Wall Street Panics As Socialist Set To Take Over New York, REITs Tumble At The Idiocy Of It All On Wednesday morning, ground zero of global capitalism woke in a cold sweat from a nightmare that had previously made its way across the world countless times, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake… only to find out it was all too real: Wall Street will soon have a socialist mayor.Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic primary for mayor shocked Wall Street, and pretty much everyone else including those Gen Zers who voted for him, who were then shocked to learn what socialism means after googling the term. People in New York started Googling what Socialism was after the polls closedLol. Lmao even. pic.twitter.com/xqyerSgUhD— Inverse Cramer (@CramerTracker) June 25, 2025And with Polymarket putting the socialist’s odds of winning the final vote at 73%, Wall Street’s panic is completely justified.As the WSJ reports, some of the world’s most influential and powerful financiers were left grasping to understand what Mamdani’s victory would mean for their industry, and whether when they would leave the city.“It’s officially hot commie summer,” Dan Loeb, chief executive of hedge fund Third Point, and a major Cuomo backer, wrote on X.It’s officially hot commie summer.— Daniel S. Loeb (@DanielSLoeb1) June 25, 2025Mamdani’s campaign was, up until a few weeks ago, a long shot. On Polymarket, which successfully predicted the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, Cuomo had odds as high as 92.5% on May 27. Negative ads against Mamdani paid for by Wall Street-funded super political-action committees, as well as also-ran candidate Whitney Tilson, himself a failed investor and now selling get rich quick scams on CNBC and anyone else who will accept his ads, blanketed airwaves and filled residents’ mailboxes. Mamdani’s platform includes sharply increasing taxes on those making more than $1 million a year, making the city « more affordable » by freezing rents on rent-stabilized apartments, investing $70 billion in publicly subsidized housing (that’s $70 billion in other people’s money of course), providing free bus service and opening government-operated grocery stores (similar to the government operated grocery stores in 1985 USSR).In his inimitable style, Matt Taibbi described Mamdani’s ascent as follows: New York City’s mayoral race has been won by Zohran Mamdani, no Bernie Sanders-style imitator but the real thing — son of a famed socialist scholar and Marvel superhero to every Jacobin-reading, keffiyeh-wearing student activist huddled in Judean People’s Front-type confabs, between bell hooks readings and visits to Mom and Dad on the Upper West Side. In this country, it’s the most significant movement victory in a century, almost certainly presaging in the near future an epic clash at the summit of American politics between socialism and, well, anything else. As Michael Buffer would say, “Let’s get ready to rum-m-m-bleMeanwhile, Cuomo’s lock on Wall Street was all but taken for granted. He had the loud backing from billionaire figures such as Bill Ackman, Loeb and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.In the end, it wasn’t enough and on Tuesday night, Mamdani’s win became apparent immediately after polls closed: A nine-point lead in early votes held about steady as the day-of voting results came in. Cuomo conceded before the end of the night, leaving open questions of whether he will run in the general election in November.But while trust fund socialists like this lot were delighted at the outcome – and why not, when NYC turns into a communist shithole they can just flee to their daddy’s mansion in Florida…Young socialists go wild while celebrating Zohran Mamdani winning the NYC Mayoral Democratic Primary.pic.twitter.com/xD7eaE6U5b— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) June 25, 2025… Wall Street quickly started to worry: “There are a lot of warning signs flashing here. The next mayor here is going to have his hands full,” said Ed Skyler, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg, who is now an executive at Citigroup.Some financial executives spoke to the WSJ of backing Mayor Eric Adams, who is expected to run in November election under party lines he created: “Safe&Affordable” and “EndAntiSemitism.” Financial titans had found Adams an early improvement from his predecessor Bill de Blasio.Corporate leaders held a flurry of private phone calls to plot how to fight back against Mamdani’s primary victory and discussed backing an outside group with the goal of raising around $20 million to oppose him, according to people familiar with the matter. The calls also discussed efforts to coalesce behind Adams and working to keep Cuomo out of the race, the people said. They also discussed trying to get Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, to drop out by getting the White House to offer him a job in the Trump administration, the people said. Not everyone was downbeat about the primary results, though. On CNBC, Philippe Laffont, founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, said the city would likely continue to thrive, arguing that it withstood the tenure of disgraced corrupt socialist de Blasio, who embraced Marxist policies that many in the business community opposed.“We had Mayor de Blasio for eight years, New York is really strong, I’m hopeful the same will happen,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “And there’s still an election.”Still, Mamdani’s wide support exposed how Wall Street has changed in recent decades. There were more individual donors from major banks to Mamdani than there were to Cuomo, according to city campaign-finance records where donors listed their employers. But many of them were among the increasingly large ranks of tech staff and other non-finance employees (read: foreigners). The WSJ found that three Goldman Sachs software engineers were listed as donating directly to Mamdani, for instance (most of them probably from India). Only one financier at Goldman publicly gave directly to Cuomo, according to the records. Other bankers who quietly supported Mamdani wouldn’t talk to the Journal on the record. One tried to use a fake name. The level of support for Cuomo among the moneyed set was so high that viral TikTok videos skewered the phenomenon in recent weeks, as Election Day neared. “You seem like such an alpha,” a woman says in one video to her fictional date with a finance bro. “So, you’re voting for Cuomo, right?”Dating in NYC summed up wtf 😒 pic.twitter.com/v3R9937zTk— Murray Hill Guy (@MurrayHillGuy1) June 25, 2025But even with high support, Cuomo’s campaign lacked the kind of enthusiasm that rocketed Mamdani to his primary win, even among bankers and traders. “Confidence is a great trait, but it didn’t get his supporters out to vote,” Skyler said.Wednesday, bankers and traders were trying to figure out the repercussions of a Mamdani mayoralty, should he win the general election. Some voiced concern about Mamdani’s plan to freeze the rent of millions of New Yorkers who live in rent stabilized apartments, saying it would deter new investment in housing, reduce supply and push up prices for everyone else. “I can’t believe I even need to say this, but socialism doesn’t work,” said Anthony Pompliano, CEO of Professional Capital Management, a bitcoin-focused financial services company. “It has failed in every American city it was tried.”Then, there were renewed questions about whether the recent exodus from Wall Street to other states such as Florida and Texas would accelerate under Mamdani. Some executives cited concerns about taxes and crime under a potential Mamdani administration. Sander Gerber, chief executive of investment firm Hudson Bay Capital, said he fielded texts from some of his 170 employees who said they were “thinking of leaving.”In a midday note from Goldman’s trading desk, the bank noted that its NYC Office REITs basket tumbled 430bps amid the « big focus on the back of Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani winning last night. Lot of inbounds on what this potential administration means for NYC exposed REITs, particularly across Office and Apartment REITs with exposure to NYC. »Some developers and landlords said they are already making plans to exit New York and focus on more business-friendly markets like Miami, Dallas or Nashville.“I’m depressed and sad,” said Ricky Sandler, who runs Eminence Capital, a Midtown Manhattan hedge fund, which employs 55 people. “If Mamdani becomes mayor, I will likely move my business and family out of New York.”Last but not least, this tweet from Tyler Winklevoss lays it out best: it’s time to let New York burn.A lot of people have asked me if I will get involved in the NYC mayor race by supporting a candidate that can defeat Zohran Mamdani. TBH, I’m torn and undecided. Like every other city run by democrats, NYC is a broken kleptocracy. Taxes are astronomical and services are pathetic…— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) June 26, 2025 Tyler DurdenWed, 06/25/2025 – 23:00
Wall Street s’affole alors qu’un socialiste s’apprête à prendre les rênes de New York. Les REITs s’effondrent face à cette situation perçue comme une folie. Ce scénario, bien que choquant, illustre une dynamique politique en pleine mutation, poussant les acteurs économiques à repenser leurs stratégies.
Une élection aux répercussions inattendues
La victoire électorale de Zohran Mamdani, un démocrate socialiste, sur l’ancien gouverneur Andrew Cuomo lors des primaires rémunère une campagne atypique et représente un tournant majeur pour Wall Street. Cet événement a provoqué une onde de choc parmi les financiers, habitués à un certain consensus politique qui favorise le marché. Cette victoire inattendue soulève des questions sur la résistance des modèles économiques traditionnels face à des politiques plus redistributives.
L’impact des politiques socialistes sur l’économie locale
Le programme de Mamdani, proposant une augmentation des impôts pour les plus fortunés et un gel des loyers, est interprété par les investisseurs comme une menace directe à la rentabilité des entreprises. Des politiques telles que l’investissement public de 70 milliards de dollars dans le logement subventionné invitent à une réévaluation des portefeuilles immobiliers. Les investisseurs craignent un désintérêt progressif pour les investissements à haute rentabilité. Le marché immobilier local pourrait voir ses valeurs s’ajuster à cette nouvelle réalité politique, surtout pour les Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) exposés à New York.
Réactions et contre-mesures
Face à cette situation, les dirigeants financiers, habitués à un environnement pro-business, s’organisent en coulisses. Des discussions sur le soutien à des candidats plus traditionnels, tels qu’Eric Adams, se multiplient. De plus, il est envisagé de réunir des fonds pour contrer l’avancée de Mamdani. Ces mouvements tactiques témoignent des tensions croissantes entre les aspirations socialistes et les intérêts établis de l’élite économique du pays.
Les banques et autres institutions financières réagissent aussi, cherchant à anticiper l’impact potentiel des politiques de Mamdani sur la rentabilité à long terme de leurs investissements. La panique se manifeste également dans le secteur des propriétés REITs de New York, qui enregistrent une chute de 430 points de base après la victoire de Mamdani. À l’approche d’une élection générale, l’industrie pourrait voir un déplacement de capitaux vers des marchés considérés comme plus stables et prévisibles.
Migration économique et polarisation géographique
La possibilité d’une accélération de l’exode vers des États fiscalement plus cléments comme la Floride et le Texas est palpable. Des pilotes de hedge funds et autres entreprises envisagent de relocaliser leurs activités, motivés par un désir d’échapper à une fiscalité plus lourde et à une gouvernance perçue comme moins favorable. Cette migration n’est pas sans rappeler la dynamique constatée lors de l’administration de Bill de Blasio, que plusieurs critiques ont qualifiée de socialiste.
Perspectivas futures pour l’économie urbaine
Le futur économique de New York sous une éventuelle administration Mamdani pourrait reconfigurer le paysage financier bien au-delà des rives de l’Hudson. Avec son potentiel d’inspirer des mouvements similaires dans d’autres grandes villes américaines, l’arrivée d’une telle dynamique politique pourrait renforcer la polarisation des centres économiques urbains. Ceux-ci pourraient évoluer vers des modèles de développement plus axés sur l’équité sociale, au détriment possible des gains économiques classiques.
Certaines voix, toutefois, restent optimistes, arguant qu’une ville résiliente comme New York pourrait s’adapter et prospérer malgré les changements. L’Histoire a montré que les transformations politiques radicales ouvrent souvent la voie à de nouvelles opportunités économiques, bien que souvent accompagnées de défis.
Enjeux et opportunités pour Wall Street
Wall Street se trouve à un carrefour critique. De nombreux experts estiment que si cette évolution politique prompt à des ajustements immédiats, elle pourrait également inciter à l’émergence de modèles économiques innovants. La nécessité d’adapter les stratégies d’investissement pourrait catalyser l’innovation et pousser les institutions à rehausser leur compétitivité sur la scène internationale.
Finalement, alors que New York se prépare pour l’élection générale de novembre, la balance entre pragmatisme politique et idéalisme économique continue de tester les limites des structures financières traditionnelles, posant des questions fondamentales sur le rôle de la ville comme épicentre mondial du capitalisme.
Source : Zerohedge
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