Overview

• On NBC’s Meet the Press, Mamdani asserted “I don’t think that we should have billionaires” and framed their existence as emblematic of New York’s extreme inequality.
• New York City is home to 123 billionaires whose combined net worth of $759 billion underscores the local wealth concentration Mamdani targets.
• As the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist and centers his campaign on wealth redistribution and equity.
• The American Enterprise Institute counters that billionaires arise from high-risk entrepreneurship and, as Nobel economist William Nordhaus found, typically retain only about 2 percent of the social value they generate.
• AEI warns that aggressive levies on ultra-wealthy fortunes could deter future breakthroughs akin to Tesla’s electric vehicles or Pixar’s animation innovations.