New York just elected a mayor who says, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve.” In his victory speech he promised “the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis,” including to “freeze the rents… make buses fast and free, and deliver universal childcare.” He vowed to “hire thousands more teachers,” “cut waste from a bloated bureaucracy,” “create a Department of Community Safety,” and “hold bad landlords to account.” Wrap it together and you get a city hall that fixes prices, shapes education, controls transit revenue, expands headcount, and grows regulatory muscle, all while promising nothing will be too big for government. Government greater than God, right?
Mamdani’s platform fills in the blanks. The website pushes a rent freeze, fare-free buses, universal childcare, and city-owned grocery stores all to “lower costs.” A $30 minimum wage is the momentum line. To pay for it, he proposes taxing “corporations and the 1%.” Reporters tracking the math note a two-point city income-tax hike on million-dollar earners and lifting the corporate rate target to 11.5 percent, matching New Jersey. Analysts peg the combined top income-tax rate near 16.8 percent. That puts New York above every other state. Fans say the rich won’t leave. Reality says high earners and headquarters do arithmetic. When your plan relies on a smaller, flight-prone base to fund permanent entitlements, volatility becomes policy.
What does this mean for New Yorkers and New York businesses if enacted? Landlords under a freeze defer maintenance and new supply dries up. Restaurants and family-run convenience stores get squeezed by rising wages, compliance, and city-run groceries that don’t pay rent or property taxes. The MTA loses fare revenue if buses are free, so the city either backfills with higher taxes or services get cut somewhere else. Universal childcare sounds great until the cost curve shows billions a year and staffing shortages push private providers out. City hall says “we’ll cut waste” to pay for it. New York hears that promise every decade. The bill still lands on the same desks. Dependency grows. Choice shrinks. Innovation stalls when the referee starts fielding a team of its own.
Voters were told all of this would make life “affordable.” What they actually purchased is more government in more corners of daily life, funded by fewer taxpayers and businesses who are easiest to move. The speech said it plainly: “There is no problem too large for government to solve.” That is the sales pitch of soft command economics. New Yorkers needed a plan that unleashes housing supply, trims red tape, protects safety, and rewards work. They chose a plan that sets prices, raises taxes, grows payrolls, and calls it justice. Ephesians 5:6 says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” They will soon know the meaning of this verse. This is a classic example of liberal, say it with me… Stupidocrisy.
Sources:
Epicenter NYC, “Full Transcript of Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech” — https://epicenter-nyc.com/full-transcript-of-mayoral-elect-zohran-mamdanis-victory-speech/
Mamdani campaign site, Platform — https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform
TIME, “Can Mamdani Fulfill His Ambitious Campaign Promises?” — https://time.com/7331036/mamdani-nyc-mayor-election-campaign-promises/
Empire Center, “Parsing the Impact of Mamdani’s Tax Hike Plans” — https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/parsing-the-impact-of-mamdanis-tax-hike-plans/
CBS New York, “Mamdani promises free buses for NYC” — https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/zohran-mamdani-new-york-city-free-buses/
Time Out New York, “What Mamdani’s win means for your rent, commute and city-owned grocery stores” — https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nycs-new-mayor-what-zohran-mamdanis-win-means-for-your-rent-commute-and-city-owned-grocery-stores-110525
