Larry Summers is up in arms over Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York Mayoral Primary, worried that Mamdani’s “Trotskyite economic policies” will crash the economy.
Larry Summers has declared himself a “citizen of New York city” despite living in Brookline, Massachusetts. Perhaps he considers himself forever a denizen of Wall Street after spending so many years in government backing their every move and working as the managing director of hedge fund D.E. Shaw. Unfortunately for him, the New York Board of Elections seemed to discount this as proof of residence, and he was forced to sit idly by as a socialist rode to victory in Tuesday’s mayoral primary.
But Summers’ lack of residence in the city did not prevent him from spouting off about the potential economic danger of what he termed “Trotskyite economic policies.” According to Summers, he’s no expert on “NYC economic policy,” but he thinks “the Democratic Socialist program would be profound and dangerous for NYC, for the Democratic Party, and for the USA.”
Summers has yet to comment on the danger of his own economic recommendations, like intentionally triggering a deep recession that results in 10% unemployment. Or slashing a recession stimulus plan so much that the economy takes years to recover. Or perhaps refusing to allow the regulation of derivatives in the buildup to the 2008 financial crisis. While decidedly non-Trotskyite, these ideas seem like far more glaring threats to the economic well-being of the USA than free buses. But hey, why bother addressing your past failures when the media never really holds you to account. Maybe it’s time for Summers to return to his old reliable talking point, and declare there’s a one-in three chance that the mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani results in Soviet-style communism. At least that way you can always claim you were right, even if you were wrong.