Mamdani is dangerous, but also pretty stupid

Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary and is poised to become the next mayor of the Big Apple. He’s young, personable, has amazing charisma, and is being touted by some as the new face of the party.

Others are suggesting that Mamdani, with all his attributes, is offering a path forward for Democrats to win in both the midterms and in 2028.

These people are just as stupid as Mamdani himself.

Mamdani is an avowed socialist who advocates for socialist policies, which are always going to resonate with people who are idiotic, jealous of other people’s wealth, or too lazy to try and make something of their life, but even as those go, Mamdani is a special kind of stupid.

From Legal Insurrection:

Of all the items on the agenda of Zohran Mamdani, the socialist candidate for New York City mayor, the proposal for government-run grocery stores received the most attention. The Uganda native vowed to:

[C]reate a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit. Without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers. They will buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing. With New York City already spending millions of dollars to subsidize private grocery store operators (which are not even required to take SNAP/WIC!), we should redirect public money to a real “public option.”

The last line is an admission that American agricultural products are already lavishly subsidized, particularly on the federal level. And while it’s true that inflation has been eating into our incomes following the 2020 lockdowns, it’s reflected in the price tags attached to a wide range of products and services, not just food. The hike was caused by the Biden Administration’s monetary policy and the prices are now stabilizing.

Nevertheless, socialists are in the business of never letting a good crisis go to waste. Thus, Mamdani wants to undercut private enterprise by setting up government stores that supply goods at prices below market value. In a separate video, the son of a woke academic and a multi-millionaire film director admits that the end goal of his movement is seizing the means of production, setting up a centrally planned economy.

Now, centrally planned economies have literally failed everywhere they’ve been tried. That’s not hyperbole, either. That’s an established fact. I used the word “literally” for a reason.

The kick in the ass, though, is Mamdani’s plan to pay for it.

See, he says the city pays $140 million in subsidies to grocery store chains, and he’ll just redirect that money toward his “public option.” And that’s where his stupidity really starts to shine.

Why?

Because there isn’t any $140 million to spend.

Getting into the specifics, Mamdani believes that he can take half of $140 million in "subsidies" to pay for his city-owned grocery store scheme, except that the money does not exist. How did he make that mistake? He read an infographic on a website that claimed $140 million had been "invested into NYC's economy through FRESH," which is the city's tax break and regulatory relief program for food providers. The problem? That is almost all private investment from the corporate-owned grocery stores he maligns.

The city itself has only given about $3.3 million a year in tax relief. The Washington Examiner noted in its write-up that it would take another 42 years for New York City to reach $140 million in tax breaks. But even that doesn't underscore just how dumb Mamdani is because without those tax breaks, you would not get the over-and-above investment from private companies, which would mean total city revenue would likely decrease. So this guy's entire plan, which has been a cornerstone of his campaign, is based on his inability to understand basic numbers.

So, like so many other socialists, he’s mathematically moronic.

I’m not great at math, but I understand everything he either misunderstood or blatantly misrepresented.

Of course, it’s possible that he’s both an idiot and evil. In fact, I’d say it’s likely since he’s a socialist, but even if he understood what he was seeing, he still thought it was so murky that he could get away with it.

So again, he’s an idiot.

What gets me, though, is that there are tons of people who think this is a wonderful idea and that it should be implemented regardless.

In other words, Mamdani might just be showing Democrats a path forward, and that path is to be idiots and continue being as idiotic as possible and simply hope the voters are even dumber.

The terrible thing is that I can’t automatically assume it won’t work.

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