Are socialist mayors “irrelevant” to the US economy, as some pundits assert?

Photo above - Nithya Raman, the new socialist/Hindu mayor-elect of Los Angeles, campaigned on a promise to allow MORE homeless encampments downtown. Was this motivated by compassion, or was it politically opportunistic?

Fox network is a killjoy. They’re calling for a penalty flag to halt Democrats’ ongoing end zone celebration, after Tuesday's blue Tsunami. I say let the celebration run its course. Nobody likes it when NFL refs throw a yellow flag after a touchdown either.

Conservative news outlets seem to be in denial that – as Florida's outgoing governor Desantis quipped – election day was an “extinction level event” for the Republican party. They're saying to just ignore it, and it will go away by itself?

For the record, I agree with Desantis. Republicans more or less got what they deserved. After, senators and house members spent 2 years of shameless pandering to Trumps ridiculous shenanigans and policies. Pandering just to hold onto their jobs - senate seats, house seats, governorships, and mayor-doms.

Are socialist mayors themselves actually irrelevant though? The evidence is inconclusive so far. America only has one significan socialist in office so far – Mamdani in NYC. He's in a slow motion boxing match with New York's Governor Hochul. Mamdani s demanding that Albany pony up Billions – which it doesn’t have – to pay for his campaign promises of a future so bright New Yawkers will need sunglasses.

Let’s note that Mamdani has been rebuffed in his attempts to impose a cornucopia of new taxes to support his promised giveaways. Not just the “second home” penalty tax, which remains mired in back and forth dueling court decisions. There’s also an unpopular 10% tax hike on everybody else who has a condo or home in the city. This property tax measure apparently only has renters' support. Because renters they don’t understand that higher property taxes on their apartment buildings will mean higher monthly rent assessments.

The ability of mayors – socialist or otherwise – to raise taxes to the moon has always been suspect. People can not only work from home to escape crime, taxes, and problematic schools, but also entire corporations can relocate. Google to find out where the new headquarters of JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab are. And dozens of companies are now bailing on the NY Stock Exchange to have their shares traded on the more affordable TSE (Texas Stock Exchange).

Mamdani’s immediately lesson is that there’s not enough money – and political willpower – for governors to cover all a local politician's’ election promises. Free daycare, free public transit, free housing, free food and healthcare services to everyone claiming permanent sanctuary.

Los Angeles now has a socialist mayor. Nithya Raman ousted Karen Bass, who was perhaps as economically uniformed herself as most socialists. Ms. Raman - good luck trying to get the state legislature in Sacramento to increase Los Angeles’ weekly allowance. The statewide Billionaires surcharge and exit fee was overwhelmingly trounced by voters. State legislators' minds are reeling. They were told by activists that the billionaires' tax was a can't lose/slam dunk.

DC is now under socialist control. The city’s lifeline has always been the federal government. Some possibility for bailouts in this instance. Democrat house and senate majorities will be sympathetic to massive deficit spending by the mayor. And it’s all going to end up as part of the national debt for the rest of us to pay through higher income taxes anyway, isn’t it?

Neither party is talking about how the trillions and trillions in national debt leads to higher mortgage rates, unaffordable housing, and the collapse in new construction.

Seattle, Portland, Providence . . . please let us know how things are turning out. Bernie Sanders – Vermont's millionaire socialist senator – can probably be relied upon to argue your case if local tax money runs dry.

Fox News says the real fun begins when socialists start to win governors' races. And possibly the white house. But that latter result seems far-fetched, unless someone passes a constitutional amendment to allow direct popular election of the president. The claim that congress can nullify the US constitution with a simple floor vote is hilariously uniformed and would result in years of court litigation. And years of campaign fund raising by venal politicians of both parties.

Pop quiz – which states are likely to continue their fantasies of independence from the USA? Texas is now mostly blue, owing to all the blue collar factory migrants who fled California. How about Florida? Cal-exit? Alaska? Rural Oregon counties? Share your theories below.

I'm just sayin' . . .



Zohran Mamdani | Latest News | New York Post

How’s Mamdani Doing? Mayor Releases Mixed City Scorecard (With Adams Assist) | The City Reporter — NYC News