Readers would never have clicked on this article, nor would they have heard of Zohran Mamdani, if New York weren’t the richest, most capitalistic city on earth. It’s that simple.
Where wealth is being created abundantly, there's also an abundance of individuals seeking to demagogue that wealth. So, while Mamdani’s rise in the richest, most capitalistic city on earth is disheartening, it shouldn’t be surprising.
To which some will say New York City is quite left wing, and anti-capitalist. No doubt it has that element to it, but ambition overwhelms ideology within the NYC electorate.
Still, it raises a counterfactual: what if the great billionaire Cliff Asness (AQR Capital) were Mayor of New York? It’s a useful counterfactual, and not just because Asness has been so public in his critique of the new Mayor.
The main thing is that Asness is Mamdani's opposite on policy, which means that a wildly prosperous city would be even more prosperous if Asness were running it. If so, it’s a safe bet that Mamdani would be one of many well-known, supposedly charismatic, wealth-criticizing demagogues.
It's the way of things. Rising wealth in Russia gave the collectivists a voice that they never would have had if its economic situation had been desperate.
Some will reply that Mamdani is to New York City what Lenin was to Russia. It’s a fair point, but the bet here is that it’s unlikely. And it can be found in the people who voted for Mamdani.
While his living standard rhetoric may have some kind of short-sighted appeal, never forget why people come to NYC in the first place: they see in the mirror someone with the potential to be something quite a bit more majestic than the individual they’re staring at. Call it delusion, albeit of the good, somewhat reasonable kind. Those who take their talents to New York aren’t satisfied with handouts, minimum wages, nor do they see themselves in government grocery stores. If any of this described them, they wouldn’t be in New York.
Which calls for a rethink of the meaning of Mamdani. It’s popular to say that his election speaks to the naivete of young people innocent to the horrors of socialism. It's probably more illuminating to watch what they do, not what they say.
San Francisco is left leaning as they come, but as you’re reading this the young of San Francisco are working "9-9-6" schedules in a desperate attempt to keep pace with other young, ambitious San Franciscans trying to write the future of AI. Republican voters all? Clown question.
What’s true out there is true in lefty Los Angeles and New York too. Yes, it’s expensive to live in left-wing locales for a reason: there’s tons of rich people in them. Get it? The bet here is that NYC’s young vote Mamdani because they recognize themselves in him (ambitious much like they are), but also because they know soak the rich only works in theory while failing in practice. Yes, they can vote against their interests precisely because Mamdani won’t have his socialism if the rich who pay all the taxes exit.
It brings to mind a quip from Blackstone co-founder Stephen Schwarzman, that the stock market is more powerful than a nuclear bomb. New Yorkers are a major catalyst of the market Schwarzman describes, and Mamdani will only be Mayor insofar as he realizes the previous truth. If not, watch as “socialist” New Yorkers make sure he does.
Read Full Article »