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We watched the Mamdani inauguration ceremony in NYC yesterday. It was…um… instructive. AOC, Bernie Sanders, and lots of praise for disastrous former mayors David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio. We were informed that the era of big government is NOT over, it’s just getting started. We are leaving behind the “frigidity of rugged individualism” and entering the “warmth of collectivism.” Perhaps most interesting was the buzzword “abundance.”
“City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and abundance…”
Apparently “abundance ideology” is a new faction of the Left. Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson codified it in their book Abundance. They critique progressive policies that fail to deliver results or promote growth. (How this squares with the praise of Dinkins and de Blasio - poster children for failing to deliver results - defies explanation) The central tenet of abundance ideology is that the administrative and regulatory burdens placed on construction, transportation and energy infrastructure are too high. In a sense its Supply-Side Progressivism.
And Mamdani, it seems, has embraced the idea that it will allow his new administration to provide oodles of new and affordable housing, education, childcare, and transport. The difference between the two supply-side versions is which economic agents take advantage of the streamlined administrative and regulatory environment. In Mamdani-world it’s a muscular, activist government.
This is a particularly troublesome development for the midterms. They are too soon for the looming Mamdani failure to yet be apparent. The promise of free stuff is always alluring. And it could be powerfully attractive when coupled with an argument for a more efficient, nimble government.
Discussion (69)
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Government buying stuff with tax dollars is not a "supply-side" thing, no matter how much Lefties claim it is. Mamdani is just going with CCP style planning and spending. It will fail, because NYC is historically corrupt and will be unable to deliver goods and services. Lefties will declare victory and people with money will move away.
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An abundance of government and government jobs. It's a big thing these days.
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Unless he totally blows it, I don't think the damage Mamdani does to NY will even be manifest before 2028 so unfortunately his election bumps up the odds the Democrats will run versions of him in 2026 and nominate a version of him for president (AOC?) in 2028. One reason it takes time to degrade a city is the real estate in NY is going nowhere and the talent that lives there is not going to leave immediately. A second reason is the media will overwhelmingly gush over whatever he does and minimize the problems that start to pop up. I suspect for him though "abundance" is just a buzz word that sounds good.
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Our three largest cities are governed by anti-American socialists. One is a Muslim, one a black supremacist, and one a disciple of Castro.
Tens of thousands of military age jihadis and Han crossed our "borders" while Mayorkas held the door open.
What is going to happen in the big cities if those invaders act in coordination?
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Finally we will get to see real socialism.
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