Zohran Mamdani - Democratic Socialist Mayor of NYC

[LVAllen]

WaPo editorial board with a brutal take on Mamdani. When did the WaPo stop being liberal?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ew-york-mayor/





Ouch.

Seriously? Right about the time they were purchased by a right wing oligarch. And then again when that same oligarch proclaimed his intention to eliminate opposing viewpoints on the opinions page. Most of the media outlets are owned by right wing people these days.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Seriously? Right about the time they were purchased by a right wing oligarch. And then again when that same oligarch proclaimed his intention to eliminate opposing viewpoints on the opinions page. Most of the media outlets are owned by right wing people these days.

He bought the paper in 2013. If you think the paper instantly became right wing you are delusional.

[LVAllen]

He bought the paper in 2013. If you think the paper instantly became right wing you are delusional.

If you think the paper hasn't been right wing for a while, you are the one suffering from delusions, mi amigo. I didn't say it was instant. But there have been a number of milestones that have marked its path towards being right wing, and Bezos' purchase is absolutely a significant one.

[Jeff Lebowski]

If you think the paper hasn't been right wing for a while, you are the one suffering from delusions, mi amigo. I didn't say it was instant. But there have been a number of milestones that have marked its path towards being right wing, and Bezos' purchase is absolutely a significant one.

The answer to my original question is February 2025:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style...nions-section/

Post owner Bezos announces shift in opinions section; Shipley to leave

In an email and social media post, Jeff Bezos outlined dramatic changes to The Washington Post’s opinions section and announced that opinions editor David Shipley has resigned.

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos said Wednesday that the newspaper’s opinions section would now be focused on “personal liberties and free markets” and won’t publish anything that opposes those ideas. With the shift, opinions editor David Shipley has resigned, and The Post is searching for a successor.

“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” the billionaire Amazon founder wrote in an email to Post staffers that he also published on X. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”

[frank ryan]

WaPo editorial board with a brutal take on Mamdani. When did the WaPo stop being liberal?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ew-york-mayor/





Ouch.

He forbade them endorsing Harris during the election. It's absolutely a possibility he influenced this piece

[Moliere]

Umm, publishing a take down of Mamdani is in no way an indication that the WaPo opinion page is right wing. Not even close. That's not even a conservative-only opinion. Plenty of smart people (including all economists and historians worth a grain of salt) know his proposed policies would fail as they are proposed. If there's one thing economists all agree on, it's that wide-spread rent freezes are a horrible, awful idea if you want to make and keep housing affordable.

And not endorsing Harris also is not an indication they are right wing. They didn't endorse Trump. I think it's fair to say they are more apolitical...which is a good thing.

[Maximus]

Umm, publishing a take down of Mamdani is in no way an indication that the WaPo opinion page is right wing. Not even close. That's not even a conservative-only opinion. Plenty of smart people (including all economists and historians worth a grain of salt) know his proposed policies would fail as they are proposed. If there's one thing economists all agree on, it's that wide-spread rent freezes are a horrible, awful idea if you want to make and keep housing affordable.

And not endorsing Harris also is not an indication they are right wing. They didn't endorse Trump. I think it's fair to say they are more apolitical...which is a good thing.

They are much more conservative than trump or trump voters

So in the end they are right of center

[YOhio]

Agree. He's too closely tied to Israel.

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[Jeff Lebowski]

Umm, publishing a take down of Mamdani is in no way an indication that the WaPo opinion page is right wing. Not even close. That's not even a conservative-only opinion. Plenty of smart people (including all economists and historians worth a grain of salt) know his proposed policies would fail as they are proposed. If there's one thing economists all agree on, it's that wide-spread rent freezes are a horrible, awful idea if you want to make and keep housing affordable.

And not endorsing Harris also is not an indication they are right wing. They didn't endorse Trump. I think it's fair to say they are more apolitical...which is a good thing.

Good point. The directive was that the editorial board would support free markets and libertarianism.

[Jeff Lebowski]

He forbade them endorsing Harris during the election. It's absolutely a possibility he influenced this piece

The fact that everyone assumed that without Bezos intervention, they would support Harris is evidence of the traditional left-wing bent of the paper.

[frank ryan]

The fact that everyone assumed that without Bezos intervention, they would support Harris is evidence of the traditional left-wing bent of the paper.

There was reporting about the uproar. They broke with tradition and endorsed no one. It was because of Bezos, that's not in dispute

[Jeff Lebowski]

There was reporting about the uproar. They broke with tradition and endorsed no one. It was because of Bezos, that's not in dispute

Nobody is disputing that that was Bezos.

They didn’t endorse a candidate in 2020 either. That decision was made by the paper and then supported by Bezos. In 2024 Bezos directed them not to endorse anyone then or at any point going forward. For the record, prior to 1976 they didn’t endorse candidates either.

I think that is good policy for a large newspaper.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Lots to unpack here:

Despite my admiration of the late Queen Elizabeth II, I'm not a fan of being born into obscene amounts of money. I'm socialist enough to favor capping how much can be passed down to the next generation.

What are you talking about? There has always been a cap on how much you can pass down without estate tax. Current cap = $14M.

Our tax code in the US allows the wealthy to avoid taxea disproportionately..

I know this is a popular Bernie/AOC/Warren/Mamdami talking point, but can you back that up? The top federal tax rate is 37% More like 50% when you throw in state and local taxes.

The top 5% of earners in the US pay 61% of all taxes. Top 1% pays 25% of all taxes.

The bottom 50% of earners in the US pay 3% of all taxes.

Please tell me more about the wealthy avoiding taxes disproportionately.

And we're getting to a point where taxes will need to go up--for all of us.

Why is that? The economy is steadily growing so more revenue is coming in. The population is not growing. Why not just control spending?

[Northwestcoug]

Lots to unpack here:



What are you talking about? There has always been a cap on how much you can pass down without estate tax. Current cap = $14M.



I know this is a popular Bernie/AOC/Warren/Mamdami talking point, but can you back that up? The top federal tax rate is 37% More like 50% when you throw in state and local taxes.

The top 5% of earners in the US pay 61% of all taxes. Top 1% pays 25% of all taxes.

The bottom 50% of earners in the US pay 3% of all taxes.

Please tell me more about the wealthy avoiding taxes disproportionately.



Why is that? The economy is steadily growing so more revenue is coming in. The population is not growing. Why not just control spending?

Mandatory spending is at 75% of the US budget. Is there any realistic plan to control spending that would stop the US from careening off the fiscal cliff in any meaningful way?

Surely there is room for a multimodality approach that includes increased taxes and decreased discretionary spending.

[beefytee]

What are you talking about? There has always been a cap on how much you can pass down without estate tax. Current cap = $14M.

It sounds like he is talking about the government taking everything after a certain point (a.k.a. 100% tax rate) and not just taxing it at the standard rate. But I should let Bo clarify.