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Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani's policies as 'normal'

theguardian.com

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

#61

Post by ignoramous »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #2

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).

> childcare is not usually free overall

NYC has time and again resisted calls to dismantle the current child care program, which costs the exchequer around $3b [0]. Mamdani's plan is to take the current child care program and make it "universal" at $6b.

> we need to buy tickets to ride the bus

Again, not without a precedent as MTA has ran some routes for free for many months. Besides, MTA sees 40%+ fare evasion, but MTA needs to pay the bills somehow, and Mamdani's proposal, which may go no where, is that rises in corporate tax will fill this ~$800m hole.

> rent freezes don't work

Depends on what the sought / desired outcome from rent regulation is. In Mamdani's case, it apparently is a stop-gap to control cost of living for the working class, until enough newer housing units can be built despite NIMBYs [1].

[0] https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/spotlight-nycs-publicly-...

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/11/mamdani-...

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

#62

Post by margalabargala »

noselasd wrote: post #45
margalabargala wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe is not a monolith. Norwegians self identify as socialist for example.

> Norwegians self identify as socialist for example Er.. that's not even remotely true

Last time I spent a month in Norway I repeatedly had various residents explain to me that various things were the way they were "because we are a socialist country".

If they call themselves "socialist" then I will too.

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

#63

Post by all2 »

newyankee wrote: post #57
all2 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing prices won't ever stabilize as long as land is a tradeable commodity that 'stores' value. If people can make money with man-in-the-middle techniques and cheap money (low interest rates), then they will, and this will drive the real-estate boom-bust cycle we have that runs on ~18 year cycle (last bust was late 2008, early 2009, prior bust was around 1990) Become communist (or communist lite) and reserve land o…

May be in an AGI world, basic housing might actually be a part of UBI with some strict conditions, though not sure who will take the first step.

I'm getting AGI will not be benevolent. Humans aren't, and the things we create mirror that reality.

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

#64

Post by jleyank »

thrance wrote: post #31
baobabKoodaa wrote: post #24

I'm a European and this is fake news

I'm European and I can confirm that Mamdani is very mild with his leftism.

People should remember that “left wing” isn’t things like negotiating drug prices, it’s nationalizing the drug companies.

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

#65

Post by Seam0nkey »

newyankee wrote: post #4

Have most Western countries mostly given up on supply side policies for housing price stablisation as an option ? Odd given how much construction tech has improved.

In the US at least I think as a policy matter there is still a commitment to building out of it in the medium to long term.

However it's not politically viable to advocate that as a policy solution without a stopgap policy to make progress in the interim.

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

#66

Post by UltraSane »

Retric wrote: post #46
UltraSane wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could build strong, very energy efficient houses incredibly fast using Structural Insulated Panels.

The walls of a house are already cheap to build with a low skill barrier etc. Land, foundation, windows, doors, roof, plumbing, appliances, yadda yadda add up, but everyone seems to focus on walls. If you really want to drive down the cost of housing figure out cheap windows or start convincing people they don’t need nearly as many of them. Don’t believe me? Compare the cost of a large 2 story prefab shed ~10-20$/sf…

This is pretty cheap for windows https://www.menards.com/main/doors-windows-millwork/windows/...

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

#67

Post by seba_dos1 »

abe94 wrote: post #36

Maybe the subsidized transit is normal in europe, and universal childcare in some parts of europe (definetly not all of western europe), but this article is stretching when claiming state run grocery stores are normal. Its also conveniently leaving out the policy ideas on reducing policing, and introducing mental health crisis workers which have been tried in the US (SF) and worked disastrously.

"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives and subsidized milk bars certainly are.

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

#68

Post by gruez »

seba_dos1 wrote: post #67
abe94 wrote: post #36

Maybe the subsidized transit is normal in europe, and universal childcare in some parts of europe (definetly not all of western europe), but this article is stretching when claiming state run grocery stores are normal. Its also conveniently leaving out the policy ideas on reducing policing, and introducing mental health crisis workers which have been tried in the US (SF) and worked disastrously.

"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives and subsidized milk bars certainly are.

>"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives [...] are

That's a pretty important difference you're eliding. "state run" is where most of the objection is. Coops get nowhere near the pushback (if any) that state run businesses (ie. "communism") get from Americans.

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

#69

Post by tkel »

abe94 wrote: post #36

Maybe the subsidized transit is normal in europe, and universal childcare in some parts of europe (definetly not all of western europe), but this article is stretching when claiming state run grocery stores are normal. Its also conveniently leaving out the policy ideas on reducing policing, and introducing mental health crisis workers which have been tried in the US (SF) and worked disastrously.

17 states have government owned stores, it's common across the US. They sell liquor and in some states they also sell groceries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_sta...

On policing, Urban Alchemy is the company that was contracted in SF. Having worked directly with Urban Alchemy for years in LA, their staff are severly underqualified and 95% of the time will do nothing once arriving on site. The most I've ever seen them do is break up a fight. Is doing nothing better than actively harming people and making the situation worse, as the police often do? Yes. Is it improving the situation? No. Also, what is your definition of success? No first responder can prevent a crime from happening, all responders arrive after crime has occurred. Putting people into cages as the only option actually leads to worse outcomes for crime. And after decades and billions of dollars spent on the failed war on drugs, we know that is not a viable or successful approach. Part of the job these alternatives are supposed to be doing, is addressing root upstream causes of crime.

On the other hand, the alternative to policing pilot in Denver, Support Team Assistance Response (STAR), has been a wild success.

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

#70

Post by seba_dos1 »

gruez wrote: post #68
seba_dos1 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives and subsidized milk bars certainly are.

>"State run grocery stores" perhaps aren't, but consumers' co-operatives [...] are That's a pretty important difference you're eliding. "state run" is where most of the objection is. Coops get nowhere near the pushback (if any) that state run businesses (ie. "communism") get from Americans.

We've got plenty of state run businesses though, that's certainly normal as well. Just not grocery stores in particular, or at least I'm not aware of any around.
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