New York City is in trouble, and if the rich start leaving, the problems will only increase. Money is like a pie; it is limited, and the slices vary in size depending on who is in office. This is all about handing out the pieces of the pie, taking from some to give to others, decided by the government. Socialism does not work, never has, and the proof is in the pudding, if you know your history. Unfortunately, the socialists have destroyed our inner city schools where kids learn everything is free and you don’t have to know how to read, write or do basic math. All IMO.
“It also reeks of the dark and hate-fueled side of Marxist class warfare. Mamdani has created an “enemies list” of rich people he thinks should be paying more taxes. It’s a taste of Lenin and Mao, a public shaming exercise to give his base of DSA loons some red meat while people whose names appear must explain to City Hall why they shouldn’t fall into this vortex.
It’s also dangerous, according to the business people I spoke to who don’t want their names published: When they saw the headlines about “the list,” some instantly thought about Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO who was murdered by a radicalized nut named Luigi Mangione.
Steve Fulop, president of the city’s largest business advocacy group, the Partnership for New York City, has been at his wit’s end dealing with the demonization of business people and upper-income New Yorkers – who pay most of the city taxes here to fund the expansive welfare state Mamdani is constructing.
He’s been trying to engage with the mayor and his people, but with the “enemies list” news, he seemed literally resigned to the fact that this is a City Hall that needs to be confronted rather than cajoled.
Accordingly, Fulop is putting together a plan for action. I gather that he doesn’t want to give too much detail so as not to tip off the DSA. Let’s just say it involves building a base of support to elect office holders who will oppose the DSA.
Steve Fulop, president of the city’s largest business advocacy group, the Partnership for New York City, has been at his wit’s end dealing with the demonization of business people and upper-income New Yorkers.
Fulop reminds me that the first target of Mamdani’s class warfare campaign surrounding this tax – Ken Griffin, the billionaire head of the Citadel investment empire who was front and center in a “creepy” Mamdani video touting the tax a few months back – can afford 24-7 private security. Most of those who made Mamdani’s list may have some means, but they are far from super-rich, and now they’re on their own.
“This is a mistake, and a dangerous precedent,” Fulop said. “Publishing names and addresses singles out people who have done nothing wrong, at a moment when the far left already treats success itself as something to be punished. Most of the people on that list aren’t billionaires by any stretch – they’re people that believed in NYC, worked hard and bought a second home. All this does is make people feel less safe in their own city, and less welcome in it”
One mainstream Democratic political adviser who believes Mamdani and his radical chic pals will lead the party to ruin says her friends in the business elite are scared and rightfully so.
Ken Griffin, the billionaire head of the Citadel investment empire, was front and center in a “creepy” Mamdani video touting the tax a few months back.
Of course this one act of stupidity isn’t really the point; it’s an accumulation of cultural Marxism and Third-Worldism that emanates from an office that is supposed to be in charge primarily of educating kids, picking up garbage and keeping the streets safe.
One day, our 34-year-old mayor is refusing to disavow the leftist rallying call “Globalize the Intifada” that aims to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. The next, he’s musing about arresting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for “war crimes” aka defending his country against Hamas terrorists and forgetting about something known as “diplomatic immunity.”
Then there’s the economic Marxism: His government grocery store boondoggle won’t stop rich people from shopping at Whole Foods, but it will likely put a lot of mom-and-pop bodegas out of business. Guess who pays for the subsidies in a city that already doles out lots to the poor? The working and middle class.”