{"id":232756,"date":"2026-05-15T15:35:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/232756\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:35:16","slug":"leftists-terrified-as-their-progressive-poster-child-mamdani-fails-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/232756\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftists terrified as their progressive poster child Mamdani fails in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like a proud dad,\u00a0independent Sen.\u00a0Bernie Sanders\u00a0took to social media recently to cheer Zohran Mamdani\u2019s budget wizardry\u00a0in New York City. He gushed<\/a>\u00a0on X, \u201cCongratulations to Mayor Mamdani. He inherited a huge budget deficit, brought it down to zero, and still invested in childcare, housing and city infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0young\u00a0mayor, not shy about touting his\u00a0own\u00a0supposed success,\u00a0was even more effusive.\u00a0The social media star\u00a0posted:\u00a0\u201cWhen we came into office, we uncovered a\u00a0$12 billion\u00a0budget deficit. Today, I\u2019m\u00a0proud to say we brought it down to zero. We\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0close the gap on the backs of working people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sanders\u00a0knows better, and so does Mamdani.\u00a0They\u00a0both know that the\u00a0flimsy budget proposal is a mash-up of\u00a0false savings, payment postponements, poorly\u00a0designed taxes and fees that will hurt working-class New Yorkers,\u00a0plus\u00a0a massive\u00a0$4\u00a0billion\u00a0bailout<\/a>\u00a0from Gov.\u00a0Kathy Hochul (D).<\/p>\n

Oh,\u00a0and by the way,\u00a0the\u00a0law demands that the city\u2019s\u00a0budget must balance<\/a>; you don\u2019t get applauded for\u00a0following the law, especially when you do it with the actuarial equivalent of chewing gum and chicken wire.<\/p>\n

None of Mamdani\u2019s supposed feat is real; none of it is sustainable, and it definitely does not deserve the hosannas streaming in from leftists\u00a0like\u00a0Sanders, who\u00a0are\u00a0justificably panicked\u00a0that the young socialist mayor is failing already.<\/p>\n

After his first\u00a0100 days\u00a0in office<\/a>, Mamdani\u2019s approval rating\u00a0plummeted to\u00a0below that awarded his predecessor,\u00a0Eric Adams.\u00a0Maybe it\u00a0was his ideological decision to allow 18 people to freeze to death<\/a>\u00a0on the sidewalks. Perhaps it\u00a0was\u00a0his cozying up to known\u00a0antisemites\u00a0like\u00a0Hasan Piker<\/a>. In any case, after just a few months on the job,\u00a0only 30\u00a0percent\u00a0of\u00a0Big Apple residents\u00a0report being \u201chappy\u201d with Mamdani\u2019s performance. Democratic\u00a0socialists are\u00a0on alert; Mamdani is their\u00a0poster child,\u00a0and they are praying his mayoralty does not become the train wreck many expect.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s\u00a0fans also\u00a0hope\u00a0that\u00a0no one digs\u00a0too\u00a0deeply into the mayor\u2019s budget.\u00a0If they do, they will reach the same conclusion\u00a0as City Comptroller Mark Levine, who wrote<\/a>\u00a0that Mamdani\u2019s budget ignores \u201cthat city government continues to spend more than we take in, even in a year of record revenues.\u201d\u00a0As one Democrat\u00a0operative told the New York Post<\/a>, \u201cMamdani\u2019s budget is as real as Kim Kardashian\u2019s\u00a0lips.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, Levine expresses relief that the mayor did not follow through<\/a>\u00a0on his threatened 9.5 percent\u00a0property tax\u00a0hike \u2014 a proposal that had united the city in\u00a0anger.\u00a0But he confirms that the budget works mainly because Hochul,\u00a0terrified\u00a0of losing left-wing support in November\u2019s election, caved. To save her own skin, she delivered what was needed to fill the budget hole. That\u2019s New York politics\u00a0\u2014\u00a0kick the can down the road and hope no one\u00a0holds you accountable when the inevitable bills roll in.<\/p>\n

But politics and\u00a0wishful thinking\u00a0cannot cure what is wrong with the Empire State, or the Big Apple. As Levine writes, Mamdani\u2019s proposals \u201cdelay addressing the deeper structural imbalances in the City\u2019s budget.\u201d He points specifically to the \u201cout-year gaps\u201d in the budget \u2014 a $7.1 billion hole in fiscal 2028, which is projected to increase to $9.8 billion by fiscal 2030.<\/p>\n

In other words,\u00a0the\u00a0budget\u00a0shortfalls will only get worse and require bigger bailouts.<\/p>\n

In fact, it is highly likely that\u00a0Mamdani\u2019s projections even for next year are too optimistic. Consider: Typical of the so-called savings in his budget is\u00a0$94 million, to be gained by<\/a> \u201cterminating contracts where city workers can do it better.\u201d\u00a0Pause to remember your most recent visit to the Department of\u00a0Motor\u00a0Vehicles,\u00a0or\u00a0your\u00a0attempt\u00a0to report a non-emergency problem by calling 311. City agencies are not exactly models of efficiency.<\/p>\n

Given\u00a0Democrats\u2019 cozy\u00a0relationship with public employee unions, one can assume that if work has been farmed\u00a0out to the private sector, it is because there was no\u00a0good alternative.<\/p>\n

The same\u00a0could be said of the $368 million<\/a>\u00a0Mamdani expects to derive from improving the \u201cefficiency of public services,\u201d or the\u00a0nearly $1 billion\u00a0he expects to save by \u201caccurately estimating expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down the road, the spending picture is even darker. City\u00a0outlays are projected to grow by a staggering 28 percent<\/a>\u00a0between fiscal 2025 and 2030.\u00a0Major union contracts, including for the police and firemen, are in limbo, having expired in July 2025. When those contracts are negotiated, any raises above the 1.25 percent<\/a> annually budgeted will require fresh infusions of cash the city does not have. And the city is practically guaranteed to give raises above that level.<\/p>\n

Of course, not all the closing of the budget gap came from\u00a0fanciful reductions\u00a0of\u00a0expenses. Revenues were also expected to rise because of\u00a0Mamdani\u2019s\u00a0pied-a-terre tax, which will\u00a0almost surely\u00a0fall short of the budget\u2019s\u00a0projected $500 million.\u00a0Levine was not optimistic<\/a> about that\u00a0that projection,\u00a0contending instead that \u201cbehavioral changes\u201d might lead to the tax raising only as much as $380 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehavioral changes\u201d \u2014 you know, like when wealthy people, sick of being targeted by Mamdani and his fellow travelers, sell their apartments.\u00a0That has been the history of such levies in the United Kingdom and Canada; New York likely will experience the same.<\/p>\n

The mayor has also\u00a0pumped up\u00a0fees<\/a> on things like ambulance services\u00a0and getting help from EMS and fining those who drive in the bus lanes. Those costs will land on all New Yorkers, not just the wealthy.\u00a0Ironically, Mamdani is jacking up the fee for obtaining a handgun, expecting demand to be high. Now why would that be, I wonder?<\/p>\n

In a way,\u00a0Mamdani deserves our sympathy.\u00a0He is stuck with the results of decades of excessive spending, outrageous giveaways to public employee unions and\u00a0crushing benefits handed out to New Yorkers that the city cannot afford. But all\u00a0you\u00a0really\u00a0need to know about New York City\u2019s $125 billion\u00a0budget<\/a>\u00a0is that\u00a0it is\u00a0bigger than the $115 billion<\/a>\u00a0expected to be spent this year by the entire state of Florida.\u00a0New York City has\u00a08.5 million people; the state of Florida has\u00a023.6 million.<\/p>\n

New York has a problem, and this latest fiscal\u00a0foolishness is not making it better.<\/p>\n

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim and Company.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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