Silicon Valley, Communism, and Mamdani

Zoran Mamdani, the elected mayor for New York City, and he claims to be a democratic socialist. It does seem appealing. Free services and low-cost goods, rent stable. So basically a bunch of free stuff. They were putting a lot of money to oppose this candidate, actually. They believe that with this new mayor, it could bring down New York City and eventually affect the economy. People are wondering where the money is going to come from. Why is there a concern for that? You have these long lines. People just buy food. Welcome to another episode of Silicon Valley Front Row. This is Steve and David. David, it sounds like we'll be talking about the new New York mayor. And I'm wondering why are we talking about the New York mayor? We have our own mayor to worry about, right? Right. Yes. So the reason why, right, on Silicon Valley Front Row, why New York mayor? So Zoran Mamdani, he was the elected mayor for New York City. So he's a 34-year-old and he claims to be a democratic socialist. So the billionaires are saying that they were putting a lot of money to oppose this candidate, actually. They didn't want him. I heard about that. To win. Yes. Right. So that's how it's connected. And it's interesting because in Silicon Valley, there's so many companies that are for innovation, startups and entrepreneurship and capitalism. And they believe that with this new mayor, it could bring down New York City and eventually affect the economy of the U.S. Yeah, I've been hearing that San Francisco supposedly is moving in the right direction with a more moderate mayor. And New York is taking a turn, a different direction. So what do you know about this guy? Yeah, so he is he already has experience as a elected official in New York. So some of his policies appeal to the working class, like blue collared workers. And he was promising free buses, state or city owned grocery stores and freezing the rent for people in New York. And another thing is also providing free child care for every New Yorker that has a child between the ages of six weeks to five years old. So with that, people are wondering where the money is going to come from to be able to afford all these services. So basically a bunch of free stuff that that's what he's giving. So he's he's a so-called democratic socialist. Same as Bernie Sanders and others. And maybe I'll just give a little bit of my thoughts on that. So first of all, I don't think there is such a thing as a democratic socialist or socialist. I think they they try to really use different words to make it more accepting to the people. But socialist, it's pretty much the same thing. And it's all like a precursor to communism. That's kind of what they're they're looking for in all of this free stuff. And, you know, both you and I kind of come from, you know, you were born here, but your family escaped communism. Yeah, I escaped communism, my family and I. So we have a lot of experience with what it what it is like. Now, people always say that communism doesn't work. It never works. Right. And you can read books, you know, you know, to understand that more. But maybe I can try to summarize it in just a couple of different factors. So the first one is communism in so many ways promotes class struggle, struggle between people, meaning infighting and arguing and struggle. Right. So between different classes, different genders, different ages, different social groups, you know, somehow they pit them against each other and then they promote revolutions. So they want to topple the current officials or the current people in charge. And then they take over. And needless to say, you know, the current, you know, being officials, government officials or the elites, what we would call them, they have issues. There's no question, you know, rich people and people in charge. There's always corruption. There's always issues that need to be fixed. It is not perfect. There's a lot of problems. But the way with communism works is that they replace those elites with themselves, with the communists. So it gets worse. It gets a lot worse. So Steve, so where does the socialism or the democratic socialism fall in to communism? What's the connection? Well, I think the main connection is giving away free stuff and then taking higher taxes, taxing the government. But ultimately, I think what they have in mind and sometimes they admit it, is a revolution. It's a revolution where you topple the existing government and replace it with, I don't know what they call it, but it's basically a new government that's run by a communist government. And that's what we've seen in other countries that failed miserably. And it's funny when you mention free grocery stores, no, not free grocery stores, city-owned or state-owned grocery stores. Well, in his case, it has to be city because he's a mayor. Yeah, but then that's when I'm thinking of this and this is what Romania and Russia used to look like when I was there, what at that time was state-owned grocery stores. You have these long lines, people just to buy food. And again, one of the reasons that this doesn't work is because when these people, after the revolution that they want to happen, when they take over, they are not very qualified. They are incompetent. They are not, they don't know how to run businesses or run the government because the communists gathered this group of people who want revolution, who want to topple the government, but they're not qualified. They're not experienced people to run things. But then usually, without the experience, the governments and the businesses fail miserably. So would you say it runs on power and that's like a key focal point of how the structure is? Well, yeah, yeah, pretty much. It's like the dictatorship. It runs on power because once you have a revolution, you obtain it through force, through power, and then you maintain that and you silence everything else. So another thing with Mamdani is that he's been appealing to the younger generation. And with that, He got something like 70% of the vote of the young people or something, or they voted 70%. It's a huge, huge number. That's huge. So I think it seems like part of it is he's offering these free services. And it does seem appealing, right? Free services and low-cost goods, rent staying supposedly stable. Why is that? Is there a concern for that, for the younger generation or people? Well, I think really it's human nature, right? You know, how far would you go out of your way to get a free lunch, right? If you, you know, it's really human nature that if you get something for free, you kind of like it, you get excited about it, you like that idea. So it appears to some of these needs that people seem to have and it works probably most with young people. So it seems like there's pros and cons. We got to look at both sides. So that's why we've been hearing about billionaires saying that these free services or universal services being free doesn't work because somebody's got to pay for it. Yes. And it seems like the higher income or the wealthy folks would be getting a big hit from this. So what do you think? Yeah, I think that's part of the problem. But I think the bigger problem there is the mismanagement and the corruption that that brings with it. Because again, the people who are supposedly going to be in charge of this or monitor this, they're going to say, okay, I'm going to get, you know, a thousand, I'm going to get food for a thousand people. I'm going to get this much money. But it's just so tempting for them to say, well, I need, I mean, I'm going to keep some of it for myself and then I'm going to give the rest to the people who need it. It's just very tempting when you have that kind of approach. So that's why in so many ways, corruption is already there. It's part of society, unfortunately. But with communism, it multiplies it by ten times or a hundred times. It makes it a lot worse. But you're exactly right. There's no free lunch. We know that from so many, you know, kind of experiences and things. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to end up paying for it. So let's play a clip from Mamdani himself right now so we can take a look at it. Do you think that billionaires have a right to exist? I don't think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality. And ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country. And I look forward to work with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of us. OK, well, that's what he had to say. So I think we're back to the same idea, right? Getting free stuff and how this actually is going to work out in the end. You know, one thing that I always wondered is why do people actually get attracted to this concept of socialism and communism? Right. Again, knowing it doesn't work. And maybe there's no coincidence that the younger people vote for it more than the older people. Because the older people are more familiar with the past. Maybe they lived it or they have more experience. The younger people only hear the promises. So they're not as familiar with what happened in the Soviet Union, Cuba, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, all these countries. They're not as familiar. And they're also being kind of brainwashed, right, in schools and stuff. And so, as you mentioned, my family came from Vietnam. And they always tell us that they were trying to come here for a better life and run away from communism. But we hear about many people doing that from other countries like Cuba, Europe. Eastern Europe, yeah, pretty much all of them. To come to the U.S. to avoid communism. But then now it seems like it's kind of like a paradox. Yeah. Well, you know, there's a saying, I think it's some entrepreneur, some CEO, doing the same thing that doesn't work over again is the definition of insanity. You know, something doesn't work, you keep trying, you keep doing the same thing, you know, and it's insane. So somehow it keeps happening. I guess people have to live for themselves and understand it for themselves. So I guess we'll see what happens with New York. Maybe we'll talk again in a year and see how New York did. And who knows? Maybe is there a chance that New York could thrive? Small chance or maybe, maybe, but not not because of the mayor or not because of the policies of the mayor. Maybe the people will somehow realize that this doesn't work and they will have a way to make changes. And usually that's always the case. The people raise and then try to make a change within the system. Sounds good. So wrap up the show. We have a few questions for the audience. Would you want free services in your city? Would you want free public transportation? And as far as business owners or landlords, how do you feel about having your rent or income staying stable, having a frozen rent threshold? Another question is how do you feel about having a socialist mayor in our biggest city in the U.S.? Let us know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe and let us know. See you next time.