Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race • Hacker News Board

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#871

Post by Izkata » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:27 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #806

rkuykendall-com wrote: post #750

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it proposing running like five grocery stores to test? That's not bonkers or radical. Or even expensive. It seems like the type of experiment HN would love.

It’s an unnecessary experiment that wastes time. Kroger/Costco/Walmart/Albertsons all have 2% profit margins. These are extremely optimized, large scale businesses. No city government is going to do it for cheaper. Which means the most prices can be lowered is 2%. Which means the problem in food deserts is the customers are too poor. Which means the solution is giving poor people money. But that is not a winning poli…

Part of Mamdani's plan is to increase taxes on white neighborhoods, which could be used to offset cost and make it seem cheaper.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#872

Post by cbar_tx » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:29 PM UTC

ianbutler wrote: post #50

olalonde wrote: post #23

It's funny how in the US, even mayors get tagged as "conservative" or "democratic socialist." I always figured their job was just to keep the city services running.

That mayor runs a city that has the GDP of multiple nations. The scale is different even if the title is the same.

This is mostly the financial sector generating revenue and shipping/receiving. There's not really a lot of actual production going on since that's what really backs the funny money you referred to as "generating GDP."

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#873

Post by vkou » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:29 PM UTC

thunky wrote: post #720

noir_lord wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has in part become the issue in modern politics, any compromise no matter how minor is seen as a loss. Neither sides most ardent supporters was willing to accept anything that looked like a compromise and so you end up with things as they are now, with someone where compromise shouldn’t happen because there is no practical compromise. US politics has collapsed down to the scorpion and the frog.

> That has in part become the issue in modern politics, any compromise no matter how minor is seen as a loss. Because to those who are now getting hit with huge insurance bills as a direct effect of that compromise, and may have to go without insurance at all, it is a loss. And nothing has been done to address the underlying reasons and bad incentives that have led to this outcome. Which is also a failure.

The original plan was for single-payer, but the Blue Dog democrats fucked it up, because they didn't want to lose their seats, so they pushed for a compromise solution.

They then all lost their seats to tea-party and proto-maga types who were screeching about FEMA internment camps and death panels killing grandma.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#874

Post by OkayPhysicist » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:34 PM UTC

cogman10 wrote: post #692

apparent wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. And freezing rent for controlled units.

> Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. While not common, free buses do exist throughout the US and Europe. Free childcare is uncommon. IDK where that actually exists. Government run stores is actually very common. Many states run the liquor stores. A few cities have government run grocery stores. Freezing the rent on rent controlled buildings is…

Free childcare for low income families is extremely common, even in the United States. Subsidizing childcare is even more common. And it's not that expensive, because spending tends to get offset by increased tax income and reduced consumption of other wellfare benefits (from parents who choose to re-enter the workforce).

As for universal free childcare, I'm aware of it's existence in a number of places in Germany (Berlin, in particular), driven by having been an extremely popular public benefit in East Germany.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#875

Post by johnnyanmac » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:34 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #273

testfoobar wrote: post #52

Mamdani's and by extension, his voters', ignorance about the effects of price controls in markets will be an interesting real-time political experiment. When the inevitable unintended outcomes become to emerge who will be blamed? https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us/resources/apart... https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform Quoting Paul Krugman (Nobel prize winner and liberal columnist at the NYT). "The analysi…

What's an alternative though. It's easy to be critical and not solve people's problems

Sadly many conservative leaning types simply think "nothing is wrong, this is capitalism. Just get a better job and make more money". While also railing against worker protections and wage increases that would be ensure better jobs.

In other words: they don't care, as long as it doesn't hurt them. The core mentality of NIMBYism.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#876

Post by emchammer » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:38 PM UTC

FrontierProject wrote: post #751

GenerWork wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>He has moderated on the police funding issue So he already backtracked on a core election promise even before he got elected? Doesn’t bode well for his supporters expectations going forward.

Core election promise? It was a comment he made half a decade before running for mayor. Perhaps it's time to update your Kool-aid detectors.

It’s as if people can change their opinions about things as they become better informed.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#877

Post by Izkata » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:40 PM UTC

nobody9999 wrote: post #659

Taek wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His policies around being soft on crime (do you know what NYC was like in the 90's? It's not some distant history), the free bus fare, the city owned grocery stores, the rent control, are all policies that many feel threaten the economic viability and safety of the city. If you don't think any of those policies are contentious, you are living in a bubble and greatly disconnected from huge portions of the population.

>(do you know what NYC was like in the 90's? It's not some distant history) I do. And today is light years better than it was in the 90s. In fact, there were crack dealers on my corner in the 90s. They're not there any more. Or on 95th street and Amsterdam. And there aren't any hookers on 90th street and Broadway or 58th and Sixth like there were in the 80s. And I didn't know Verdi Park was called "Verdi Park" back t…

Good point, I agree Mamdani's soft-on-crime policies are bad. Really wouldn't want to go back to the era you're describing.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#878

Post by johnnyanmac » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:48 PM UTC

cbility wrote: post #652

johnnyanmac wrote: post #595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>ACA is a failure and the only thing it did was make it mandatory and unaffordable at the same time. Compared to what? Is it really better to just be uninsured and go bankrupt over an ambulance ride? This point alone makes your entire post suspect, even though parts of it are indeed true (it's a real shame guantanomo was not closed down).

Unaffordability doesn't need a comparison - if you can't afford something it doesn't matter what the alternative is.

So your solution to something that every other cointry believes is a universl right is just "let people die on the streets"? Seems pretty uncouth.

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#879

Post by Izkata » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:53 PM UTC

esseph wrote: post #688

esseph wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RCV is quickly being outlawed state wide by conservative pushes. I think it was 34 states had banned it last I checked.

Oops, 17! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked-choice_voting_in_the_Un...

Ranked choice is such a stupid system. It's gameable and complicated and confusing to most people.

Approval voting has all the benefits ranked choice claims to have, but without the complexity - it's trivial for people to understand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting

Re: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race

#880

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Nov 05, 2025, 6:55 PM UTC

AbstractH24 wrote: post #855

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #844

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's my biggest fear Mamdani is a disciplined New York progressive. He’s left of the median voter. But the Mamdani that won the D primary was also left of the median NYC voter. One can take a shallow policy lesson from this election. Or a deeper political lesson in the value of pragmatism and respect for the voter (versus the holier than thou crap that has polluted the far left).

>Mamdani is a disciplined New York progressive. Also, who are these current or former elected officials that fit the description "disciplined New York progressive" you refer to? I'm truly not sure.

> who are these current or former elected officials that fit the description "disciplined New York progressive" you refer to?

The guy named in the comment.