Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance
There is something genuinely entertaining about watching a socialist discover the private sector. For years, Zohran Mamdani has treated capitalism less like the engine that keeps New York City alive and more like an unfortunate infestation to be taxed, regulated and occasionally yelled at from the sidewalk outside a billionaire’s apartment.
Now, eight months into running the city, Mamdani appears to have made an ironic discovery: He needs people who know how an economy actually works to help him.
On Thursday, the mayor announced a 15 member Business Advisory Council, declaring that “the doors of City Hall are always open to New York’s business leaders.” How gracious. Apparently someone finally explained to the mayor that the people who build companies, employ New Yorkers, invest billions of dollars and generate enormous amounts of tax revenue might be worth having a chat with before he finishes chasing them out of town.
The problem, of course, is that Mamdani has spent much of his political career giving those same people reasons to wonder whether they should walk through City Hall’s newly opened doors or simply leave New York as quickly as possible in favor of tax and business friendly states like Texas and Florida.
This is the mayor who embraced the standard progressive fantasy that rich people and successful businesses are basically permanent pieces of municipal furniture, put ther