Zohran Mamdani’s dreamy, big-spending plans for New York City — free buses, free babysitting and $100 billion for free apartments — are about to smash into the hard reality of the state’s massive $36 billion budget gap.
Whoever is mayor come Jan. 1 will have a hard enough time meeting payroll, much less expanding the scope of government spending.
New York has been on a spree lately, much of it funded by once-in-a-lifetime federal bonanza grants tied to the pandemic. But those giveaway days are gone, and Washington’s far more likely to reduce what it sends this way, so both city and state must now face some serious belt-tightening.
Blaming President Donald Trump — as Mamdani is already doing with his “Five Boroughs Against Trump” tour — can’t change the stony truth that New York spends money like it’ll never run out.
Heck, in the face of federal tightening of eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps, Gov. Kathy Hochul is scrambling to ensure no illegal immigrant gets cut off, even if New York taxpayers must cover the whole bill.
It all means less state and federal flowing to Gotham.
Which would leave a Mayor Mamdani looking for soak-the-rich tax hikes even larger than what he now suggests to fund his big dreams.
The great Maggie Thatcher famously noted: “The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money,” but New York City is on track to run out even before the socialist takes over.