In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the rise of support for socialism in both the U.S. and Europe, including the election of Zohran Mamdani. The new mayor was elected on many of the same socialist mantras, promising to introduce New Yorkers to the “warmth of socialism.” Now elected, he is discovering the problem of, as Margaret Thatcher put it, “running out of other people’s money.” Mamdani has announced that he may have to implement “painful” property tax hikes, including a potential 9.5% increase that would devastate an already struggling economy and accelerate the exodus of high-taxpayers from the state.
Notably, while Mamdani is suggesting cuts in police and other areas of the budget, he is proposing a $127 billion budget, an increase of $5 billion from last year. His budget would now be larger than those of 47 of 50 states. As noted by the Washington Post, that includes states like Florida with larger populations.
The editors added, “The reality is that Americans may like the idea of ‘free’ stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it.”
With New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers in Albany balking at increasing taxes, Mamdani is faced with having to actually pay for all of the free stuff that he promised.
When confronted with the fact that the Governor opposes new taxes as the state struggles to keep wealthy citizens from fleeing to Florida, Mamdani responded that it was not important how they paid for the new stuff. The important thing was that they pay for it somehow.
With rent controls, new massive spending programs, and proposed new taxes, Mamdani could be on the brink of causing the greatest exodus since the Red Sea Crossing.
The Federal government displays similar fiscal mismanagement, only on a steroids. This link should you get you through the paywall.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/federal-budget-deficit-charts-16456cc0?st=ph8UQW&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
That was a pretty short period of collective warmth. If Albany doesn’t come through with the money train, it looks like a tax on everyone. It’ll be fun when landlords get that property tax hike and are unable to raise rents to offset it.
“. . . the rise of support for socialism . . .” (JT)
Bernie Sanders, Mamdani (and sundry socialists on this blog) spread the fiction that they are *not* Marxists. They are democratic socialists. (The alleged difference being the right to vote.)
As with Sanders et al., Marx and Engels both believed in universal suffrage. As with Mamdani et al., Marx and Engels believed that people should vote themselves into being slaves of an omnipotent government.
A “democratic socialist” is a Marxist.
Even the ultra left Wapo thinks Mamdani is a fool.
WaPo Editorial Board Mocks Mamdani For Facing Harsh Reality Less Than 2 Months In
“The reality is that Americans may like the idea of ‘free’ stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it. They’re even less excited when they live in a state that ranks at the very bottom of the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index,” the board wrote.
“Mamdani claims his administration has found $1.7 billion to cut, but that’s a laughable number,” the Post wrote. “The reality is that Mamdani is trying to expand a city government that already does way too much. The city should provide basic services, such as law and order, but instead it pours billions into social spending like housing and health care.”
“No one in New York is ambitious enough to dramatically reshape city government, and residents either vote for class warfare or vote with their feet. A reckoning will have to come eventually. The question is how bad it gets before reality sets in,” the board continued.
It’s fun to watch the communist self destruct in real time as long as you don’t live under their jurisdiction.
Mamdani is finding out Mayor of a city is not Supreme leader of a communist country. Suck it up.
LOL, so true.
Comparing the New York City budget to that of Florida is inappropriate because of the different responsibilities and divisions within states between state level and local level governments. The best comparison would be state and all local units between New York City and Miami. Then, the comparison would reveal a more comprehensive view of tax burdens. Perhaps using per capital figures rather than raw values.
A higher level of taxation and other modes of revenue gathering also might provide more services that residents might desire. Higher revenues is not necessarily bad because some might not like that. However, the governed can choose their levels of revenue and services. Comparisons of the effectiveness of services might also be appropriate.
State fiscal systems vary in relative emphasis on states or localities generating revenue. Some states put almost all responsibility for funding local schools and others rely more on state level revenues.
Do you have any content you wish to provide, or are you just asking other people to do this work for you?
Do you? BOZO ANON
“Comparing the New York City budget to that of Florida is inappropriate because of the different responsibilities and divisions within states between state level and local level governments.”
Correct – Everywhere State budgets are larger than local budgets.
“In fiscal year 2024, Florida’s TOTAL local government expenditures were approximately $119.1 billion, which includes various funding sources and services provided by local governments.”
That is for 24.3M people, while NYC is only 8.3M
As to Miami
“The City’s Proposed Operating Budget for
FY 2025-26: $1,837,585,000”
That is for 500K people, so to be equivalent to NYC that would have to scale to 34B
“A higher level of taxation and other modes of revenue gathering also might provide more services that residents might desire. Higher revenues is not necessarily bad because some might not like that. However, the governed can choose their levels of revenue and services. Comparisons of the effectiveness of services might also be appropriate.”
Correct, but the problem is where there is real freedom, if “some might not like it” – they leave, and take their tax revenue with them.
The other problem is the people who prefer more services are Never the people actually paying for them.
NYC public schools cost $41B – that is 1/3 of the city budget for a total of 900,000 students – or about 43,000/yr/student.
That is more than double the national average.
There is an Excellent private Girls school about 2m from me that costs 31,000/yr for day students
My local public school – which is excellent costs 13,000/yr/student.
plagerist
Your comment is total blather. The amount of money he wants is out of control no matter what level of government you are talking about and it is a fine comparison. You are making excuses for a fool ruining a once great city. Not the Mamdani is the first, but he will be the final nail.
JT – Why are you ignoring the trump administration over its anti free speech policies?
Doesn’t fit your narative that one obscure left leaning person somewhere doing something bad is the ultimate evil that must be eliminated?
Why are you ignoring the trump administrations war against Colbert and The View?
Disapproving remarks don’t constitute a “war” against free speech. But embedding the feds within social media companies to censor content does. That was done by Biden, who also set up a government ministry of truth, both of which Trump dismantled.
to Troll Anon. ‘JT – Why are you ignoring..’ I can answer that… Prof. Turley doesn’t have time to deal with your non-issues.. I mean.. who really cares…? DT has much bigger & better things to do than give a hoot about Colbert and The View… these MSM crows will ultimately self-destruct one day… but.. before that… no one really cares about their buffoonery…………………
Why can’t you ever stick to the subject at hand? Do you have ADD? Get some help. They have drugs for that, which will be better than whatever drugs you are taking right now.
Biden had anti-free speech policies and this has been proven over and over. Trump has restored first and second amendment rights Biden and the Democrats took away.
Kudos to President Trump, the best President since George Washington.
O T – The Democrats hunted down Donald Trump for two years on mainly absurd charges, including “insurrection”. They got nothing for their efforts. But is is not true that their efforts were harmless. It appears that other governments are following the lead of our Democrats in putting their opponents in jail. The story today is that the former President of South Korea has been jailed for the remainder of his life for “inciting an insurrection.” https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol-martial-law-verdict-rebellion-5d5f5c3a82590dc805b41b905f5bbca1 Thank you Democrats for protecting democracy.
Trump announces he’s transferring $10 billion from the US government to his “Board of Peace,” which critics have likened to a giant slush fund Trump will control.
I’m old enough to remember the good old days when Congress was in charge of appropriations, just like the Constitution requires.
I’m old enough to remember when presidents wouldn’t steal tankers of oil, sell it, and put billions of dollars into a Qatar bank account under their personal control.
Those were the days
I’m old enough to remember when a Democrat Vice President worked with the CIA to assassinate the President to become President and get 58,250 American killed in SE Asia.
I’m old enough to remember when our Democrat President sent billions of cash and precious metals to a listed terrorist country without authorization from Congress while kidnap victims of their terrorist actions remained uncompensated for their imprisonment.
Iran-Contra? Or Watergate? Oh what about Teapot Dome? Cryptogate?(next one) I remember that I never voted for a pedo. Unlike you gopeers
“I remember that I never voted for a pedo. Unlike you gopeers”
Unless you voted for Trump or voted libertarian – you most certainly did.
You voted for Biden a known pedo and sniffer. The Epstein operation was a Democratic operation. Trump was the one that was working with the government to expose it. You are very, very confused.
Names of Multiple High-Profile Democrats Linked to Jeffrey Epstein Revealed in Resurfaced Court Documents
court documents from the Jeffrey Epstein trial have been found to include references to multiple high-profile Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, and the late New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, along with numerous other prominent figures, all of whom were described as either associates or affiliates of the serial predator.
Says the guy that voted for Joe Biden that his own daughter said is a pedo showering naked with her as a young girl and sexually molesting her in the shower. Do you realize how stupid you make yourself to others?
I’m old enough to remember when Republicans’ ideal example of masculinity wasn’t a morbidly obese, hair transplanted, Cheetoh-powder-coated draft-dodging pedophilic grifter. But people like Turley are outraged by Democrats who have different opinions about policy – so there we are.
No one is outraged by differences in policy. We are outraged because those of you on the left would use FORCE to not only impose policies the majority even super majorities do not want, but to FORCE the rest of us to pay for them.
The smaller government is – the less it infringes on anyones rights.
Your “policies” Always infringe on the rights of others, Always cost a fortune and Always fail, leaving the rest of us with a mess an a bill.
And yes, people are justifiably outraged by that.
But even so – it is still those of you on the left who win the “outrage olympics”
You rant about Trump’s physique – I thought it was the left that was behind all this body positivity nonsense.
Regardless Why does that matter to you – YOU claimed that it is policy that matter – and then go into an ad homiem attack on phsyique ?
But it gets worse,
YOU are busy pi$$ing all over Law Enforcement for …. Enforcing laws you do not like.
I do not care if it is MPD or LAPD or ICE – if they are following the law – Leave them the F$%K alone.
If you do not like the law – go to congress and change it. All the things you do not like about ICE’s law enforcement,
Were part of laws passed by democrats.
Do we really need to run all the video of every prominet democrat over 40 arguing FOR all the things they and you are now against ?
Pres. Obama was nicknamed “the deporter in chief” Those cages for kids you rant about were built by Him.
Everyone that disagrees with you is not a fascist, nazi. or threat to democracy.
Did you idiots learn NOTHING from the vietnam war ?
Do not pi$$ all over the people who are following orders to enforce our LAWS.
That makes YOU vile.
If you do not like the laws – pi$$ on the lawmakers.
John,
On your point about the left’s use of FORCE, Eugene Genovese, originally a Marxist historian, in his later years summed up your point succinctly writing,
“The horrors [of Marxism/socialism] did not arise from perversions of radical ideology but from the ideology itself…. We have yet to answer our right-wing critics’ claims, which are regrettably well documented, that throughout history, from ancient times to the peasant wars of the sixteenth century to the Reign of Terror and beyond, social movements that have espoused radical egalitarianism and participatory democracy have begun with mass murder and ended in despotism.”
But they meant well.
-g
There is so much wrong with ALL forms of statism – while Marxism is the worst and bloodiest,
all forms of “big government” suffer the same flaw – the overwhelming majority of people do NOT want most of the services big government provides – IF THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.
There was lots of polling that suggested large numbers of people supported Obamacare.
But when the same people were asked would they pay an extra 100/yr for super majorities did not want it.
People favoring Obama care nearly all beleives someone else would pay for it.
Ano
draft-dodging pedophilic grifter.
You mean Biden.
Me too but that all changed under Obummer. Precedents set are precedents followed. Learn to live with it.
New York Socialists (NYZIs) Diversity, too, and Planned Parenthood umbrella incorporation in a sanctuary state. Progress is monotonic with liberal or divergent elements. Let’s try it again, and again, and again.
Redistributive change schemes are a green solution, a burden with selected viability. Abort, sequester, and progress no further.
Okay, whatever you say ….
Cue anon.
More like get s clue anon…
Some people vote socialist because they want ‘free stuff’. They are so afflicted with left wing ideology that they are willing to evade the fact that everything worth having costs, everything worth having had to be made, created, carried out by someone willing to do the work at which point the socialist politician grabbed the resulting value at gun point in the name of ‘fairness’. Underlying the willingness of other people to vote for a socialist is the notion that they are ‘doing good’, ‘helping others’, etc. All socialism rests on the concept that slavery is just fine as long as the slave masters only take part of the the lives of those willing to work for a living. Socialism is poison for the mind and for a free country. Hopefully people will learn its true ugly vicious nature soon or we’re headed for severe difficulty.
“Some people vote socialist because they want ‘free stuff’.” Can you support that statement with facts?
Socialists run for office promising free stuff. People vote for them. Those are facts. Are people voting for them because they expect the socialists to do things other than what they promised?
Proof? Source? Citation?
https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform
He promises free buses. Free childcare . Free baby supplies.
That’s what the mayor ran on.
Next, the other anonymous will ask you to prove that NYC exists, and that Zorhan really did get more votes than any other candidate.
What he said is a self evident truth.
garyesq2k2 knows this because he lives on planet Earth. What planet do you live on?
SOCIAL Security
___________________
“The workingmen of Europe…consider…that it fell to…Abraham Lincoln…to lead his country through the…reconstruction of a SOCIAL world.”
– Karl Marx Letter To Fellow Traveler Abraham Lincoln, 1865
Wait. I don’t have to pay into Soc Sec. And I get something out of it? Or I do have to pay and get something out of it? So confused
Wait. If I have to pay into Soc. Sec only to later get something out of it, then why must I pay into it?
Why can’t I control my money myself? Why must I rely on the government to give it back to me — and it will only give it back if I manage to avoid the Grim Reaper during my working life?
Why can’t I take the money I earn which the government confiscates from me, and invest it over my 40-50 year working life? That will enable me to build an estate that realistically would be valued at several hundred thousand dollars, and if the Grim Reaper gets me before I retire, then I can pass on that estate to my children.
I’m confused.
BINGO!
The problem with socialists is they have a conniption fit when people don’t want their ideas. They remind me of someone who always wants to change things they believe are best, whether it’s how to arrange furniture in a room or align forks and spoons at a table, etc.
OT on Point!
Time for results!
President Trump
Do Not lessen the deportation process. There are 30+ Million illegal interlopers embedded in our country. That is more than the population of many States!
They are consuming our jobs, our social services, our legal system, our resources, and they are shifting our elections unfairly. Time to double down on deportation the short term pain will be long term gain for AMERICAN CITIZENS!
In California, the state orders actual Americans to nearly cease using water while it imports illegal aliens into its sanctuary state and allows them to use all the water they want.
That dudn’t make any sense.
Water = illegal aliens … ?
Double check your source.
Prove it
MAMDANI AND COMMUNISM ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
If the rights, freedoms, privileges, and immunities in the Constitution and Bill of Rights are not absolute, they do not exist.
They do exist.
When communism is finally proscribed in America and the absolute right to private property is once again supported by the Supreme Court, as its justices are sworn to do, there will be no unconstitutional governmental control of property, free enterprises, free markets, free industries, rent, wages, prices, hiring, firing, pay, direction of employees, design, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, etc., and dominion over private property will be “claimed and exercised” by owners only, precisely the way the American Founders and Framers intended.
Under the Constitution, communism is not merely antithetical; it is inimical and illicit.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. Constitution, 5th Amendment
No person shall…be deprived of…property….
_________________________________________________
The Communist Manifesto, Chapter II
“In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property”.
Mamdani is a direct and mortal enemy of the American Thesis of Freedom and Self-Reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual Americans, and America.
Islam is not religion; Islam is government.
Islam in America must be declared an illegal foreign invasion by an illegal foreign government and dealt with accordingly.
Sharia Law.
Suggest all 3 of of you see a psychiatrist.
Christians Jews and Muslims all worship the same god. So… It’s all the same. Same tree different sotry teller. Now I’m down for getting rid of religion. Go with the biggest problem first, christians
Christians teach the Triunity of God (see the Nicene Creed). Jews and Muslims do not accept this doctrine. And Islam teaches divine unity of their deity and the Koran. Jews and Christians do not. So you are “down for getting rid of religion.” I am down for getting rid of religious ignorance and bigotry.
“MAMDANI AND COMMUNISM ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL” How is it that you alone is the only person in nation with of the 1.3 MM lawyers in that has proof?
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
The Greeks weren’t crazy!
In fact, the most common of common people were absolutely denied the vote from the outset.
Democracy was established as a restricted-vote republic in Greece.
It was NOT established as a one-man, one-vote democrazy.
There will never be EQUALITY—25,000 of 330,000,000 (i.e., 0.00008333333%) Americans matriculate into Harvard annually.
ONE-MAN, ONE-VOTE DEMOCRACY is complete insanity with “the poor” simply voting themselves the right to Other People’s Money.
Okay, sounds like a plan. We all move to Greece 2500 BCE. Who’s got the tickets?
Cool. I get to choose. You don’t get to vote.
I need a graphic t for a NYC visit
My dog says eat bacon or you suck
King John III, Vienna, 12 Sep 1683
King Richard I, Ayyadieh, 20 Aug 1191
Good Lord, help that guy.
No help needed. Positions are sound. Tolerance needs to be balanced by discrimination. Wheat from chaff, friend from foe, good from evil. I live in the actual world, not some ideological lala land.
said boomer on a blog
This is ultimately a moment of reflection on the citizen’s capacity for self-government. Elections express expectations, but governing produces outcomes. The real test is whether citizens reassess their preferences when outcomes diverge from expectations, or whether initial commitments persist despite contradictory results.
Democracy, you say? “Democracy” was doomed from the outset. The American Founders absolutely restricted the vote by state legislatures in the Constitution and fully expected the “leaders” of this nation to continue that ad infinitum.
One-man, one-vote democracy and so-called equality are cruel and misleading frauds.
What you want is the freedom of a severely restricted-vote republic (i.e., ironically, the PRC) under the dominion of the original Constitution and Bill of Rights.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
– Alexander Fraser Tytler (Alternatively, Henning W. Prentis Jr)
The Old George, I never mentioned democracy.
My point concerned the citizen’s capacity for self-government, which is a prerequisite for any free society, whether structured as a republic or otherwise. The Constitution established a constitutional republic with democratic elements, but its durability ultimately depends on the judgment and civic responsibility of its citizens.
Institutional design can slow decline, but it cannot permanently substitute for an informed and capable citizenry. That was one of the central concerns of the Founders themselves.
As for the Tytler quote, historians have found no reliable evidence that he ever wrote or said it, despite its modern popularity.
I have a question please. You got any sources, citations, for all those concepts and quotes you’re pretending exist?
Certainly. These concepts come directly from primary sources written by the Founders themselves.
James Madison, Federalist No. 55 (1788): Republican government presupposes the existence of virtue in a higher degree than any other form.
James Madison, Federalist No. 51 (1788): A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.
George Washington, Farewell Address (1796): Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.
John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia (1798): Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention (1787): Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
These are not modern reinterpretations. They are the Founders’ own descriptions of the conditions required for self-government to endure.
Self-government, really?
American Founding father and first Supreme Court of Justice John Jay: “Those who own the country ought to govern it.” democracy as we understand it today did not exist at that time ; regardless, Jay’s description remains accurate in 2026. The issue of raising taxes on the wealthy is not going away —see today’s article in the conservative WSJ “Billionaires’ Low TaxesAre becoming a Problem for the Economy.” JT sometimes seems to miss the forest for the trees, bashing those politicians who may actually have the moral ground and leaving his analysis somewhat shallow and misleading.
Yes, self-government; first of ourselves, and then of the government we empowered.
Jay’s statement reflected a concern about independence of judgment, but the Constitution ultimately rests on the sovereignty of the people. Its survival depends not on property alone, but on whether citizens retain the capacity to govern their own expectations, judgments, and decisions over time.
The vote must be among, and restricted to, the qualified leaders while the citizenry enjoys the rights and freedoms of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“the people are nothing but a great beast…
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.”
– Alexander Hamilton
_________________________
“The true reason (says Blackstone) of requiring any qualification, with regard to property in voters, is to exclude such persons, as are in so mean a situation, that they are esteemed to have no will of their own.”
“If it were probable that every man would give his vote freely, and without influence of any kind, then, upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty, every member of the community, however poor, should have a vote… But since that can hardly be expected, in persons of indigent fortunes, or such as are under the immediate dominion of others, all popular states have been obliged to establish certain qualifications, whereby, some who are suspected to have no will of their own, are excluded from voting; in order to set other individuals, whose wills may be supposed independent, more thoroughly upon a level with each other.”
– Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
______________________________________________________
“[We gave you] a [restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin, 1787
_______________________
You couldn’t.
Sure pal. The guys with the white jackets are asking for you.
There have been statements on this site about the United States debt which are incorrect, The United States Treasury debt by year from most resent to 2007:
Year (Sept 30) debt increase
9/30/2025 37,637,553,494,936 2,172,879,565,764
9/30/2024 35,464,673,929,172 2,297,339,884,449
9/30/2023 33,167,334,044,723 2,238,422,431,416
9/30/2022 30,928,911,613,307 2,499,993,043,258
9/30/2021 28,428,918,570,049 1,483,527,375,434
9/30/2020 26,945,391,194,615 4,225,989,441,181
9/30/2019 22,719,401,753,434 1,203,343,570,254
9/30/2018 21,516,058,183,180 1,271,158,167,127
9/30/2017 20,244,900,016,054 671,455,302,117
9/30/2016 19,573,444,713,937 1,422,827,047,452
9/30/2015 18,150,617,666,484 326,546,285,751
9/30/2014 17,824,071,380,734 1,085,887,854,037
9/30/2013 16,738,183,526,697 671,942,119,312
9/30/2012 16,066,241,407,386 1,275,901,078,829
9/30/2011 14,790,340,328,557 1,228,717,297,665
9/30/2010 13,561,623,030,892 1,651,794,027,380
9/30/2009 11,909,829,003,512 1,885,104,106,599
9/30/2008 10,024,724,896,912 1,017,071,524,650
9/30/2007 9,007,653,372,262
The increases until 2020 averaged +/- $1.1 trillion then the World was impacted by a biological weapon causing worldwide panic and untold death, shutting down businesses, schools and requiring massive furloughs of labor or outright complete dismissal of employees, slowed national and international trade, generally speaking a massive malaise. The government shut-down broadly speaking injected +/-$8 trillion dollars of debt into the economy of the U.S. between 2020/2025. IMHO the United States has not filtered that yet and it’s still floating around looking for profit.
Turning to New York City and debt, if anyone truly believes that the Federal Government will not bail out the City in a debt crisis, you’ve forgotten history of the recent past, 1975, when the City was on the brink of bankruptcy. When you elect financial morons, chit happens.
Sorry, but years 2011 and 2014 are incorrect.
Crackpots that post but offer nothing under anonymous cover.
This is all according to the Socialist plan:
1) Demand more money from state, when state balks: Raise property taxes while declaring you had “no choice” because the state refused to pay the ransom demand. Since most people in NYC rent, the vast majority of citizens will not directly see this tax.
2) Freeze all rents. This prevents the land owners from passing on the tax cost to the renters, which would have been the normal course of events.
3) Landowners go bankrupt, because they cannot afford the tax without increasing rent. Additionally, no one wants to buy the buildings, because they will just end up in the same place again. Those that don’t go bankrupt will have to cut maintenance drastically. Those cutting maintenance will end up in front of Mamdami’s “bad landlord” commission. (which, btw, excludes complaints from city-owned housing)
4) The city seizes the land under eminent domain.
5) Eventually, the government owns the majority of buildings in NYC, then it becomes easier to pass more laws squeezing the rest of the private ownership out. End result is the government is the landlord for nearly everyone in NYC and has vastly more control over the day-to-day lives of the citizens.
In 1975, about 100,000 housing units were given to the city without payment. NYC was unable to sustain them with the rentals being paid and extra funds from the city.
Of course. One of the ideas that Mamdani’s cohort has latched onto is the notion that your rent should be a percentage of your income. So the unemployed person pays nothing and the wealthy person pays an enormous amount and both live in the same apartment building. Effectively, this means rent is merged with income tax, which is the next logical step. Massively higher income tax, especially on people who earn more, and everyone will be assigned an apartment by the city government. Of course, those with political connections will get the nice apartments, and those without political connections get sent to skid row.
If that is what they do, then all homes will be worth the same, and multimillion-dollar homes to 100 million dollar homes will pay low property taxes. There are luxury homes 35 to 50 miles outside of Manhattan. where many already reside. These jerks are killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs.
S. Meyer, of course it was 1975. It’s not 1975 anymore and certainly not the same economics of 1975.
Mamdani’s socialist ideas have merit. There are many successful socialist ideas that are still in use today. Mamdani is a Democratic socialist which is very different than the socialism those on the right keep conflating into one huge ideology.
Housing? Austria has one of the world’s most successful socialist housing program. It’s incredibly popular and it showed it can be done economically and quality.
About 60% of Vienna’s population lives in social housing. The city owns or heavily regulates these apartments, and they are not just for the poor; they are designed for the middle class as well. It’s similar to what Mamdani has in mind.
Because so much housing is non-profit, it keeps private rents low across the entire city. Vienna is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most livable cities due to its extreme affordability.
“Vienna spends about 600 million euros ($682 million) a year on social housing, two-thirds of it from national government coffers. In contrast, London spends slightly less, even though its population of 8.7 million is almost five times the size of Vienna.
The nonprofit and limited-profit developers compete for city subsidies and are required to reinvest profits back into the housing. Committees comprised of city officials, community residents, architects, and others decide which projects will receive permits and subsidies based on what Wolfgang Förster, a Vienna resident who chairs the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s housing committee, calls the “four pillars” of social housing—good design, strict construction-cost controls, energy-efficient and environmental requirements (such as solar energy and recycling of “gray” water and rainwater), and income mixing. ”
…”Because social housing is so popular, only one-fifth of Vienna’s homes are owner-occupied. Renting remains attractive in Vienna because tenants have significant rights and control over their housing. Unlike low-income subsidized housing in the United States, residents are not asked to leave if their incomes go up. Tenants do not rent their homes on a month-to-month or even year-to-year basis. Instead, they enjoy unlimited tenure and can even pass on their apartments to their children. Tenants who lose their jobs or have to miss work because of an illness get housing allowances so they can remain in their apartments.”
https://prospect.org/2018/04/16/america-needs-social-housing/#:~:text=Every%20country%20in%20Western%20Europe%20has%20some,one%20of%20the%20world's%20most%20livable%20cities.
George can you be specific about which sentence your source refers to. Thank you.
BTW, is Vienna and city in the USA? Which state. Who’s the mayor and a website link please.
“Austria has one of the world’s most successful socialist housing program.”
Notice the question socialists always evade: Who pays (for that socialist housing)?
In Austria, incomes taxes are as high as 55%. Social security taxes close to *40%*.
exposing.X.George. says:
February 19, 2026 at 7:21 PM
“Sweden is not socialist. 2015 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called it “a Democratic socialist state.” However, Sweden is a market economy with loose company regulations. TAXES are high and corporate taxes are low, allowing companies to thrive and contribute intensely to the economy.” https://scandinaviafacts.com/is-sweden-socialist/
And VIenna? You date yourself.
“In the two previous Viennese elections, held in 2015 and 2021, the Socialists only received about 39 percent and 41 percent of the vote. These were both all-time lows, though because of a fractured opposition, the party was able to continue to run the city. But a new poll late 2024) has the Socialists at 36 percent which, if continued into next year’s elections, would be their lowest ever result.” https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/08/immigrants-and-crime-bleed-socialism-out-of-red-vienna/
Poor George.
S. Meyer, this is false.
You have an alarming habit of distorting facts and telling outright lies here on this blog.
You are quite deliberately distorting what actually happened in NYC.
The 100,000 properties were not “GIVEN” to NYC. They were seized by in rem foreclosure because the owners stopped paying property taxes and simply abandoned them. Many landlords could no longer afford property taxes and maintenance. To avoid further debt, they effectively walked away from their buildings. This was not a donation, but rather a result of tax delinquency, where owners effectively abandoned the buildings, leaving the city to take ownership of the distressed units. The units had all fallen into dilapidation from years of neglect by the owners.
Your statement that the city “was unable to sustain them with the rentals being paid and extra funds from the city” is a completely false distortion of the facts. The city did not try to sustain them with the rental payments. The city deliberately set out to renovate and restore the buildings to habitability. Over time the city was able to renovate and rehabilitate the dilapidated uninhabitable units and return them to private ownership.
While it is true that this was done at a great financial cost to the city, they achieved the goal of returning these derelict and dilapidated buildings to private owners who continued to maintain them and pay taxes that otherwise would have been lost to the city.
Unfortunately, you are a stranger to the truth.
” certainly not the same economics of 1975.”
Xlax, the principles of economics don’t change.
Additionally, the very rich in NYC can live in Connecticut, New Jersey, and elsewhere. Here are some numbers to compare Vienna to Manhattan, which will lose its wealth to surrounding states, Florida, and Texas. Many of the richest own homes elsewhere
From AI
Population
Manhattan: 1,630,000
Vienna: 1,970,000
Average gross income (USD)
Manhattan: $95,000
Vienna: $57,000
Average net income (USD)
Manhattan: $65,000
Vienna: $38,000
Number of millionaires
Manhattan: 99,000
Vienna: 31,500
Average net worth of millionaires (USD)
Manhattan: $5,000,000
Vienna: $3,000,000
Total wealth of all millionaires (USD)
Manhattan: $495,000,000,000
Vienna: $94,500,000,000
Many of the wealthiest from NYC, homestead elsewhere.
Square feet of largest homes:
Florida: 90,000 sq feet
New York: 110,000
Austria 27,000
Wealth accumulates where there is opportunity.
Not true. They live in NYC. They don’t travel to Jersey or Conn unless its vacation. Just stop. Why would someone give up the city? Culture, food, music, etc.. Cities are where its at. You hillbillies want to spend your time knee deep in a cow that’s on you. The cultured intelligent real Americans live in the N.East and W.Coast.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Rich people like their other homes. What makes them choose one home over the other? I have a home in midtown Manhattan and seldom go there. In earlier times, I used to fly up for a long weekend and see plays, opera, and friends. Most of my friends left NYC. The young love it, and I don’t blame them.
“S. Meyer, this is false.”
I have a name so you can tell me whenever what I say is false. You don’t and feel you are not held accountable for your lies, but most recognize you for what you are, a liar.
“The 100,000 properties were not “GIVEN” to NYC. They were seized by “
Neither is entirely true since the deeds never changed hands. The owners walked away and let NYC manage the properties and collect the rents. NYC failed and returned most of the deeds. Should we call what you said a lie, false or typical ignorance coming from an anonymous person who is afraid to stand behind his words?
” The city deliberately set out to renovate and restore the buildings to habitability”
The city failed and eventually returned most of the housing to the landlords, cancelling their debts to the city. If I remember correctly, in a similar time frame, NYC was renovating housing units costing up to $40,000 for a welfare family. Many of the units were trashed in less than five years. You can check this out yourself because this is what I remember.
You are ignorant of the facts.
Again this is completely false.
The city never returned the properties to the original owners, or cancelled the tax debts. All the properties were seized in foreclosure and the ownership interest of the original owners was permanently and irrevocably extinguished.
Eventually, after the city renovated the properties and restored them to habitability, they were sold to new private owners.
The city used several tracks to restore the buildings.
Some were gutted and restored by the city itself and then sold to new owners.
Some were sold for $1 to non-profits who used low interest loans from the city and federal tax credits to restore the buildings for low income tenants.
Some were gifted to the tenants in return for “sweat equity”. If the tenants were able to restore the buildings with their own money and sweat labor, then the city gifted the buildings to them.
Some were sold “as is” to new qualified owners at bargain prices if they committed to restoring the buildings to agreed upon standards.
Everything you have said is false, including that “this is what I remember”, since in 1975 you were only 7 years old.
You have zero credibility, and the fact that you feel the need resort to personal insults reduces your credibility well below zero.
“The city never returned the properties to the original owners, or cancelled the tax debts”
But they did. NYC does horribly running properties and break all sorts of rules they impose on others.
” since in 1975 you were only 7 years old.”
Do you see what a nutcase you are? You don’t know my age. All you do is spew supposed facts that are mostly untrue.
At this point nothing you say can be taken at face value.
If the properties were returned to the owners, then post some evidence to that effect, or just go away.
Anyone born in February 1968 would have been 7 years old in 1975.
Who was born in February 1968? I don’t have to prove anything to an anonymous figure. You have to prove your credibility.
I guess you prefer to live in the MAGA world of alternative facts.
So be it.
It is not worth the effort to try to engage with someone who willfully ignores reality.
I don’t even live in what you think is the MAGA world. I believe in ‘Making America Great Again’ like any person who is a patriot. I pretty much follow the philosophy of Milton Friedman. Do you know whose philosophy you follow? I don’t think you know enough to follow any philosophy.
By the way, who was born in February 1968? You made a fool of yourself.
Run away, child, but you will be back, hoping no one will recognize you since you carry an anonymous alias.
Well, well, well.
This little comment of yours is most revealing isn’t it.
It tells me everything I need to know about you.
You say that you “follow” Milton Friedman, and ask who do I “follow”.
The short answer is that I don’t “follow” anyone.
I am not a “follower”, as you apparently appear to be. Unlike you, believe it or not, I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself. I don’t need anyone to tell me how to think or how to formulate an idea or how to have an opinion. I don’t feel the need to “follow” anyone. I am not a “follower”. I am an independent free thinker.
On the other hand, you are a self-admitted “follower”.
As I said, this explains everything I need to know about you. You are totally incapable of independent thought. This explains why you are so attracted to the MAGA cult. The very essence of all cults is that the adherents are expected to “follow” the leader, and independent thought is discouraged. “Followers” are always attracted to cults, because it relieves them of the great burden of independent thought. In the past I have noted that many of your comments here appear to be unencumbered by the thought process.
Thank you for confirming what I already suspected about you.
What you are telling us is that there is no coherent philosophy you align with. In other words, you drift aimlessly, saying whatever you please whenever it conveniently suits you. After all, you are anonymous, and that means you need not be consistent, which also means you lack credibility.
I gave you something solid, which doesn’t mean I lack independent thought; you offer only vapor. Clearly, there is neither structure nor substance to your thinking.
Well, well, well.
Yet another little gem of a comment. We are really on a roll here aren’t we.
Tell me, was that you speaking, or was it Milton ??
Unfortunately, your inability to engage in rational, independent thought has led you into a logical fallacy.
You seem to think that everyone should follow someone else’s philosophy, in your case Milton Friedman. You believe that your thinking must be rigidly confined to align with Milton’s philosophy, and that somehow this renders your thinking to be coherent, solid and credible. You also believe that my failure to “follow” someone else’s thinking means that my thinking has no validity or credibility.
Really ?
If everyone was a “follower” like you, and simply conformed their thinking to someone else’s philosophy, then there would never be an original thought generated anywhere by anyone.
However, since you lack the ability for independent thought, I doubt very much that you are even capable of recognizing this logical fallacy into which you have fallen.
Original thought is only possible when free thinkers like me reject the rigid and constrained thinking of “followers” like you.
What didn’t you understand? Maybe I should repeat what I said and let you mull it over.
What you are telling us is that there is no coherent philosophy you align with. In other words, you drift aimlessly, saying whatever you please whenever it conveniently suits you. After all, you are anonymous, and that means you need not be consistent, which also means you lack credibility.
I gave you something solid, which doesn’t mean I lack independent thought; you offer only vapor. Clearly, there is neither structure nor substance to your thinking.
Just as I suspected.
Your inability to think rationally renders you incapable of recognizing the logical fallacy of your position.
Simply repeating your inane comment does not strengthen it. It merely proves that as a “follower”, your rigidly confined thinking does not afford you the benefit of rational, independent thought.
As you so eloquently stated, you are a follower of Milton Friedman. Your thinking is rigidly confined to conform to someone else’s thinking. This is not the mark of someone who is capable of original thought. You are merely a “follower”, a non-thinking drone, a parasite on the body politic. These are the qualities of those who are easily captured by cults, such as the MAGA cult to which you belong.
Everything you say simply confirms this assessment of your complete inability to think for yourself in a rational and independent manner.
You are a nutcase.
What a wonderfully erudite and insightful comment !!
I jest, of course. The thinking for this comment clearly did not come from Milton, the ideologue that you “follow” with such fervor. It is obviously an example of the operation of your own feeble mind. Sadly, this is what happens when “followers” try to come up with an original thought, rather than rely on the thinking of the ideologues whom they “follow”.
It would probably be best if you try to avoid any form of independent thinking. It will never end well. Try to stick to Milton’s thinking. Let him do all the thinking for you. As a “follower” of Milton, I am sure that he will guide you to much more meaningful thoughts than your feeble mind is capable of formulating.
“What a wonderfully erudite and insightful comment !!”
It was. ‘You are a nutcase’ is short, to the point, and accurately describes you.
Nutcase.
Please, you are simply embarrassing yourself by trying to come up with an original retort to my comments. You are clearly overtaxing you limited intellectual capacity. Your comment is nothing more than a schoolyard taunt, and the fact that you keep repeating it reveals your complete inability to have a rational independent thought at anything even approaching an adult level.
I strongly suggest that, as a “follower” rather than a free thinker, you should consult Milton for a more original and adult level comment.
I am sure Milton will be able to provide you with an actual thought in response to my comments.
You are a nutcase.
Nutcase.
It appears that Milton has let you down.
Perhaps you should reconsider being one of Milton’s “followers” and try to formulate an original thought of your own.
I know you find this extremely difficult, but with a little effort and commitment you may actually learn to think for yourself.
You are a nutcase.
Nutcase.
Looks like Milton is letting you down and leaving you to your own sadly deficient intellectual resources.
If you try really hard you may be able to come up with a better insult rather that repeating “nutcase” over and over and over and over again.
Nutcase.
Just as I thought. As a “follower” you lack the intellectual capacity to broaden your thinking.
Its really not that difficult to come up with a different insult. I’m sure if you try really hard you could think of something else, rather than just repeating “nutcase”
Would it help if I made some suggestions ??
I would be perfectly happy to help you reach beyond your profound intellectual limitations.
Nutcase.
…however many deadbeat citizens are remaining.
Exactly. Thank you for your concise assessment.
Correct. Gaming the system in property confiscation. It won’t work. Are there laws against foreign ownership?