New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have won the battle on Election Day, but the war is far from over.
One would have thought that since New York Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani's candidacy, she also likely supported his freebie agenda, but now she is cutting his knees out from under him.
Hochul just poured water all over Mamdani's plan to have a free transit system in the Big Apple.
Mamdani lives in a fantasy world where everything is free, but as we all know, nothing is truly free, as someone always has to pick up the tab.
Even so, he wanted to provide free public transportation in New York City, but the fares currently collected are what help pay for the system's operations.
In Mamdani’s world, the nearly $1 billion in revenue generated by fares amounts to “pennies,” with the mayor-elect having stated, "That's about $800 million a year, which may sound like a lot of money, and it is substantial, but in the context of a city budget that's north of $100 billion and a state budget that's north of $220 billion, this is just pennies.”
That is the way socialists think… $800 million is just a few pennies in the overall picture, so just give it away. Mind you, New York City is operating in the red right now, as are many Democrat-led cities and states.
Mamdani supporters think all their problems will be solved by dropping the hammer on the city’s wealthiest inhabitants.
Tax them more, get more money for all the freebies Mandani wants to offer.
Hochul, however, has not been overly receptive to Mamdani's agenda. After getting heckled to raise taxes on the rich at a rally in support of the Democratic Socialist, she responded, “I will say one energetic rally does not get me to change my positions. I assure you.”
She added, “But I do hear people’s voices, I process what everybody says, but I also have to balance governing this state and making sure that those people who are actually the reason we have a generous supportive budget that helps lift people up, it’s their revenues that we tax.”
Hochul has already conceded with an offer to help Mamdani facilitate free childcare for city workers, but that is about as far as she is willing to foot the bill.
On free transportation, she stated, “I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways. But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course, we can.”
Hochul added, “Child care, I already committed to. I’m committed to this as mom governor, I get it, but also to do it statewide right now, it’s about $15 billion -- the entire amount of my reserves.”
However, more affordable childcare is not what he promised. Mamdani told his supporters it would be free, so this is going to start things off rather precariously for his new administration. So, it would appear that $800 million is not just pennies after all.
