Mamdani balanced NYC’s budget and Republicans are hysterical | Opinion
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/05/22/mamdani-balanced-new-york-city-budget-critics/90164556007/
Mamdani balanced NYC’s budget and Republicans are hysterical | Opinion
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/05/22/mamdani-balanced-new-york-city-budget-critics/90164556007/
38 Comments
The radical right is *always* hysterical. What *sorry excuses* they have for minds dwell in a fantasyland where they’re always in the right and Fox News Entertainment is reality. And they are so insecure that they cannot comprehend even the *slightest glimmer of a possibility* that they’re in the wrong.
As much as I love seeing maga mad…didn’t he basically just delay paying out something for a few years that must be paid? So it isn’t a balanced budget per se
Mamdani used common sense. Something Republicans just can’t get a grasp on.
speaking generally democrats are far better with budgets and more responsible with what money goes to. why is this even a surprise after like 40 years of failed GOP administrations
It’s like a big neon sign that only four of twenty-four Red states even make a net contribution to the federal budget, and that Democrats are actually fiscally responsible, as well as socially responsible. Heavens, I must clutch my pearls!
FYI…NYC is legally required to have a balanced budget each year.
~~Mamdani balanced NYC’s budget and~~ Republicans are hysterical
They are literally letting that asshole steal billions from all of us and cannot shut up about Mamdani. Yet somehow liberals are the “snowflakes” as they meltdown over competence.
1. NYC is required by law to have a balanced budget
2. The state partially funded the budget shortfall
3. He made up the difference by cutting education spending and deferring pension payments
Republicans wanting to see a city fail simply because they don’t like the mayor is some peak treasonous bullshit that their party has become known for. So pathetic.
Whenever there’s a post about this, there’s always a *massive* number of people pointing out “well he didn’t really and it’s actually bad because of this and this and this…” And, to be fair, they certainly have a few good points.
Does anyone else feel the sheer number of people who go out of their way to be detractors on this is conspicuous? Like, there’s an unusually high number of people, especially for this sub, who feel the need to comment on every high-ranked post to tear it down a bit?
So far the democratic socialist seems to be the only one on a positive track while the Trump party and moderate democrats are in a free fall
Every NYC mayor has to balance the city’s budget yearly. Why is everyone so hyped about it this time?
He balanced the budget the way wealthy 20-somethings buy their first homes. Big money from parents/Hochul and skipping retirement contributions.
Any hysteria seems performative, and he’s not the only politician to do this sort of thing. But let’s be candid about who balanced what, or didn’t.
Was it not the state that made the contribution that enabled Mamdani to balance the budget ?
I thought all the republicans were supposed to have left the city already…
What morons ever thought republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility? Same ones that thought Trump was a master businessman, I guess… fucking idiots.
The way to reduce a budget deficit, as proven here, isnt to curb spending on infrastructure and education and whatever other programs you find. It’s by shifting money from other sectors into programs that directly benefit your taxpayers in order to enable them to spend/make more money.
This is why I laugh my ass off at the notion that Republicans are fiscally responsible because they’re against spending money. The government doesn’t work like your household budget, and pretending that you can simply reduce debt because you stop paying into vital programs is moronic beyond belief
“Balanced” after an injection from Albany and deferment of pensions
The partisan nonsense on both sides right now is too much
MAGA is the most hypocritical, sensitive group of assholes I’ve ever witnessed
America’s Mayor
He needs a promotion.
Balanced budget with a 4 billion dollar subsidy from the state ?
Fiscal Conservatism is almost a myth.
Too late. State propaganda already ran wild calling him a disaster. The people who watch that stuff don’t hear that
i like how the real opposition party is becoming apparent in this country via this guy
Republicans being ridiculous aside: he didn’t balance the budget, it’s an accounting fiction. Deferring 3.5 billion in pension contributions just kicks the can down the road. The new second home tax is still a hypothetical, it hasn’t been passed yet. The state kicked in $352 million which just shifts the budget shortfall from the city to the state.
This is the absolute bare minimum, and yet it’s a huge win nowadays. Just goes to show how corrupt and inept NYC politicians have been. He’s a breath of fresh air. At least the dude is trying.
There’s an anti-billionaire tax ad in California claiming billionaires are fleeing the state. One of the examples is Steven Spielberg moving to New York, the other state billionaires are supposedly leaving. Whoever is paying for these ads (Chris Larsen, billionaire) knows we’re stupid.
They hate that he made govt work.
Democratic Socialists are excellent for public management of public finances and resources because they take it seriously and value the collective good and not just what their friends want. An uncorrupt government led by a democratic socialist will nearly always produce an honest government with budgets that account for the poor and the middle classes focusing their attention and the government’s resources to the least of these and tax the rich each according to their ability to pay and don’t put the burden on the working classes who can’t make ends meet. This means neoliberalism and capitalist businessmen hate that their ideology of “trickle down economics” is being disproven by Mamdani and those socialists! Not only are they lowering the deficit they didn’t cut public services or raised taxes on the poor. Who woulda thunk? Tax the rich and corporations then pay for services that put the people first over foreign countries and rich people or their corporations makes people happier and better served!
Now the Republicans will lose a talking point, the only thing they constantly care about. Wait until the Dems are back in charge and you’ll hear all about the BORDER.
“the state bailed him out” over and over and over
It is important to know that there are a lot of caveats in this “balanced budget.” A lot of money comes from State financing, and deferring payments to pensions. While balancing the budget does reduce interest on the debt, that money owed for pensions will double for next year. This is a stop gap for the bleeding, and a good hand can ease it out over the next few years. But that bump in money deferred will also battle with investments in programs that the mayor will want to spend.
So the challenge will be if he can make up the gap with taxes, or if he will have to walk back his policies or – most likely – accept a deficit.
It’s not that he can’t make up a good chunk of it with taxes, but that he probably can’t do it all with taxes alone.
This is still great work – but in normal politics, we’d go “Okay, but now this is next.” And that’s what we need to prepare for: the next stuff. Lots of work. A good day on the farm, but there’s more work tomorrow.
He hasn’t been in office that long either! Really puts into perspective just how much nothing useful is getting accomplished by other politicians in office
Im so tired of posts telling me the other side is this or that. Im so tired of being manipulated
Mamdani is a five alarm fire to politicians who don’t want you to see how government can work for the people.
This is why socialism has been a bad word for decades. Republicans don’t want people to talk about it, because then they might try it. If they try it, they might actually prove that it works and then the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.