Liberal commentators are hailing Gavin Newsom and Zohran Mamdani as proof that socialist governance works, that a government can expand free programs, tax the wealthy, and still balance the books.
Mamdani in particular has been celebrated for a sweeping list of achievements: universal childcare, free city buses, and public grocery stores, all while erasing a $12 billion deficit without cutting services or raising property taxes. Newsom, meanwhile, claims California is on firm financial footing after years of deficit spending. Liberal voices have seized on both as a template every state should follow.
The reality is that most of what Mamdani promised has not been delivered. The grocery stores do not exist, the childcare funding is guaranteed for only two years, and the free buses remain a pilot program. Furthermore, neither budget is balanced in any honest accounting sense. Both relied on one-time transfers, reserve drawdowns, deferred pension payments, borrowed funds, and favorable revenue projections to manufacture the appearance of fiscal health. Both also required massive bailouts from higher levels of government to close gaps created by their own spending.
Both men epitomize what Margaret Thatcher was talking about when she observed that “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Two idiots!!!!!!!!!