In McCauley’s VoxEU post (first of three), he presents a pictorial depiction of exorbitant privilege:
As McCauley notes:
While the US Treasury downgrade did not drag down US states’ credit ratings, it did drag down the credit ratings of US government-sponsored enterprises that underwrite US home mortgages. On May 19, Moody’s followed up its US Treasury downgrade with a downgrade of its housing wards, Fannie and Freddie, as well as the Federal Home Loan Banks (those lenders of penultimate resort to US banks).
Off topic – So Mamdani is very likely to be the next Mayor of New York City. I don’t know enough about urban economics to have a view of his policies, other than to wish him luck; housing and grocieries are both good things.
Putting aside the GOP’s hope to use him as a cheap distraction from their own rotten policies, what can we know about the politics of Mamdani’s primary win? News outlets of all stripes are digging into the mainstream-vs-progressive-Democrat thing, and I have no special insights to add. The demographics of NYC are less mentioned by pundits and do offer food for thought.
NYC has more foreign-born residents than any other city in the world, more foreign-born that total residents living in Chicago:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-york-city-immigrants_n_4475197
And what do you know? NYC just picked an immigrant as its mayor-apparent. The familiar pattern of zenophobia in the U.S. is that those who have the most direct exposure to immigrants are most welcoming to them, and so it is among NYC voters.
Owner-occupied housing in NYC runs around 33% vs around 59% nationwide. Access to housing was a big part of Mamdani’s campaign and his resume.
The median age of New Yorkers is around 34 years vs 38.9 years nationwide. Press reports indicate strong support for Mamdani among young voters. Mamdani beat Cuomo in Manhattan (median age 38.9), Brooklyn (36.3) and Queens (40.4), lost to him in Staten Island (40.4) and the Bronx (35.6). Doesn’t look like age is the overwhelming explanation for the geographic pattern of voting.
In NYC, 41% of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher, vs 38% nationwide. Among Manhattanites, BS/A or higher stands at 68%, Brooklyn 46%, Queens 38.8%, Staten Island 37.3% and the Bronx 22.8%. Looks like educational attainment tracks very well with borough voting patterns in yesterday’s primary vote, just as it did nationwide in the 2024 presidential race.
NYC is among the most densely populated cities in North America, and is the most populous. Generally, cities vote for Democrats, for obvious reasons; regulation and government services are clear necessities where people are piled on top of each other, less obvious where people are more spread out. If this means anything in the NYC mayoral primary, perhaps it is that where government is obviously needed, government activism is welcomed – just a guess. Certainly, the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party has been running away from most activism, and Clinton backed Cuomo. Much of the “Biden blame” among Democrats accuses him of doing too much.
What have we learned? High urban density, high educational attainment, a high proportion of immigrants in the population, youth and low rates of home ownership all set NYC apart from U.S. averages. Those factors do not, however, set NYC apart from all of the country, location by location. Familiarity with immigrants is greater in cities, but varies widely; about a third of LA’s population is foreign born, a little over a fourth in Boston, while Salt Lake City’s population is about 13% immigrant, Detroit about 5% (down from nearly 50% in 1925). Cities are better educated than rural areas and towns, but educational attainment varies widely among cities; roughly 60% of Durham County NC residents have at least a 4-year college degree, while in Springfield MO – the whitest city in the U.S. – only 21% have. Home ownership is lower in cities than towns and rural areas, but ownership and housing shortages vary widely between cities.
When the Old Boys of the Democratic Party rain fire down on Mamdani for being a problem for their brand of politics, let’s remember that Mamdani will have been elected to deal with NYC’s problems, not to get Laura Gillen re-elected, not to fund-raise from AIPAC, not to serve the interests of Chuck Schumer. People over Party, just this once, please.
What is missed in a good bit of press coverage is that Mamdani is not just a self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” He is a member of the Democratic Socialist of America, as are Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tliab, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. The DSA is, as far as I can tell, the most successful U.S. third party currently in existence. This, I suspect, accounts for some of the rabid opposition to Mamdani within the Democratic party. It also accounts for DSS candidates’ popularity; mi stream Democrats are in disrepute, not to mention disarray.
DSA members caucus as Democrats, often register as Democrats, run as Democrats, but don’t think or act like Democrats. Neither the waffling, parsing, hyper-cautiousness of Schumer and Jeffries – on any subject but Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians – nor the crypto-currency hugging, billionaire-schmoozing and fauning of mainstream Democrats is seen among DSA members. What DSA members keep doing is running on economic issues that matter to their constituents. They must be stopped.
The central issue in the effort to bury Mamdani and the DSA seems to be “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything” – what, after all do centrist Democrats stand for?
As to joseph’s quote from Ackman, a little reminder: In 2024. Bowman and Bush were defeated in the most expensive and second most expensive primaries in House history, respectively, mainly because of over $14 million spent against Bowman and $8 million spent against Bush by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). PAC money, in service not of their constituents but of a Zionist Israel, beat Bowman and Bush. Now billionaire money is lining up to defeat the will of New Yorkers. So is AIPAC money, even though young New York Jews seem to have voted mostly for Mamdani.
Biden won in 2020 because he is moderate. He lost in 2024 because he is old, not because of politics. The future of the democratic party is not the dsa. There are more far right wingers than liberal left wingers who vote. If democrats cannot produce moderate candidates, they will continue to lose to republican party. Aoc is not the answer. Contrary to conservative talking points, obama did not run as a liberal socialist. Moderates embraced him.
I dont know much about mamdani, but on the national stage i dont think he helps democrats. But i am willing to learn more about him, for now.
Some 77-year-olds are less stuck in the past than others:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/nyregion/nadler-endorse-mamdani.html
Here’s billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman:
“Importantly, there are hundreds of million of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight (believe me, I am in the text strings and the WhatsApp groups) so that a great alternative candidate won’t spend any time raising funds.
So, if the right candidate would raise his or her hand tomorrow, the funds will pour in. I am sure that Mike Bloomberg will share his how-to-win-the-mayoralty IP and deliver his entire election apparatus and system to the aspiring candidate so that the candidate can focus all of his or her energy on the campaign.”
Yep, Wall Street is apoplectic over the Mamdani victory in the primary. These toxic oligarchs like Ackman, Thiel, Musk and Andreesson need to be stopped before they can outright buy every election. They are all dangerous psychopaths.
Well, it seems that Cuomo has taken up Ackman’s offer and is staying in for the general election as an independent spoiler. A hundred million dollars will buy a lot of dirty anti-Mamdani ads. As a corrupt sex pest he certainly has the Republican vote in hand for a good start.