Socialism Won’t Bring New York Back

The city’s road to recovery, as in the 1970s, lies in the hard work of budget balancing and reviving

Eric Kober September 10, 2020

 Apparently, each generation needs to learn anew that socialism doesn’t work. The latest commentator to illustrate this evergreen truth is New York City council member Brad Lander, whose recent New York Times op-ed argues that public ownership and control of land is the way out of the city’s current economic distress. Devices like community land trusts and land banks, Lander writes, can save the city from the evils of unfettered capitalism that marked the aftermath of its 1970s fiscal crisis.

Lander is wrong, of course. Only a strong private economy can support New York City’s robust array of municipal services.

Lander’s blinkered view of the fiscal crisis era comes from his reading of New York University professor Kim Phillips-Fein’s 2017 book, Fear City, a commendable history of a terrifying time, in which feckless city officials borrowed far more than they could ever repay rather than impose austerity during an economic downturn. As a result, a budget problem that was perhaps manageable in 1971 became catastrophic by 1975. Mayor Abe Beame lost control of the city to Governor Hugh Carey and an unelected control board, which did indeed impose steep budget cuts to secure Federal loan guarantees...........To Read More....