Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of the Sanctuary City of New York, recently held a press conference in which he championed what he argued were the sweeping achievements of interventionist government policies and socialism, mocking former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over her famous quote about socialism as he did so. His gloating was belied, however, by the dire situation he has admitted to.
The speech in which he did so came because he was marking his first 100 days in office on Sunday, April 12, and so appeared alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for an event in which the two avowed and self-described democratic socialists highlighted what they claimed were the major achievements of socialist policies.
Mamdani, for example, pointed to everything from the well over a billion taxpayer dollars he is planning on spending on universal childcare to his war against landlords in the city, claiming that such massively interventionist steps are a good thing for New York.
He then took issue with a famous quote by Margaret Thatcher about socialist policies. She said, for reference, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Mayor Mamdani lost is over that quote, declaring his administration to be a refutation of it.
“I have thought often of the Margaret Thatcher’s quote, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money,” the far-left mayor declared. He then said. “If anything, my friends, it seems that you eventually need a socialist to clean up the mess.”
Chiming in, Sen. Sanders highlighted that what is happening and what the two of them believe really is socialism, saying, “This is the first time I was ever introduced by someone who talked proudly about democratic socialism.” Sen. Sanders then added, “And it feels great.”
Watch Mamdani here:
"*" indicates required fields
Unfortunately for those two, New York City is in a financially catastrophic situation, as Mayor Mamdani has admitted in the past. In fact, it has a whopping $7 billion budget gap, and that is before accounting for the massive cost of all the obscenely expensive interventionist policies he wants to embark upon.
Speaking about that budget crisis in a statement released alongside one from Gov. Hochul, Mamdani said, “Working New Yorkers did not create this budget crisis and they should not be the ones to pay for it. After years of staggering fiscal mismanagement under the previous administration, our city deserves responsible and collaborative leadership.”
He added, “I am heartened by this budgetary progress and Governor Hochul’s partnership at this critical moment. This is what it looks like to begin a new, productive, and fair relationship between City Hall and Albany – focused on delivering for working New Yorkers.”
It remains to be seen, however, if his optimistic tone about the financial crisis will continue as high net worth, high income taxpayers flee his city for greener pastures that do not relentlessly extort more and more tax money from them, particularly given the lack of any tangible return productive citizens get for paying those high taxes.