US Markets - Five Points
US markets are higher this morning, just because.
What matters this week? Payrolls are scheduled for release on Thursday, as markets are closed on Friday for the July 4th holiday. Lots of Fed speak, including Powell tomorrow.
To give the devil its due, I suffered through two hours of Bernie Sanders and tried to steelman Mamdani’s campaign over the weekend. Both of them represent the worst kind of self-hating rich white savior socialists. Bernie is from the whitest state in America, where the only illegal immigrants are Canadians overstaying holiday visas. A millionaire who owns three houses despite never having a job outside of government. Mamdani has never worked in the private sector either, and his parents are multi-millionaires themselves, with a condo in Chelsea naturally. The major demographic he beat Cuomo in was college-educated white people, proving out the observation that socialism has a record of failure so blatant that only intellectuals can ignore it. Both Sanders and Mamdani are American success stories, bashing the model of capitalism that gave them everything, and knocking down the rungs they climbed.
I’ve read a lot of hysteria by wealthy New Yorkers (The top 1 per cent of New York City taxpayers already pay half of the city’s taxes), but I don’t see a mass exit from the town, simply because the mayor doesn’t have that much power here. He can shift budget priorities, fund some tenant services, and pilot transit discounts—but the mayor can’t unilaterally change taxes, pass statewide tenant laws, or overhaul the MTA, all of which require Albany’s approval. The most significant risk is public disorder, but sometimes you gotta let kids touch the stove to learn how fire works.
Just returned from Maine to face the first day of summer without kids. What am I going to do? Whatever I want.
