Business Daily (BBC World Service)

Episode: "Is this New York’s cost of living election?"

Date: November 3, 2025

Overview

This episode, hosted by Will Bain, digs into how the 2025 New York City mayoral race has been defined by the city’s sharp affordability crisis. With rising living costs—particularly in housing, childcare, and transportation—the conversation centers on whether leading candidate and social democrat Zoran Mamdani has real solutions, or just radical plans, for making New York livable again. The discussion looks at Mamdani's economic proposals in depth, the skepticism of both his opponents and business leaders, and the broader implications for cities around the world grappling with similar crises.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Centrality of Affordability in NYC

• Cost of Living as the Defining Issue:
  • New York faces a severe affordability crisis impacting “wealthy people, middle class and working people and low income people” who are being pushed out (Andrew Ryan, 01:22).
  • Host Will Bain frames the race as a “battle of ideas about how to solve a cost of living crunch" (01:59).
  • Isabella Weber, economics professor: “New York is utterly unaffordable...Most New Yorkers struggle to pay for these essentials, while others are extremely rich...The richest city in the richest country in the world...is the example for a crisis…for many capitals across the world.” (03:28)

Who is Zoran Mamdani, and What Does He Propose?

• Background:

  • At 33, Zoran Mamdani has gone from relative obscurity to frontrunner thanks to energizing progressive economic ideas (02:35).
  • His candidacy is notable for being a self-described social democrat in "the capital of capitalism."

• Key Policy Proposals ("Zoranomics"):

  • Free & Fast Public Transit: “I’ll make buses fast and free so I can just get where I’m going.” (12:06)
  • Universal, Free Childcare: “I’ll make childcare available to all New Yorkers at no cost. I want to raise my kid in New York. Life in this city doesn’t need to be this hard.” (12:08)
  • Tax Increases on the Wealthy and Corporations: Proposes a 2% tax hike on income over $1 million and higher corporate taxes to fund expanded services (14:05).

• Philosophy: “A mayor could change this, and that’s why I’m running.” (04:13)

Critical Voices and Pushback

• Skepticism from Rivals:
  • Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo (running as independent): “Your fantasies are never going to come about in terms of funding everything you want. It’s going to be free, free, free. It’s a fantasy.” (05:10)
  • Andrew Ryan (Citizens Budget Commission): Dismisses Mamdani’s budget math and points out practical legal limits—"The assemblyman’s whole plan is based on a myth....the money’s only going to go to New York City. That could never happen." (05:13)
• Business & Political Establishment:
  • Former President Trump: “I just can’t believe a thing like this is happening with the Communists in charge...It’s been done many times, a thousand years. It’s never worked once, so it’s not going to work now.” (05:31)
  • Michelle Fleury, business correspondent, on Wall Street reaction: “You had a laundry list of sort of who’s who of Wall Street coming and speaking out in absolute horror...Dan Loeb called it officially hot commie summer when Mamdani won his primary.” (08:05)
  • Business leaders (via the Partnership for New York): Warmed to Mamdani’s willingness to listen, but remain concerned about his lack of management experience and ideological bent (09:45-10:35).

Underlying Economic and Political Realities

• Structurally Limited Powers:

  • Ryan: The mayor “does not have the legal right to raise either the corporate tax or the personal income tax. He would need the governor and the state legislature to authorize increases, and he will not have that, certainly for his first budget.” (16:31)
  • State and local taxes already among the highest in the nation; concerns over driving away residents and businesses (16:48).

• Fiscal Constraints and Budget Gaps:

  • Next mayor inherits a $6–8 billion budget gap with significant federal cuts looming (06:05).
  • Only 27% of New Yorkers rate public services as "good or excellent" (17:23).

Social and Demographic Impact of Living Costs

• Childcare and Housing:

  • Weber: Childcare costs are so high even high-income professionals are leaving. It’s about more than workforce participation: “What kind of a place is it if young people can’t live there anymore with families?” (13:13)
  • Ryan: Surveyed families' top issues are “affordability, public safety, space, and high taxes... child care and education rise to the top” for parents of young children (15:09).
  • Universal childcare would be “billions and billions of dollars”—city cannot fund “everything for everyone,” argues for targeted support (15:09–16:08).

• Population Trends:

  • New York’s share of millionaires has declined markedly, meaning billions in lost tax revenue (17:25).
  • City is losing residents across all income groups; “We're shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people.” (17:25)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the urgency of the affordability crisis:
  “New York is utterly unaffordable...Most New Yorkers struggle to pay for these essentials, while others are extremely rich."
  — Isabella Weber, (03:28)

• Mamdani’s campaign style:
  “Every politician says New York is the greatest city on the globe. But what good is that if no one can afford to live here?”
  — Zoran Mamdani (campaign ad, 04:13)

• Establishment ridicule:
  “Your fantasies are never going to come about...It’s going to be free, free, free. It’s a fantasy.”
  — Andrew Cuomo (05:10)

• Business world’s culture shock:
  “Dan Loeb...called it officially hot commie summer when Mamdani won his primary.”
  — Michelle Fleury (08:18)

• On practical limits to city’s power:
  “The mayor of New York City does not have the legal right to raise either the corporate tax or the personal income tax.”
  — Andrew Ryan (16:31)

• On losing residents of all incomes:
  “We’re shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people. We have got to provide an affordable, safe, high value city.”
  — Andrew Ryan (17:25)

Timeline & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Key Topic | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:09 | Will Bain introduces the episode, framing the affordability crisis | | 01:17 | Isabella Weber outlines New York’s unaffordability as a global issue | | 02:31 | Zoran Mamdani introduced as the surprise favorite candidate | | 03:28 | Weber on the city's two-tier, troubling cost reality | | 04:13 | Mamdani’s campaign ad—NYC's cost-of-living crisis in his own words | | 05:10 | Opponent criticisms: accusations of “fantasy economics” | | 05:31 | President Trump condemns Mamdani’s tax plans | | 06:05 | Andrew Ryan details structural and budgetary challenges | | 07:09-10:35| Michelle Fleury recounts business reaction and Mamdani’s struggle for trust | | 12:06 | Mamdani’s Instagram ad on free transit and childcare | | 12:29 | Weber: affordable transport, real impact of free buses | | 13:13 | Weber: high childcare costs drive even high-income families away | | 14:05 | How Mamdani would pay for it: surtax on wealthy | | 15:09-16:08| Ryan: NYC already spends billions; targeted relief vs. universal programs | | 16:31 | Limits on city’s taxing authority; high taxes already a concern | | 17:23 | Only 27% of New Yorkers approve of public services; population decline stats | | 18:51 | Conclusion: regardless of next mayor, huge affordability challenges remain |

Tone & Language

The episode maintains an urgent, analytical, and at times skeptical tone—balancing Mamdani’s populist rhetoric with frank assessments from establishment voices, seasoned economists, and business insiders. Quotes and discussions retain the speakers' original voices, sometimes direct and emotive, sometimes cautious and pragmatic.

Takeaways

• The race for NYC mayor is a case study in how global cities grapple with the fallout of spiraling costs of living.
• While Zoran Mamdani's radical ideas have electrified young and disenfranchised voters on affordability, they face tough skepticism on feasibility, especially concerning fiscal realities, business pragmatism, and legal authority.
• Across the political spectrum, agreement is near universal: affordability is the crisis; the debate is on how best (and most realistically) to fix it.
• The challenges for the next mayor are immense, with structural limits on city power, budget gaps, and declining population and morale—making strong, practical leadership essential.