Mamdani’s socialism won’t save NYC

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promises to make New York City affordable again by bringing a socialist approach to many essential services. Mamdani has received praise by New Yorkers for his promise of making the city affordable once again, but this praise has also become national. But what if the true case is that Mamdani is over-promising policies that he can’t deliver on?

Historically, socialism has brought economic destruction. Venezuela was once the wealthiest country in South America from its oil reserves. Socialist Politician Hugo Chávez promised to end poverty and corruption in the nation with socialism. His policies lifted many out of poverty, but government spending quickly became too much for the nation. Venezuela became reliant on its central bank to print money to pay debts, making Venezuelan currency worthless. The government relied on revenue from oil, so other areas of the economy suffered. 

In 2014, volatile oil prices led to a collapse of the economy. Not to mention their government-grocery store failure, price caps were too low for producers to cover costs, leading to widespread food shortages.

A policy Mamdani won voters over is city-owned grocery stores to lower prices. But grocery stores already have paper-thin profit margins of just 1-3% on average. Even private grocery stores are scraping by. City-owned grocery stores have a history of closing due to lack of funding, even in rural areas where there’s no competition.

Currently 26,130 units have been taken off the market by landlords due to rent laws, and it’s not because they’re greedy. Landlords can’t afford these units anymore. Mamdani wants to freeze rent for rent stabilized units effective immediately. Another decrease in funds for upkeep on units could result in a housing shortage, when affordable housing demand is at an all time high. The rent control laws started to protect renters will actually hurt them under Mamdani.

Another plan Mamdani has for the city is raising taxes by 2% on millionaires. If this happens, the top 1% of earners in New York City will be responsible for 60% of income tax paid. That 60% is $4 billion dollars Mamdani will use to fund his plans. He also plans on raising corporate tax to 11.5% from 7.25%. This will drive the wealthy out of the city. Without them to pay the wealth tax, Mamdani’s plans will not receive funding. 

These changes are small at first, millionaires leaving and units shutting down. But these are the early signs of the economic ruin of socialism. As philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But when will people learn from the history of socialism? We’ve very clearly learned that it is a system that overpromises and under-delivers, just as Mamdani will upon taking office.