Mamdani's Win in NYC: Causes & Prospects for a Socialist Mayor

Summary

Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff: Detailed Summary

Episode Title: Mamdani's Win in NYC: Causes & Prospects for a Socialist Mayor
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Release Date: July 22, 2025

---

Introduction: A Historic Shift in New York Politics

In this episode of Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff, hosted by Richard Wolff and co-hosted by an unnamed colleague, the focus is on the surprising victory of Zoran Mamdani, a self-defined Democratic socialist, in the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York City. This election marks a significant departure from the longstanding dominance of the Democratic Party establishment in NYC politics.

"[Mamdani]'s victory... is a bombshell for the whole of the Democratic Party across the United States."
— Richard Wolff [02:50]

---

Zoran Mamdani's Victory: Breaking the Democratic Establishment

Zoran Mamdani's triumph over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary has ignited conversations about the rise of socialism within American urban centers. The hosts emphasize that Mamdani is neither the first nor the only socialist to win significant office in the United States, challenging media narratives that suggest otherwise.

"Socialism is not new to American politics. Not at all."
— Richard Wolff [04:12]

---

Historical Context: Socialists in American Politics

To contextualize Mamdani's win, the hosts delve into historical precedents of socialist politicians in New York City and beyond:

1. Vito Marcantonio
   An Italian American who served seven consecutive terms in the U.S. Congress representing Harlem from 1935 to 1950, openly affiliating with socialist ideologies.

2. Benjamin Davis
   An African American leader and active member of the Communist Party, Davis won multiple seats on the New York City Council between 1944 and 1949.

3. Fiorello LaGuardia
   Although a member of the Republican Party, LaGuardia identified as a socialist and served as NYC Mayor from 1934 to 1946, implementing progressive policies during the Great Depression.

"Zoran Mamdani is not the first, not the only, and all the hullabaloo about it should be taken down two or three pegs by just this little bit of history."
— Richard Wolff [07:20]

---

Factors Contributing to Mamdani's Success

Several key factors contributed to Mamdani's commanding primary victory:

• Broad Coalition Support: Diverse ethnic groups and a significant turnout from young, first-time voters who were disillusioned with traditional party choices.

• Appealing Socialist Policies: Proposals such as free public transportation, city-run grocery stores in underserved areas, robust rent control measures, and progressive taxation on the wealthy resonated with a populace facing stark economic inequalities.

• Endorsements from Influential Socialists: Support from prominent figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, indicating a growing socialist movement within the Democratic Party.

"He gives them something new and different to vote for that they hadn't seen for decades."
— Richard Wolff [08:16]

---

Implications for the Democratic Party and U.S. Politics

Mamdani's victory is seen as a harbinger for a broader shift within the Democratic Party towards more progressive and socialist-leaning policies. The hosts compare the situation in the U.S. to European countries, where socialist parties have a more entrenched presence and influence.

"It's only in America that they were purged out of our politics and we had to suffer the stifling duopoly of the last 70 years. It's breaking apart."
— Richard Wolff [10:21]

---

New York City's Wealth Disparity: A Double-Edged Sword

Despite being the richest city in the United States, New York City grapples with significant economic disparity:

• Wealth Concentration: Home to 66 billionaires, 818 individuals with assets exceeding $100 million, and 384,500 millionaires.

• Poverty Levels: Concurrently ranks as one of the top ten poorest cities in America based on the percentage of residents living below the poverty line.

This stark contrast underscores the urgent need for policies aimed at reducing inequality and ensuring equitable resource distribution.

"New York is the richest city by far in the United States... New York City also ranks as one of the 10 poorest cities in America."
— Richard Wolff [11:35]

---

Proposed Policies and Actions for a Socialist Administration

In the second half of the episode, the discussion shifts to actionable policies that Mayor Mamdani could implement to address New York City's economic and social challenges:

1. Enhanced Rent Control:
   Strengthening existing rent stabilization laws to prevent exorbitant rent hikes and ensure affordable housing.

   "Don't need new legislation. It's already here. Just take it further, be more aggressive."
   — Richard Wolff [23:01]

2. Conversion of Underutilized Spaces:

   • Golf Courses: Repurposing minimally used golf courses into affordable housing units and public parks.
   • Empty Buildings: Utilizing eminent domain to acquire vacant properties, rehabilitating them into housing, and offering apartments through a lottery system.

   "Why not short circuit all of this and make it crystal clear we're not going to have people waiting for apartments when we have buildings that the city could seize?"
   — Richard Wolff [25:29]

3. Affordable Energy Initiatives:
   Lowering electricity costs by transitioning to municipally owned or wholesale-purchased energy sources to reduce the city's dependence on expensive utilities like Con Edison.

   "Con Edison charges 33.51 cents per kilowatt hour... the national average is half of what we all pay."
   — Richard Wolff [26:09]

4. Free Mass Transit:
   Implementing free public transportation systems, drawing inspiration from successful models in various global cities.

   "He's talked about that there are many cities around the world that have tried and worked with some very successfully to make public transportation free."
   — Richard Wolff [27:49]

5. Comprehensive Social Services:
   Establishing municipal daycare programs, elder care, summer camps, and work camps where children can earn while engaging in community service.

6. Educational Support:
   Providing a $2,000 rebate to NYC residents for tuition at CUNY colleges or community schools, funded through progressive taxation.

   "And how will the money come from? Well, I told you, let's tax the rich."
   — Richard Wolff [28:36]

7. Progressive Taxation:
   Increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund the aforementioned social programs. The hosts argue that current tax rates are insufficient and advocate for higher rates to ensure fair contribution from the affluent.

   "At what rate? At the rate we used to tax them. Nothing new, nothing all that revolutionary."
   — Richard Wolff [28:43]

---

Addressing Opposition and Misconceptions

The hosts counter common arguments against socialist policies, such as the notion that taxing the rich would drive them and businesses away from the city. They assert that New Yorkers are unlikely to relocate and that companies would suffer reputational harm if they chose to leave rather than contribute fairly to the community.

"Don't underestimate what the socialists can do. Because it's a new world for them. And a population that has been waiting for this a long time."
— Richard Wolff [30:10]

---

Conclusion: A Vision for Equitable Urban Governance

Richard Wolff wraps up the episode by emphasizing the transformative potential of a socialist mayoral administration in New York City. By implementing progressive policies aimed at reducing inequality, enhancing public services, and ensuring affordable living conditions, Mamdani could set a precedent for other American cities grappling with similar challenges.

"It's a new world for them. And a population that has been waiting for this a long time."
— Richard Wolff [30:50]

---

Note: This summary focuses exclusively on the content-rich segments of the episode, omitting advertisements, introductions, and fundraising announcements to provide a comprehensive overview of the key discussions and insights.

Transcript

[Richard Wolff]

Welcome, friends, to another edition of Economic Update, a weekly program devoted to the economic dimensions of our lives and those of our children. I'm your host, Richard Wolff. Before jumping into today's program, I have a bit of a special announcement. Partly it's about the shirt I'm wearing without the jacket because it's kind of.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Warm here in New York City where.

[Richard Wolff]

This program is produced.

[Unknown Co-Host]

But more importantly, we've decided to do.

[Richard Wolff]

Something different this summer. We are going to finish our regular.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Series of programs and then switch. Starting July 21, we'll still be producing economic updates, but not in the way we have for the last 12 years.

[Richard Wolff]

We're taking this summer off and substituting.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Programs that we call the Best of Economic Update.

[Richard Wolff]

We've gone back and looked at those programs that you like the best, that.

[Unknown Co-Host]

We like the best, that show something.

[Richard Wolff]

About how American political economy has shifted.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Over the years, for better and for worse.

[Richard Wolff]

We've put these together and we think.

[Unknown Co-Host]

You'Ll find them as interesting and provocative.

[Richard Wolff]

As we did in compiling them.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And then at Labor Day, we will.

[Richard Wolff]

Resume the regular programming that you've become used to. What I'll be doing in the meanwhile, working on Democracy at Work projects, our book publishing program, our video productions, our writing of articles, but also, and particularly our new substack program. And I urge you to take a look at it very simply. Go to democracyatwork.substack for all the substack kinds of activities of ours that you will find there. Thank you for your understanding and I look forward to hearing from you about how the Best of Economic Update strikes you all as well. Today's program is devoted to an explosive event that happened here in New York City where we produce this program and where I live and work.

[Unknown Co-Host]

It was the victory in the Democratic.

[Richard Wolff]

Primary for mayor of Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist by self definition, an outsider to the political establishment of the Democratic Party, which has pretty much ruled New York politics for many, many decades. This is a break from that establishment rule.

[Unknown Co-Host]

It is shaking up New York City.

[Richard Wolff]

New York State politics, and as I will explain, it is a bombshell for the whole of the Democratic Party across the United States. And so it's well worth taking some time here on this program to talk about what it means and where it's going and taking us.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Okay?

[Richard Wolff]

Mr. Mamdani won by a great deal. He defeated a former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who was running for mayor as well in the Democratic primary. A number of major media have said this is the first time a Socialist.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Has gotten into office. Shame on those media because what they're doing is erasing part of the actual history of the United States and of New York City.

[Richard Wolff]

Socialism is not new to American politics. Not at all.

[Unknown Co-Host]

I'm going to give you three examples.

[Richard Wolff]

Of major socialists who won important elections.

[Unknown Co-Host]

In New York City. And if you did not know these names, look em up and you'll learn.

[Richard Wolff]

About American history what you should have been taught in school.

[Unknown Co-Host]

The first name is Vito Marcantonio.

[Richard Wolff]

An Italian American who won seven consecutive.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Terms in the United States Congress as.

[Richard Wolff]

A representative from Harlem during the years 1935 to 1950.

[Unknown Co-Host]

That's not the time of the dinosaurs.

[Richard Wolff]

That's not ancient history, that's recent history.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Here.

[Richard Wolff]

He won over and over again and.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Did not run away or hide his.

[Richard Wolff]

Socialist associations and sympathies. My next example, Benjamin Davis. Benjamin Davis won and won repeatedly a.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Seat on the New York city council.

[Richard Wolff]

Between 1944 and and 1949.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Mr. Davis had a double distinction that might surprise you that he was an.

[Richard Wolff]

Elected official way back then. He was an active member and leader of the Communist party in the United States and in particular of its New York chapter. He was also an African American, a black Communist, won repeated elections on that kind of a socialist communist program that was very popular, obviously. And the third one is perhaps a name you do know because he was the mayor of New York, another Italian American, Fiorello LaGuardia, after whom the airport is named. He was in the Republican Party and loved to tell people how he was a socialist in that party. He won office as a representative in.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Congress and then he was the New.

[Richard Wolff]

York city mayor from 1934 to 1946. Across the great Depression, this man, a Socialist, was elected and re elected mayor.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Of the city of New York.

[Richard Wolff]

So Zoran Mamdani is not the first, not the only, and all the hullabaloo about it should be taken down two or three pegs by just this little bit of history.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Now how did he win? He won because all the different ethnic.

[Richard Wolff]

Groups in New York got together and.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Supported him in huge numbers. Young people, particularly people who haven't voted.

[Richard Wolff]

Young and old because they didn't think there was enough of a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats to matter all that much. Or among the different Democrats who contested in primaries, he gave them something new and different to vote for that they hadn't seen for decades. Ever since World War II brought to an end the careers of the Marcantonios.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And the La Guardias and the Davises.

[Richard Wolff]

It's been center to the right politics and that would turn off millions, as it did. Zoran Mamdani had has turned them back on.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Then there's the appeal of his socialism. He wants free subways and buses. He wants to have city run grocery.

[Richard Wolff]

Stores in areas that we now call.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Food deserts, where it's hard to find food to buy in a nearby store or it's wildly expensive.

[Richard Wolff]

That's not necessary. That's something the city can deal with.

[Unknown Co-Host]

He wants to bring back a robust.

[Richard Wolff]

Rent control like we once had in New York. Not even a new idea.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And he wants to pay for it.

[Richard Wolff]

With taxes on the rich.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And that's not new either. If you look closely at what Mr.

[Richard Wolff]

Mamdani is proposing, it's actually quite like what FDR did back in the 1930s when he was president. He also taxed the rich and the corporations.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Nothing new here. The attempt to paint it as wildly.

[Richard Wolff]

Revolutionary is achieved a little bit by saying it's altogether new. We've never had this before.

[Unknown Co-Host]

That's not true.

[Richard Wolff]

Simply not true.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And also Mr. Mamdani is now part of a process. Bernie Sanders opened it up when he.

[Richard Wolff]

Didn'T run away from the label socialist years ago. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has not run away from the democratic socialist label either. She is popular, she is increasingly influential. And she and Bernie endorsed Mamdani. He is the latest in a growing socialist presence in the United States.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Every European country, France, Britain, Italy, Germany.

[Richard Wolff]

Have socialist parties, socialist politicians. The leader of the Spanish government today is a socialist. The largest faction in the French national assembly is socialist. It's only in America that they were purged out of our politics and we had to suffer the stifling duopoly of.

[Unknown Co-Host]

The last 70 years. It's breaking apart. Part of the decline of the American.

[Richard Wolff]

Empire, part of the decline of American capitalism is the explosive growth of a socialism that speaks to people in the successful way that Mr. Mamdani did in New York at the end of June in the year 2025.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Here is the city, New York, that.

[Richard Wolff]

Mr. Madani, if he wins in November in the general election, this is. He will inherit. And I'm an economist, so you will understand why I picked these statistics.

[Unknown Co-Host]

New York City is the number one.

[Richard Wolff]

City in the United States. The whole world knows that. It's the financial capital, it's in many ways the cultural capital, and so on. But here's something you may not have known.

[Unknown Co-Host]

As of May 20th this year, 2025.

[Richard Wolff]

New York is the richest city by far in the United states it counts.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Among its residents 66 billionaires.

[Richard Wolff]

Keep that in mind, 66 billionaires. No other city has anything like that.

[Unknown Co-Host]

On top of that, 818 people who.

[Richard Wolff]

Own $100 million or more.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And then comes a number that really surprised me.

[Richard Wolff]

How many millionaires are there in New York City? 384,500. 384,000 millionaires in one city. That's why it's the richest city. That kind of stupefying wealth can be should be a very lucrative tax basis for a city to not only be the place where the richest people congregate, but a showplace for what a country and a city could be, but it isn't. New York City also ranks as one of the 10 poorest cities in America, measured by the percentage of its people who live at or below the official poverty line. There is no reason for that, no need for that kind of inequality in in our society. And I will come back to that.

[Unknown Co-Host]

In the second half of the program.

[Richard Wolff]

When I talk about all the things Mr. Mamdani can do, will likely do some of them for sure, to address everything I've just described.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Stay with us.

[Richard Wolff]

In a moment, we'll see where the Mamdani administration, if he succeeds in November, will take us or at least what the opportunities and options facing him will be.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Thank you.

[Richard Wolff]

Stay with us. We'll be right back. Before we jump into the second half of today's show, I wanted to thank you for your very generous response to our fundraising efforts this year and in particular in the last couple of months.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And in part responding to that, we.

[Richard Wolff]

Are extending the availability of our limited edition, linen covered hardcover version of Understanding Capitalism, the book I wrote and that we have been making available now for quite a while. If you are interested, I will be signing copies of that hardcover and they will be available to you as they have been over the last few weeks. Just simply send an email to [e-mail] and put in the subject line limited edition.

[Unknown Co-Host]

We will send you all the information.

[Richard Wolff]

You need to order and receive your copy signed copy of Understanding Capitalism in its hardback. And thank you again for your kind attention to the fundraising dimension of what we do. Welcome back, friends, to the second half of Economic Update. We're talking about the Mamdani bombshell victory in the New York mayoral Democratic primary. In the first half, we talked about how to understand the context, where it comes from, what it's about. Now I want to talk about where it's going to take us what is he going to do? What opportunities does he actually have? I want to begin by talking about what he means when by socialism.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Because things are being said about him and the label socialist that are nonsense.

[Richard Wolff]

And you should be clear about that in your mind.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Socialism in the modern sense of the.

[Richard Wolff]

Term is about two centuries old. It starts two centuries ago in England and it spreads with capitalism. You know, socialism is capitalism's self criticism. Wherever capitalism has gone, socialism is its shadow. No escape from it never has been. That's why socialism is now active in every country on earth.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Either socialism or communism or both of them.

[Richard Wolff]

Criticisms of capitalism are exactly as old as the system itself. And people therefore have developed different meanings of socialism.

[Unknown Co-Host]

In Scandinavia it means the government regulates.

[Richard Wolff]

That's all. It has a social program. So the inequality that capitalism everywhere generates is limited. You have a minimum wage, you have maximum taxation. So we keep this system going by not letting capitalism blow it apart.

[Unknown Co-Host]

That's one kind of socialism. In the Soviet Union you had another kind.

[Richard Wolff]

The government comes in and runs things. Some socialists believe in that, others don't.

[Unknown Co-Host]

China is again yet different because it's.

[Richard Wolff]

Kind of like a hybrid. Half of the Chinese economy is private capitalist enterprises. The other half is government run enterprises. Now China has achieved the fastest economic growth of any country ever in the.

[Unknown Co-Host]

History of the human race.

[Richard Wolff]

There's an argument that that hybrid may be better than either public or private alone. That's another conversation.

[Unknown Co-Host]

But socialism is rich with all of.

[Richard Wolff]

The experiences, all of the efforts, some.

[Unknown Co-Host]

That succeeded, some that failed across the last two centuries. To say socialism is this means you're ignorant.

[Richard Wolff]

Socialism isn't an is. Socialisms are many and different. Now I'm going to talk about a whole raft of things that Mr. Mamdani.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Can do as a mayor. And why is it possible for me to do that? Because I'm aware of that history.

[Richard Wolff]

I'm aware that there were lots of.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Mayors in lots of places over the last two centuries who made all kinds of socialist programs and socialist achievements. And some socialist failures too.

[Richard Wolff]

But we're not starting from scratch, friends. We don't need to be frightened by specters of how bad it can go.

[Unknown Co-Host]

As if we don't know how well it has gone in the past. Okay, One kind of socialism actually is called municipal socialism. It's a particular socialism that focuses on this question. What could a person do who was elected a socialist mayor of a city or town if the larger economy remains capitalist? But people have voted for a socialist in that town. First, let me show you how important this is back in 1911. That's a hundred years ago, not ancient history. The number of American cities, American cities whose mayors were socialists, 73 cities. I particularly have done research on two of them.

[Richard Wolff]

The city of Bridgeport in Connecticut, that's the third largest city in Connecticut, had a socialist mayor.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin had a socialist mayor. More than one.

[Richard Wolff]

So this is not again new. And they tried all kinds of things, and I'm going to talk to you.

[Unknown Co-Host]

In a moment about some of the things they tried that Mr. Mamdani can do. Here in the United Kingdom, a country.

[Richard Wolff]

Similar to ours, there's a much more developed municipal socialism.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And the basis of the Labour Party used to be the labor unions on the one hand, and the socialist cities.

[Richard Wolff]

Who did a lot of things for themselves, they produced their own energy, they produced their own food, they produced their.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Own local transport and things like that.

[Richard Wolff]

As a collective community project, not a private profit enterprise.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And that was the political base of.

[Richard Wolff]

Jeremy Corbyn, the most dramatic leader of the British Labour Party has had in decades.

[Unknown Co-Host]

The one preceding the current dud, Mr. Starmer. Okay, let's turn then.

[Richard Wolff]

What could Mr. Mamdani do? I'm going to start, and this is a list of mine, not a list of his. He will do some of the things.

[Unknown Co-Host]

I suspect that I'm about to tell you about.

[Richard Wolff]

I'm sure he'll figure others that I have not the time or the knowledge to give to you now, but it'll give you a good idea. And if it provides something for Mr. Mandani and his administration, so much the better. We already have in New York City, rent control. That's when socialists earlier in New York's history wanted to put a limit on how much landlords could gouge out of tenants through high rents. We know that rents are at record high levels. That's partly because rent control was limited and broken and stopped. Rent stabilization, which is a weaker kind of control, was substituted and it is very limited.

[Unknown Co-Host]

We could use, and we desperately need.

[Richard Wolff]

A reinforced rent control operation.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Don't need new legislation.

[Richard Wolff]

It already exists. Don't need a new idea. It's already here. Just take it further, be more aggressive. And the basis for it is called democracy.

[Unknown Co-Host]

The number of tenants is huge and the number of landlords is very small. If we lower the rents, it helps.

[Richard Wolff]

The majority and it will hurt the minority.

[Unknown Co-Host]

But if you look at large numbers.

[Richard Wolff]

Of our landlord class, you will see that they are among the richest in our community. They can take it and the tenants need it. And the city will be revitalized if it stops being merely a playground for the rich. That's an easy one. Here's one that's a little more creative.

[Unknown Co-Host]

The city could begin what it did after World War II, become a builder.

[Richard Wolff]

Of low rent, high quality public housing.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And where might it do that? I have two suggestions. If you look across the city of.

[Richard Wolff]

New York, you will be astonished to.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Learn what I recently learned.

[Richard Wolff]

That we have an enormous number of.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Very minimally used golf courses. Yeah. Huge expanses of land for the playing of golf. The number of people who play golf, all due respect to them, is very, very small. The housing problem is immense. How about condensing the many golf courses.

[Richard Wolff]

We have into one per borough?

[Unknown Co-Host]

What about converting the others half into housing, half into the beautiful parks the that we need more of in this city? Imagine a city administration taking the initiative to do that for the people. And here's a second. What about buildings that are sitting empty, often for years, while the city wrangles.

[Richard Wolff]

In the courts to get the deadbeat owners of these buildings to pay the back taxes they owe?

[Unknown Co-Host]

Why not short circuit all of this and make it crystal clear we're not.

[Richard Wolff]

Going to have people waiting for apartments when we have buildings that the city could seize. Should seize, use eminent domain that provides for this sort of thing.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Get it done.

[Richard Wolff]

Rehabilitate the apartments and provide them lottery basis to do it to people who need housing. Come on. Mr. Mandani could become a hero for tens of thousands of New Yorkers who could benefit from such a program. Let me take you another way. Con Edison provides the energy that we rely on. We who heat our homes with electricity.

[Unknown Co-Host]

As many of us do.

[Richard Wolff]

We who use electricity for all of the modern life conveniences that require it. Every business uses electricity.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Well, let me tell you something you.

[Richard Wolff]

May not have known.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Con Edison charges 33.51 cents per kilowatt hour. 33 plus cents an hour.

[Richard Wolff]

Keep that number in your head.

[Unknown Co-Host]

What is the national average cost of electricity delivered?

[Richard Wolff]

Kilowatt per kilowatt hour. Here we go. 16.15 cents. The national average is half of what we all pay.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And make no mistake in your rent.

[Richard Wolff]

Is the cost of electricity. When you go into a restaurant and have a hamburger, part of the price you pay is is the electricity used up in holding that fridge to go and the stove to work and all the rest.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Why are we doing this? Thousands of communities across America now produce.

[Richard Wolff]

Their own electricity or buy it wholesale from a commercial and then redistribute it to the city at cost, bringing down the national average. So it's less than half of what Khan ed. Mr. Mandani should address that question.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Free mass transit.

[Richard Wolff]

He's talked about that there are many cities around the world that have tried and worked with some very successfully to make public transportation free.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Municipal daycare programs.

[Richard Wolff]

All the people who need quality, safe, secure daycare for their kids. Elder care for the older folks, summer camps for young children, and for older children, work camps where the children get paid to boot.

[Unknown Co-Host]

How about a $2,000 rebate to every.

[Richard Wolff]

City resident for tuition paid either at a CUNY college or a CUNY community school?

[Unknown Co-Host]

And where will the money come from.

[Richard Wolff]

To pay for these things? Well, I told you, let's tax the rich.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Finally.

[Richard Wolff]

And at what rate? At the rate we used to tax them. Nothing new, nothing all that revolutionary. Don't be fooled by scare stories. The income tax in New York city goes from 3 to 4%, depending on how rich you are.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And it stops at $50,000 a year.

[Richard Wolff]

Everybody who earns over $50,000 pays 4%.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Why between 3% and 4%? Why not 3 to 10? Why not 3 to 15? What's going on here? These are favors to the rich.

[Richard Wolff]

Property tax works like that, too. And there are many other ways a city as rich as what I told you at the beginning can pay. And for the rich, it's nothing. If you're a millionaire, a 1% tax takes away from you next to nothing. You'll make more than that in a year in your stocks, and you can deduct it against your federal income tax.

[Unknown Co-Host]

It's little to them.

[Richard Wolff]

It can transform the city because there's so many of them. Last point.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Scare the people by saying, oh, if you tax the rich, they'll leave. No, they won't.

[Richard Wolff]

There is no other New York City to go to. They're not going to give up what they came here for.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And the companies that threatened to go?

[Richard Wolff]

Here's your answer to if you go, I'm the mayor.

[Unknown Co-Host]

I will make sure the people of this city know that you did that.

[Richard Wolff]

That you abandoned this city rather than pay your fair share in taxes. You think that's going to do a lot of good to the people buying your product that now comes from outside? It won't.

[Unknown Co-Host]

And here's one better. After you leave, we will seize your.

[Richard Wolff]

Factory and we will convert it into a worker co op. The jobs will keep you. We will wave goodbye to.

[Unknown Co-Host]

Don't underestimate what the socialists can do.

[Richard Wolff]

Because it's a new world for them. And a population that has been waiting for this a long time. Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to seeing you in the best of in the weeks ahead and then resuming face to Face at Labor Day. Thank you.