Money walks

To the editor:

Zohran Mamdani’s surprise victory in the Democratic primary has been revealing in a number of ways. One is the relationship between Democratic establishment politicians like Andrew Cuomo and the wealthy and corporations. Large contributions give these elites access to political power unavailable to ordinary Americans. Cuomo’s super PAC Fix the City raised over $25 million from plutocrats, including billionaire Trump supporters and industries such as real estate that do business with the city. Mamdani had thousands of contributors who gave an average of $80.

This is especially relevant in New York City, given its need to solve the problem of affordability. To cite recent data, about 25 percent, or 2 million of the city’s residents, live below the poverty line, including 425,000 children.  

Nearly 3 million households, close to one-third of all households in the state, experience housing insecurity. As for food insecurity, 14.6 percent, or about 1.2 million city residents, are food-insecure.  

Nearly 40 percent of adults live in households at risk of food insecurity. City Harvest reported that because of rising costs for food, childcare and housing, nearly 3 million New Yorkers struggle to make ends meet.

By contrast, according to Forbes, New York City has approximately 123 billionaires, the highest number of any city in the world. It is also home to approximately 350,000 millionaires, again the most of any city in the world. Finally, many of the wealthiest corporations and financial institutions are based in the city.

New Yorkers face an affordability crisis. They also face a systematic structure of income and wealth inequality. It reflects a rigged and corrupt political and economic system gamed by both plutocrats and politicians. This is one reason why Democrats Andrew Cuomo, Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams claim there is never a good time to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Howard Elterman