that would expand rent freezes, which would increase the commercial pressure that has already made construction an unprofitable pursuit and truncated the city’s housing supply. He has backed the creation of state-run grocery stores as an alternative to market-based grocers. The municipalities that have tried them found they only absorb great sums of taxpayer funds while providing consumers with substandard products and shortages. He sees wealth creation as a zero-sum game. Hence, Mamdani’s recent profession that “I don’t think we should have billionaires” (in New York or elsewhere). Mamdani seems earnest in his desire to push wealthy city residents out by boosting punitive taxes on individuals and corporations, which would “increase quality of life for everyone.” Somehow.
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