Mamdani

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has moved into the lead with a combination of standard democratic policies and some that are considered extreme. He favors raising taxes on the rich to provide universal child care, freezing rents and offering free bus service. This is the standard liberal approach to redistribution of income. He said there should be no billionaires but he would work with them to pay for some social benefits. He has proposed city owned grocery stores to be placed in poor neighborhoods. He suggested to defund the police stating they were racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety but has since back off of this idea. He wants to create a new “Department of Community Safety” that would deploy mental health care teams, rather than armed officers, to handle certain emergency calls involving people in crisis. He is a defender of Palestinian civil rights and accuses the Israeli government of committing a genocide in Gaza. He uses the phase “globalize the intifada” a call to violence against Israeli civilians. He is an active member of the Democratic Socialist of America, a group that advocates for universal health care, immigrants’ rights, tuition free college, a 32-hour work week and getting rid of mandatory jail time for some crimes. He has not said he wanted to get rid of jails but he supports an “Agenda for Decarceration” that includes proposals to eliminate cash bail, decriminalize drug possession and prostitution, and fight the construction of new jails.

Europe

Europe is slowly sinking into a morass of economic and social quicksand. Over the past 30 plus years Europe has moved to replace fossil fuels with green energy. While doing this most countries, other than France, began the process of closing nuclear power plants. In a dramatic example of not thinking things through, they thought they could replace fossil fuels with wind and solar only to discover that there was not much wind or sun. The push toward EV’s neglected to consider Chinas influence on the market which all too soon produced better EV’s at lower prices. Then the US introduced reciprocal tariffs on EU goods and many European countries, like Germany, were heavily dependent on exports. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the European countries stopped buying Russian natural gas before they had set up adequate replacements. This caused a spike in energy prices which is still adversely affecting countries like Germany. Many countries are reducing production of autos and chemicals and moving plants to the US. Then, many European countries following post WW 2 guest worker programs, backed by compassionate leaders allowed mass migration of Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners to enter Europe. Many of these new people were unable to assimilate due to language and cultural differences and this led to criminal activities. Muslims are facing discrimination and disproportionate numbers are being incarcerated and this is leading to unrest. As the countries find it necessary to cut back on social programs the people are protesting, most notably in France. The US has stopped financing Europe’s defense and they must now spend more on their own military which is putting pressure on the social programs.

Criminals

In a recent group discussion, the subject moved to public safety. What could be done to make neighborhoods safer. One person suggested that putting criminals in jail would help. That was reinforced when it was noted that most crime is committed by repeat offenders. Later in researching this, the facts were startling. While the overall rate varies by definition and jurisdiction, studies from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) show that about 66% of state prisoners are re-arrested within three years of their release. More broadly, a significant proportion of the prison population consists of repeat offenders, with some studies indicating that over 90% of state prisoners have either prior violent offenses or previous nonviolent convictions.

Crimes

When Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg campaigned, he did not promise to prosecute Trump. Here is what he said. "I have investigated Trump and his children and held them accountable for their misconduct with the Trump Foundation. I also sued the Trump administration more than 100 times for the travel ban, the separation of children from their families at the border. So I know that work. I know how to follow the facts and hold people in power accountable." A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to Stormy Daniel. Letitia James made public statements during her 2018 campaign about investigating Trump. She said he was an “illegitimate president” and an “embarrassment”. In 2024 James successfully won a fraud case against Trump and the judge barred Trump from operating any business in New York and fined him $350 million dollars. The New York Supreme Court through out the fine and the case will eventually go to the US Supreme Court. In both of these cases there is concern that Trump was guilty before the trial. Some say, this smacks of the Stalinist Levrentiy Beria who said, show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.

UN

Most people were in favor of the UN back in 1945 when it started but after watching it in action their minds were changed. By the mid-1980’s American approval of the UN dropped to 28%. Today Trump spoke at the UN and castigated them for their ineptness. The UN is one of the main stays of globalization whose main purpose is to redistribute wealth. They push for migrants to move to developing countries, they push for low carbon footprints and this leads to the transfer of manufacturing. In recent years the UN has become more political. For example, the UN General Assembly passed 140 resolutions against Israel from 2015 to 2022, while passing 68 against all other countries combined. The US has also vetoed numerous Security Council resolutions concerning Israel. Many delegates come from poor countries where people are going hungry and the delegates are wined and dined in the expensive New York restaurants. Like so many organizations the UN has lost its way. There is much it could accomplish under the proper leadership but they are all talk and no walk. Many feel the time has come to revamp the whole organization.

Data centers

A nuclear power plant produces about 1000 megawatts (MG) and some plants a bit lower. A 1000 MW plant is equal to one gigawatt (GW). The US is currently operating about 5,000 data centers using about 5 GW’s of new power and the demand is for 50 GW’s. There are 10,000 more data centers on the drawing boards and they would like to plug into the local power plants to avoid depending on the grid and to avoid long transmission lines. They will compete with local public and be willing to pay a higher rate. This will cause great consternation among the public users and will put pressure on data companies to build their own power plants. While these data centers will use less than ten percent of US power, the grid cannot handle the increase. A government watch dog agency says that data centers must bring their own power supply. The 50 GWs of additional power needed by 2030 will require $500 billion in new investments. The need for more power is immediate so the best short-term solution is to build natural gas plants but the longer term looks to nuclear. Nuclear provides a small land foot print, no pressure on the grid, no transmission lines, 24/7 power and no carbon emissions.

Europe

Trump is forcing Europe to save itself from economic collapse. Since the EU stopped buying oil and natural gas from Russia, utility costs have risen dramatically. Today the price of natural gas in the US is 3 dollars while Europeans are paying 10 dollars. The cost of electricity Europe is 43 cents and in the US 13 cents. The result is that many chemical companies and steel companies are closing and some are moving to the US where energy costs are lower. There are 50 large German companies thriving in the US because of low energy prices and the customers are nearby. To understand how Europe will come back, use the US as the example. In the 1920’s the US produced 40% of the worlds manufactured goods and then the Great Depression hit and things came to a stop. Ten years later the US began to manufacture war materials and the economy rebounded. After the war the US continued manufacturing by switching from weapons to consumer goods and by 1950 was once again producing half the worlds manufactured goods. Europe must now reignite their economies by starting to manufacture materials for their national defense and to supply Ukraine with weapons.