1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: All Zone Media. Welcome to that and here podcasts about 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 1: things falling apart and how to put them back together again. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:16,080 Speaker 1: I am your host, Na Wong. So a week ago 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: we did some episodes about the election of Zoran Mam 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: Donnie and a lot of the very funny reactions to it, 6 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: and you know, on Executive Disorder, we've talked about what 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: this sort of means for politics. But now I want 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: to do a slightly different kind of episode, which is 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: looking at the challenges that Montdomney is going to face 10 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: attempting to implement his agenda, attempting to stay mayor just 11 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: taking him very seriously at his word, in his attempt 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: to you know, make the cost of living lower and 13 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: make people's lives better. And there are unfortunately, very significant 14 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: challenges to this agenda, and those challenges are a mix 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: of structural problems and I don't know the president of 16 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: the United States right. We're going to focus on a 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: few of them today, and before we really start this, 18 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: I think I want to I want to start this 19 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: to some extent with the conclusion, and the conclusion of 20 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: this episode is not to say that these things are impossible, 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: right and to not say they can't be done. But 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: it's to remind people that the way that actual politics works, 23 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: electing one person does not immediately make everything better. Right, 24 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: you can't stop organizing because someone has been elected. And 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: in fact, if you actually want to see the things 26 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: that you you organize to you know, happen by electing 27 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: this person, do you have to organize even harder once 28 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: they are in power and mobilize even more to allow 29 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,559 Speaker 1: the things that you fought for to actually happen. Because 30 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: there are significant opposition to anything you know, getting better 31 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: for anyone in this country, and that opposition is powerful, 32 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: well funded, well organized, and structural, and also, as we 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: saw with the election of Aunt Donnie in the first place, 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 1: it can be defeated. So we're going to start with 35 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: the bond market. Now, many of you may be asking, 36 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: b what does the bond market have to do with 37 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: make buses free? And to do that we need to 38 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: talk about funding mechanisms. So most plans in the US 39 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: for sort of social democratic policy, for how you implement 40 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,359 Speaker 1: welfare state policies, how you implement policies that make people's 41 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: lives better, tend to start from the federal governments and 42 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: the national level, right, and there are very obvious reasons 43 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: for this. Unlike the federal government, city governments don't issue 44 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: their own currency, which means the modern monetary theory things 45 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: that you would normally use to fund welfare programs with 46 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: at a national level don't work. The federal government, again, 47 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: has control of its own debt and money supply, city 48 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: governments don't. That means the city governments, if you want 49 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: to find money to do something, you have to find 50 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: that from somewhere. And as wonderful as it would be 51 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: if you could simply do that by just Okay, we 52 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: raise taxes, and the taxes go to the policy that 53 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: we want to implement, that's not how the system actually works. 54 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: The way the system works if you want to pay 55 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: for things at a city level is the bond markets. 56 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: David I. Backer has a very good piece about this 57 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: the Baffler that I deeply recommend people read. The main 58 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: thing that's important here for our purposes is that for 59 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: funding significant portions of anything that you want to do 60 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: as mayor, you are legally required to go through the 61 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: bond markets. And this means that the city is forced 62 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: to beg for money from Wall Street investment banks and 63 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: then also pay those same banks exorbitant fees and interest, 64 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: and a significant amount of money has to go to, 65 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: as Backer points out, a whole bunch of you know, 66 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: lawyers and finance people and consultants and all of these 67 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: you know, sort of mafia of finance schools who are 68 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: standing in between the normal mechanism of you have money 69 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: and you pay for things. And that's assuming again that 70 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: you even have the money in the first place, which 71 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: you quite often don't because cities are very very often 72 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: cash strapped. As Backer points out, using these bond mechanisms 73 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: to pay for programs is legally required. Now, Backer is 74 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: mostly focused on the structural constraints created by servicing debt, 75 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: which can consume increasing portions of a city's budget until 76 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: you know there's nothing left. This is sort of what's 77 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: happened to Detroit to a large extent, and also the 78 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: bank's direct control over the payment mechanism, even when the 79 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: city government brings in tax money. Right, so, even if 80 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: you raise taxes and you bring in money, because you 81 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: have to go through the bond market, it means that 82 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of that money is going to be funneled 83 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: into servicing debt and paying interest on debt. But there's 84 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: also a secondary problem here, which is that in very 85 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: extreme cases, and I'm not saying we are immediately facing this, 86 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: but I want to put this on the table as 87 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: something that if you were attempting to run a social 88 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: democratic program in a city, you do need to be 89 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: significantly worried about the bank's direct control over payment mechanisms. 90 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: Means that the banks, you know, the people who buy 91 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: the bonds that you need to use to get to 92 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: fund these things. So let's actually take a step back 93 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,799 Speaker 1: here and explain what a bond is, right. A bond 94 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: is basically you selling a piece of paper that is debt. 95 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: So you go into the market and you sell sell 96 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: a bank of bond and they give you a bunch 97 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: of money right now, and at the exploration of the bond, 98 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: you pay that money back plus interest. This is how 99 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: you have to fund things, because that is what's legally required, 100 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: and also because cities need a way to get extremely 101 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: large amounts of money. But this also means that cities 102 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: that you know, banks and investors can simply not buy 103 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: your bonds if they don't like what you're trying to do, 104 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: and at that point, very little can be done to 105 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: oppose them. The most dramatic version of this problem came 106 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: to the New York City bond crisis in nineteen seventy five, 107 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: where New York City had to sell a bunch of bonds. 108 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: It was significantly in debt, and there's a very famous 109 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 1: scene in I Think It's I Think It's a hyperd normalization. 110 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: You know, there's film of like the city goverment officials 111 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: who are sitting in this room waiting for the banks, 112 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: like people, for the banks to show up to buy 113 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: the bonds, and no one shows up, so suddenly they 114 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: don't have any money. And then President Ford at the 115 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: time tells the city to eat shit and die and 116 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,119 Speaker 1: refuses to buy any of New York City's bonds, refuse 117 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: to give them any money, and this leaves the city bankrupt. 118 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,239 Speaker 1: Right it gets to a point where they have fired 119 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: the teachers. There's no one to collect a garbage because 120 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: they literally don't have money to pay anyone because no 121 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: one will buy their bonds. And eventually this crisis is 122 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: sort of mitigated. But the problem is that, you know, 123 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: the task force that was set up to mitigate this 124 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: right to like, you know, get there to be people 125 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: buying New York City bonds. Again, those people were able 126 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: to come in and New York City had a functional 127 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: welfare state, right, had a sort of mini social democratic 128 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: welfare state. And in order to reopen the governments and 129 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: have schools and garbage collection again, in order to get 130 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: that money, the city was required to dismantle it. And 131 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: you know, the financial situation of New York is obviously 132 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: significantly better than it was then, right, And the odds 133 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: of having this kind of just full on macro scale 134 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: crisis is not as high as it was then. But 135 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: because of the fact that this is the legally mandated 136 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: way that you have to do these payments, and because 137 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: unlike the federal government, there are constraints on spending that 138 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: in some ways function like needing foreign exchange currency. You know, 139 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: you can't just issue this money. You have to get 140 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: it from somewhere. And because of someone's usually the banks, 141 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: it means that you have to constantly negotiate with the 142 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: banks and with capital in order to keep the city's 143 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: lights on. And this is a constant threat that they 144 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: have sort of you know, hanging over the head of 145 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: anyone who wants to be governor. And as Backer points out, 146 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: you can even just tax your way out of the problem, 147 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,559 Speaker 1: because payment structures for government projects work out of the 148 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: bond system, so that money just goes to debt payments. 149 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: And you know, one of the other things that Backer 150 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: points out. And obviously the situation in Chicago is different 151 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,839 Speaker 1: in the situation in New York. But the Chicago Teachers 152 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: Union did elect a mayor who was, you know, their guy, right, 153 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: The cholot teachers Union spent a significant amount of money 154 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: and resources and effort getting their guy elected, and once 155 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: he came into office, he basically ended up doing the 156 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: same thing in their negotiations with the teachers union that 157 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: the previous administrations had done. And the reason that happened, 158 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: you know, and the reason that you started to see 159 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: cuts to school services that we're not supposed to happen 160 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: but anyways, was because the bond market stepped in and 161 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: said this is what's necessary in order to do this, 162 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: and they have that kind of power. Now, obviously Chicago 163 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: was in a worse financial situation than New York is. 164 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: Mom Dominie is significantly further left than Brandon Johnson is. 165 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: But these are real constraints, and the social democratic solution 166 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: to this has always been to get money from the 167 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: federal governments. But the federal government won't give money out 168 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: to the things that is legally required to give money 169 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: out to you right now, because obviously it is run 170 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: by one Donald Trump, and obviously Trump in and of 171 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: himself is a significant problem to doing this right. There's 172 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: always a chance that Trump will see something like mean 173 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: about Mondani on Fox News and decide to send the 174 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: National Guards to New York or something, and you know, 175 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: he will probably continue immigration raids. He can, you know, 176 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: just fuck with people's ability to get medicaid payments, which 177 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: is a really significant issue. There will continue to be 178 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: lots of creative and terrible things that the federal government 179 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: can and will do to this administration that will have 180 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: to be fought and can be defeated, but we'll have 181 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: to be organized and fought against. But for our purposes 182 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,439 Speaker 1: right now, the big issue here is that you can't 183 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: get money out of the federal governments. So okay, where 184 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: are you getting money out of then? And the answer 185 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: is the state governments. Now, do you know what else 186 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: gets money out of state governments? Probably not these products 187 00:10:53,280 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: and services. I don't know who knows, who knows we 188 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 1: are back. So, okay, let's talk about the state government now. Again. 189 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: This is even with the city the size of New York, 190 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: there still is always significant negotiations in org do things 191 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: in the city that require the aide of the state 192 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: level government. And part of the problem here is that 193 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: the New York State Democratic Party is significantly responsible for 194 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: the Republicans control of the House, particularly in the twenty 195 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: twenty two cycle. There's a whole long story here about 196 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: how a a bunch of the Democrats wanted to form 197 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: this sort of moderate caucus thing, where the sort of 198 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: independent caucus that would caucus with the Republicans in order 199 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: to give the Republicans the ability to stop any sort 200 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: of liberal or left wing thing from happening in the 201 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: state governments and handle a whole bunch of seas over 202 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: to the Republicans because of it. But just you know, 203 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: setting all of that aside, the place that you can 204 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:05,599 Speaker 1: get money from would be from the governor's office. Unfortunately, 205 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: that significate problem. So here's Holcial's response to Momdami's plan 206 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: to make buses free. Quote. I cannot set forth a 207 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: plan right now that takes money out of a system 208 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: that relies on fares of the buses and the subways. 209 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,320 Speaker 1: But can we find a path to make it more 210 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: affordable for people who need help? Yes, of course we can. 211 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: Social does not want to raise taxes. Any proposal that 212 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: would involve raising taxes probably has to run through New 213 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: York City's City Council, and thus through her. I'm going 214 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: to quote this some Spectrum news about Montdammie's proposal to 215 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: expand universal childcare. Culchel said she's also looking at expanding 216 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 1: a universal childcare program statewide, but the total price tag 217 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: is fifteen billion dollars childcare I already committed to, she said, 218 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: I'm committed to this as a mom governor, I get it. 219 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: But also to do it statewide, it's about fifteen billion dollars, 220 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: the entire amount of my reserves. Culcial says she prefers 221 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: to phase an expansion first within certain AIDS groups and 222 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: geographically underserved communities. So, okay, what is happening here in 223 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: a macro sense is that Cultural is trying to slow 224 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 1: roll both of these things. She is outright opposed to 225 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: making buses free. She wants to do weird means testing 226 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: stuff to it that will make it very difficult to do, 227 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,319 Speaker 1: and extremely annoying bureaucratic layer meant to deny people services 228 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: that you have to do instead of just having them 229 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: be free. The childcare thing she probably does want to do, 230 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: but again, because she is not a democratic socialist, because 231 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,439 Speaker 1: she is a regular Democrat, she wants to do it slowly, expanded, 232 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: through a whole bunch of phases and taking a whole 233 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: bunch of time. And this is a pretty significant problem 234 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: because you know, at every step of this, not only 235 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: are you going to have to be negotiating with the 236 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: banking system, you're going to have to be negotiating with 237 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: the statewide Democratic Party. And the statewide Democratic Party is 238 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: fairly conservative. Hotel is not as conservative, and she can 239 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: be sort of dragged kicking and screaming into good policies 240 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: like what happened with congestion pricing, and if something works 241 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: and is really popular after you do it, she will 242 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: sign on to it. But it's a significant hurdle that 243 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: you have to deal with. I want to move from 244 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: this into a kind of related problem that's a more 245 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 1: structural constraint on on Dommy's time in office, which is 246 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: that he is now in charge of running a capitalist economy. 247 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: When you take a position in a capitalist government. It 248 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: is now your job to make the economy run, and 249 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: that means maintaining economic growth. But okay, what does economic 250 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: growth actually mean in a capitalist economy. It means that 251 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: corporations make more money than they did the year before. 252 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: And this is a structural problem for all of us, 253 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: because we all have interests that are diametrically opposed to 254 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: corporations making more money every year because their profit comes 255 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: directly from our exploitation. Right, we have fundamentally opposed interests 256 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: from the corporations and the capitalists and the billionaires. But 257 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: in order for there to be capitalist economic growth, those 258 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: people have to keep making more money every year. And 259 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: obviously you can make arguments about how redistribution enhances economic 260 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: growth by creating a larger consumer base, and that's obviously true. 261 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: We're in an extremely deformed economy right now. Where as 262 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: I keep saying on this show, fifty percent of all 263 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: consumer spending is happening from five percent of the population, 264 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: which is just a completely unsustainable way to run an 265 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: economy and is also absolutely miserable for every single other 266 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: person who's in that bottom ninety five percent. And you know, 267 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: there are things that you can do to some extent, right, 268 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: but at some point you are going to have to 269 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: choose between workers and capital. And if you're the mayor 270 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: of New York City, your job is to make capital 271 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: more money. And this is a structural constraint that every 272 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: social democratic government has faced. And it's worth noting that 273 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: we are not in a world that is surrounded by 274 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: social democratic governments. And part of the reason why, again 275 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: is that they need the economy to keep growing, and 276 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: that their reliance on finance institutions to make money. And 277 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: the most grim versions of this tend to happen at 278 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: a sort of national scale. But if you look at 279 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: morally in Jamaica and the seventies, where you have a 280 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: democratic socialist who gets elected and is running Jamaica and 281 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: then has to implement austerity because the country runs out 282 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: of money and the IMF comes in, right, these things 283 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: can get really bleak. Now they don't have to, right, like, 284 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: sufficiently well organized populations can force the hand of capital 285 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 1: to do things that they don't want to do. Significantly 286 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: well organized populations can you start trying to fundamentally redistribute 287 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:06,120 Speaker 1: economic but it's difficult, and the difficulty is magnified by 288 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: the third really massive constraint, and that constraint is the police. 289 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: One of the other big structural problems that comes with 290 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 1: running a state is that it relies on armed men 291 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: to enforce the laws. And those men, especially in the 292 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: United States, are at best one step removed from straight 293 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: up neo Nazis. A lot of them straight up are 294 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: neo Nazis. The cops are the most consistently right wing 295 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,439 Speaker 1: group in the entire country. They are a bunch of 296 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: racist shitheads who exist to perpetuate right supremacy and protect capital, 297 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:42,880 Speaker 1: and they're also again a fundamental organizational unit of the state. Right. 298 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: Without the violence of the police, laws are just suggestions. 299 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: And if you're going to run a capitalist government, and 300 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: if you're going to run one in the US, you 301 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 1: have to deal with the fact that your power depends 302 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: on the loyalty of a bunch of Nazis, and these 303 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: people will riot if you attempt to do oversight of them. 304 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: They very famously did this in nineteen ninety two. They 305 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,439 Speaker 1: had this whole giant riot, right, They had the thing 306 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 1: I was supposed to be a protest rally where they 307 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: all went on strike, and then the cops who were 308 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: supposed to be policing the protest obviously didn't do anything 309 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,400 Speaker 1: because again, there are also cops. And in nineteen ninety 310 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: two they did this for a really really really minor 311 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: oversight attempted oversight, right, and obviously they actually didn't win 312 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: that direct fight, but they were able to cause enough 313 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: of a political ship storm that they were able to 314 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,160 Speaker 1: force the last sort of like vaguely social democratic mayor 315 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: out of power and install like Rudy Giuliani, who is 316 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: a weird face melty dipshit righth was an incredible tough 317 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: on crime right winger. And obviously Mamdani has been trying 318 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: to kind of trying to do his best to negotiate 319 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: with the police and not to overtly threaten them, but 320 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: that kind of doesn't matter because they just hate him, 321 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: like they think that a Muslim socialist is just inherently 322 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: an illegitimate person, and they think that anyone who is 323 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: even vaguely liberal is someone who is their enemy and 324 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 1: who is their target. And we have seen them take 325 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: actions to just directly threaten mayors fairly recently. Right in 326 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, they kidnapped Bill Deblasio's daughter, at a protest 327 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: and then sort of like paraded her mugshot around and 328 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: posted it everywhere and did this whole big show of 329 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: how they were holding her. To say it was a 330 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: thinly veiled threat is a dramatic understatement of how incredibly, 331 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: incredibly blatant this threat was. Right, they kidnapped the mayor's daughter, 332 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: Dreen a protest movement, and that was Bill de Blasio, 333 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 1: who was not some kind of like wild anti police 334 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: radical right, and especially now as sort of fascism is 335 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: on the march and with the backing of the US 336 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: federal government, right, the police form a very significant threat 337 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: to Mandami's ability to do anything. Both on a sort 338 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: of political level, they are going to be constantly, you know, 339 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: putting out giant press releases about how Mamdami's like turn 340 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 1: the city into a Liverpool hellhole and how they can't 341 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: do their jobs, ceda, et cetera. And also just in 342 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 1: terms of just directly threatening him and trying to influence 343 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: his policy, they're going to be a real problem and 344 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: his ability to prevent them from, for example, smashing in 345 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 1: the skulls of pro Palestime protesters even if he wants to, 346 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: was going to be very limited because the police have 347 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: become a kind of semi autonomous fascist force in this country. 348 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: They have always been a ticking time bomb on statist democracy, 349 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,360 Speaker 1: and that clock is closing in on zero in this 350 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: in this sort of moment of assented fascism. Now again, 351 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: I want to close this by saying, these are not 352 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: all the challenges that he's going to face, but Comma, 353 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: none of this also means that the things that he 354 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:09,439 Speaker 1: wants to do to make people's lives better are impossible. 355 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: Every single one of these problems are problems that you 356 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,920 Speaker 1: can defeat by organizing. Right, you can put enough pressure 357 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: on capital to prevent them from doing a kind of 358 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: like capital striker or a bond strike, right to force 359 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: them they continue to fund things. Right, with enough public pressure, 360 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: you can make a whole lot of things happen. You 361 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,880 Speaker 1: can make the police, you know, at the very least, 362 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,879 Speaker 1: be acting on a kind of defensive front to where 363 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: they're not, you know, rioting and trying to run city politics, 364 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: but are kind of forced by mass popular and mobilization 365 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:48,639 Speaker 1: and pressure to at the very least not be openly 366 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: attacking the mayor. You can put massive political pressure on 367 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: Kathy cultel to you know, do things that are good, 368 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: which which is how we got how New York got 369 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: congestion pricing in the first place. Right, like, that was 370 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: a result of a masses like organizational campaign that went 371 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: extremely well, and husholds like tried to sabotage it because 372 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,200 Speaker 1: she thought it would be unpopular, and eventually it got 373 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: implemented and it's really popular now and now she's really 374 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: in favor of it. So these people can be pushed around, right, 375 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: They are not invincible, Their victory is not inevitable. They 376 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: can be defeated, and they can be forced to accept that, 377 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,919 Speaker 1: Oh wait, hold on, the extremely sensible policies that we 378 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: want that make our lives better are good, and that 379 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: requires mobilization. But you know that's not impossible. We know 380 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: how to organize. We've been doing it for ages, and 381 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: it was you know, what had to happen to make 382 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,680 Speaker 1: all of us possible in the first place. And so 383 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,479 Speaker 1: instead of demobilizing now and going, oh, our jobs are done. No, no, no, no, no, 384 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,239 Speaker 1: our job our jobs have just begun. But you know, 385 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: the better organized VR and the more we're able to 386 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: push this, and the more we're able to push all 387 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: of these people, the better our lives will get, and 388 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: this election to begin with is a reminder that another 389 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: world is as possible and it could be better than 390 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: this one. We just have to build it together. It 391 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 392 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,440 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 393 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 394 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 395 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,119 Speaker 1: now find sources for It Could Happen here, listed directly 396 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.