If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “You know what New York needs? The economic strategy of East Berlin implemented with the brain torque of AOC” then Zohran Mamdani might be your guy for Mayor.
But for the rest of us—those who believe in the pesky idea that a city shouldn’t collapse under the weight of its own ideological delusions—his candidacy should be a walking red flag with a bullhorn.
Mamdani, a thirtysomething with the political experience of a student council president, is pitching an alarming fantasy vision of New York that’s long on slogans and painfully short on realism.
His policy agenda reads like it was written during an Intro to Marxism seminar over a soy latte—probably because a good portion of his supporters were actually in that exact class last semester.
Start with his rent freeze idea. Mamdani wants to impose a four-year cap on rent-stabilized apartments, as if landlords are running massive profit empires from walk-up buildings in Queens. Apparently, in his world, owning property is just a form of oppression waiting to be regulated into oblivion?
And if the buildings crumble from lack of maintenance? Not a problem—he’ll just throw more taxpayer money into a new “Social Housing Development Agency,” where the government builds, owns, and runs housing like it’s SimCity.
Because if there’s one thing New York is known for, it’s the stellar performance of its public housing system, right?
Mamdani also wants the city to hand out free buses, free childcare, free groceries through government-run stores (what could go wrong?), and even baby baskets for newborns.
It’s like Oprah took over City Hall: You get a benefit! And you get a benefit!
But unlike Oprah, he doesn’t actually have the money to back it up. His plan to fund this utopia? Hike corporate taxes into the stratosphere and slap a millionaire surcharge on anyone who’s still too stubborn to move to Florida.
It’s a brilliant plan—if the goal is to send every employer, investor, and taxpaying adult out of the city. And here’s the kicker: they’re already leaving. New York has been hemorrhaging taxpayers for years, with high earners and job creators packing up for Florida and Texas in droves. Mamdani’s tax-and-spend blueprint won’t just fail to stop that trend—it’ll throw gasoline on it. Eventually, there won’t be anyone left to pay for his fantasy programs except the baristas who voted for him and the bureaucrats hired to implement them.
Mamdani is also pushing for a $30 minimum wage by 2030, which sounds great until you remember basic math. That wage floor will crush small businesses. Restaurants, bodegas, coffee shops—all will be under severe pressure. In the real world, where businesses run on margins, not “vibes”, forcing employers to pay $30 an hour for entry-level work is a guaranteed ticket to higher prices, fewer jobs, and self-checkout machines with personality disorders.
Then there’s his approach to policing. Mamdani doesn’t quite say “abolish the police,” but it’s clear he’d rather turn the NYPD into a feelings-based support group. He wants to replace traditional law enforcement with something called the “Department of Community Safety,” which sounds less like a public safety agency and more like a college RA program. Apparently, if someone’s robbing your store, you’re supposed to call an empathy counselor instead of 911. And when crime inevitably spikes? Well, at least we’ll have robust social services to file reports about how unsafe we feel.
The heart of Mamdani’s agenda, though, is central planning. He doesn’t just want to tax and regulate you—he wants the government to be your landlord, your employer, your doctor, your babysitter, your grocer, and probably your barista too. It’s not governance; it’s a lifestyle brand for collectivism, and one that ignores the fundamental lesson of every failed socialist experiment: eventually, you run out of other people’s money. And if you suggest maybe, just maybe, the free market works better than state-run everything? You’ll be labeled a corporate shill or a capitalist dinosaur.
The irony here is thick: Mamdani, a relatively inexperienced politician barely out of his twenties when first elected, is pushing a radical overhaul of the most complex city in America—armed with ideological certainty and little else.
He and many of his supporters appear to believe New York is one big grad school group project, and all it takes is “rethinking systems” to solve everything. But governing New York isn’t about wishcasting your “feel good” politics into law. It’s about knowing what works, what doesn’t, and what the city can actually afford without crumbling.
New York needs a mayor who understands the value of entrepreneurship, who respects property rights, and who sees the private sector not as a threat, but as the reason this city became a global capital in the first place. Electing Zohran Mamdani wouldn’t be bold or progressive—it would be like handing the keys of a Formula 1 car to someone who just got their learner’s permit and asking them to fix the engine while they drive.
Hopefully the adults in the room in New York can keep him out of office today…or the East Coast will soon be in for San Francisco, Part 2.
QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Quoth the Raven
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://quoththeraven.substack.com feed and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.