"When North Heads South"
by Joel Bowman
“Of the seven deadly sins,
the only one I have never committed is envy.”
~ Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain
Buenos Aires, Argentina - "On a morning stroll through the fall leaves, we contemplate the changing seasons, golden geese, and the seven deadly sins. But first... One doesn’t have to be a true believer to sense that the Politics of Envy is a sordid enough business in and of itself, even without conscripting the cardinal sins of Wrath and Pride.
Likewise do old school skeptics (see the inimitable Mr. Clemens, quoted above) view jealousy as petty and lame, a sure sign of insecurity... and its malformed twin, over compensation. And yet, for a sizable cohort of what may fairly be labeled the “Why Not Me Too?” Generation, envy is not a shameful vice, but a badge of victimhood, a birthmark of the perennially oppressed, a genetic disposition to be brandished proudly, bravely... and, for the cynical elite class, harnessed for gross political gain.
Thief in Chief: Take for instance the Ayatollah Zohran Mamdani, spiritual leader of the People’s Republic of New York City, for whom “soaking the rich” is as much a campaign slogan for the economically illiterate as it is a battle cry for his collectivist comrades-in-arms. In his latest piece of agit-prop, the Big Apple’s Redistributor in Chief is seen naming and shaming Citadel founder, Ken Griffin, for the unpardonable evil of... having lots of money.
The video, released just in time for Tax Day, shows Mamdani gloating in front of Griffin’s private residence, a 24,000-square-foot property at 220 Central Park South – which he purchased in 2019 for the princely sum of $238 million, the most expensive home sale in the country at the time. “I’m thrilled to announce we’ve secured a pied-à-terre tax,” the 34-year-old Democratic socialist rejoiced. “The first in New York’s history.”
Griffin is rich, you see, and rich equals evil. Ipso facto. Q.E.D. Latinus Micus Dropus. And in an abstract, zero-sum world, where math is subjective and the laws of economics are as mutable as a congressman’s code of ethics, that would be the end of today’s pithy Note. And yet, back in the real world, actions have consequences. To continue, then...
The Highest Pie: In a Little Red Textbook case of “biting the hand that feeds,” Mamdani’s publicity stunt managed to incite the predictable ire of Mr. Griffin, whose “fair share” of the city’s tax burden just happens to be meaningfully weightier than most of the city’s denizens...including the bottom 50% of taxpayers who, according to official records, pay essentially none of the income tax - and actually receive net benefits (that is, negative liability due to credits and transfers, a figure which jumps to 55-65% once you add in Medicaid, housing subsidies, SNAP, and other federal transfers).
Few grown ups would have been surprised when, in response to Mamdani’s personal attack, a top executive at Griffin’s hedge fund sent a companywide email, going so far as to hint at potentially pulling investment on a massive project slated for Midtown Manhattan. From The New York Post: “We are about to commence the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, creating 6,000 highly paid construction jobs and supporting the creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in mid-town New York,” wrote Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson in an email obtained by The Post. “The project – if we move forward – will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending.”
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. The email went on to note that, over the past five years, Citadel principals and team members – including non-NYC residents – paid nearly $2.3 billion dollars in city and state taxes. Griffin himself, according to the communiqué, contributed an additional $650 million in charitable donations supporting New York City and its residents, including hundreds of millions donated to healthcare facilities like the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, tens of millions to museums and cultural institutions, and millions more to education across the city, including charter school programs and broader education initiatives and research projects.
And yet, instead of unleashing the boundless energy of the free market, such that entrepreneurs are able to, per George W. Bush’s matchless articulation, “make the pie higher,” government bakers like Mamdani fixate on cutting ever thinner slices of a shrinking dish, believing in an economic alchemy that promises to somehow multiply wealth by better dividing it.
Golden Geese and Doble Cortados - Of course, the politics of envy is nothing new, especially as it plays so harmoniously to any voting mobjority that stands as net recipients of the pilfered loot. As H.L. Mencken wryly observed, “Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” Alas, ballot box bribery only works so long as the geese are laying the golden eggs... and provided they don’t fly south when the economic climate changes to unfavorable conditions.
That is, even setting elementary economic numeracy aside for a second, Mamdani’s appeals to the proletariat willfully ignores another glaring reality. People, like capital, go where they are treated best. That is especially true for people with capital, for whom the world is wide and the options endless. As Quoth the Raven writes in his excellent Substack: "Cities thrive on ambition. They depend on people who are willing to build companies, take risks, and, yes, accumulate outsized rewards along the way. When political rhetoric begins to frame that success primarily as a problem to be highlighted, rather than a resource to be harnessed, it can send an unintended message. Not just to billionaires with penthouses, but to the broader class of entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals who decide where to build their careers..."
If Mamdani wants to raise more revenue, he will eventually have to decide whether he is in the business of governing a fragile economic ecosystem or narrating one. This isn’t SimCity, or the lunch table with the drama club. Playtime in the sandbox is over. New York City is a global icon and the uncomfortable truth is this: the people Mamdani is turning into political props are the same ones writing the checks. And they have options.
Which brings us back to our daily flaneur...Calling in at our favorite café for a much needed doble cortado, and ruminating on the flight of the golden geese across the clear blue skies overhead, we scanned the morning’s headlines and caught this, from La Nacion: "Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal with Elon Musk, bought a mansion in Barrio Parque and paid a record price. The tycoon, who is visiting Argentina for two months, acquired a property in one of Buenos Aires’ most expensive neighborhoods and met with Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace).
The billionaire specifically chose Barrio Parque as his accommodation during his visit. Initially, it was believed he had rented the property since he would only be in the country for two months. However, as Ámbito confirmed with the real estate agency that handled the transaction, Thiel made the purchase in record time for the house...for a sum close to US$12 million. “It was a wonderful meeting,” President Milei said of he and Mr. Theil’s confab, adding that as fellow anarcho-capitalists, they both view “taxes as theft.” Dear readers can just imagine our surprise." Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...
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