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Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

theguardian.com

11–20 of 137 posts

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#11
post #7
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s an idea Europeans can identify with. To a point, when we stop seeing a social benefit from our taxes, it starts to look more like theft.

This just in: some people don’t like paying taxes

You may want to review what caused the American revolution.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#12
post #3

The Guardian strikes again... as an European those policies are not " a given "... shockingly, we need to buy tickets to ride the bus, childcare is not usually free overall, and rent freezes don't work. It is also not so normal to claim to be a bona fide socialist (and Europe knows more than most what this means).

I think you can nitpick the detail but the broader point is still true. Yes, you still pay for the bus, but it’s heavily subsidised. Yes, you still pay for childcare but government subsidies make it wildly more affordable than it is today for New Yorkers. The general pitch is “raise taxes to make life more affordable for all”. That’s an idea Europeans can identify with.

Err, no, Europeans don't identify with that.

Europeans are not a single opinion entity that is left wing, don't work past 5pm and read Sartre at night, after the union meeting.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#13
post #11
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just in: some people don’t like paying taxes

You may want to review what caused the American revolution.

You don’t think it’s absurdly simplistic to say “taxes = revolution”?

It’s not like Mamdani snuck into power. Voters chose him specifically on the agenda he proposed. Why would they revolt?

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#14

The Guardian strikes again... as an European those policies are not " a given "... shockingly, we need to buy tickets to ride the bus, childcare is not usually free overall, and rent freezes don't work. It is also not so normal to claim to be a bona fide socialist (and Europe knows more than most what this means).

I'm European too and I second this, free transport, free childcare or rent freezes are not givens, they aren't even common.

All of those things _tend_ to be free only if you can't afford them, are a single mother/father. Average childcare in my area is 900 euros per month, which is a lot in Italy where average salary is twice than that.

Public one exists, getting in is hard.

As for him claiming to being a socialist I don't find anything wrong/strange with it. US really needs this kind of politicians too.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#15
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can nitpick the detail but the broader point is still true. Yes, you still pay for the bus, but it’s heavily subsidised. Yes, you still pay for childcare but government subsidies make it wildly more affordable than it is today for New Yorkers. The general pitch is “raise taxes to make life more affordable for all”. That’s an idea Europeans can identify with.

Based on some of the hysterical commenters yesterday, you'd think that Lenin himself is moving into the mayor's office. People's sense of scale and the Overton window are so wacky right now.

As a New Yorker it’s been exhausting. So many ill-informed takes, like “he wants rent control!!”, ignorant of the fact that NYC already has rent control and has in some form or another since WW2.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#16
post #13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to review what caused the American revolution.

You don’t think it’s absurdly simplistic to say “taxes = revolution”? It’s not like Mamdani snuck into power. Voters chose him specifically on the agenda he proposed. Why would they revolt?

If you have no say in how much you are taxed, that is taxation without representation.

Seems you completely missed the point.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#17
So long as the money comes out of their state and local taxes, it's a worthwhile effort. Then once they've proven it, we can take it broader. To be honest, federal income taxes should go down and we should let the states and cities take a far more active role in tax collection and execution of policy.

There's obviously the failure mode of California where no town wants to have new homes and all of them want jobs, so perhaps the state is the right level for this.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#18
post #3

The Guardian strikes again... as an European those policies are not " a given "... shockingly, we need to buy tickets to ride the bus, childcare is not usually free overall, and rent freezes don't work. It is also not so normal to claim to be a bona fide socialist (and Europe knows more than most what this means).

I think you can nitpick the detail but the broader point is still true. Yes, you still pay for the bus, but it’s heavily subsidised. Yes, you still pay for childcare but government subsidies make it wildly more affordable than it is today for New Yorkers. The general pitch is “raise taxes to make life more affordable for all”. That’s an idea Europeans can identify with.

The bus (and the subway) in NYC are also already heavily subsidized. There is also already heavily subsidized childcare in NYC (3k, preK).

The article in general takes the approach of listing a small handful of (usually very small) polities that have one of Mamdani's proposed policies, and then claim that the full suite is therefore "normal" across Europe.

Re: Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

#19
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can nitpick the detail but the broader point is still true. Yes, you still pay for the bus, but it’s heavily subsidised. Yes, you still pay for childcare but government subsidies make it wildly more affordable than it is today for New Yorkers. The general pitch is “raise taxes to make life more affordable for all”. That’s an idea Europeans can identify with.

Err, no, Europeans don't identify with that. Europeans are not a single opinion entity that is left wing, don't work past 5pm and read Sartre at night, after the union meeting.

Hmm, the things he lists have very little to do with being leftist or rightist.

Moreover, modern rights are often economically more to the left than modern lefts are (see Meloni, PiS in Poland, etc).

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