Category: Escape from NYC

How is Mamdami Going to Take Over the Real Estate Market in NYC — And Why Landlords Are Leaving One Way or Another

When government discovers it can buy votes by redistributing private property, landlords stop being business owners and start becoming temporary caretakers of assets waiting to be seized. — YNOT! There is an old saying that if you want to understand a politician, do not listen to the campaign song — listen to the mechanism. The mechanism tells you everything. New York City may be about to become the greatest real-world experiment in modern socialism that America has seen in decades, and many landlords are quietly looking at Florida, Texas, Tennessee, or anywhere else where the government is less interested … Continue readingHow is Mamdami Going to Take Over the Real Estate Market in NYC — And Why Landlords Are Leaving One Way or Another

What Happens When the Government Taxes You for Leaving?

The Escape from New York Tax is coming…. — YNOT! They always say the new tax is only for the rich. That’s how the hook gets baited. Twenty years later, the middle class is paying the bill and wondering how they got caught in the net. There’s an old trick governments use when they run out of money. First, they tax success. Then they tax the movement. Then eventually they tax escape itself.  Five states have already built versions of what amounts to an “exit tax” on people trying to leave. Six more are studying the blueprint like a … Continue readingWhat Happens When the Government Taxes You for Leaving?

The Day New York City Learned Arithmetic in 1975

The problem with history is not that people forget it. It is that they believe they are smarter than it. — YNOT! There was once a city so rich, so loud, so self-important that it believed the laws of mathematics no longer applied to it. That city was New York City. Now mind you, New York was not merely a city. It considered itself the center of the universe with better tailoring. It had bankers, brokers, unions, bureaucrats, intellectuals, artists, activists, and enough committees to regulate the breathing patterns of pigeons. And like many civilizations before it, it discovered … Continue readingThe Day New York City Learned Arithmetic in 1975

Why Socialism Sounds So Attractive in America -— While People in Socialist Countries Dream of Freedom

“Most folks think the grass is greener on the Neighbor’s yard. Half the time, it’s just growing over the septic tank.” — YNOT! There is a strange little trick the human mind plays on itself. The people who live inside a hard system dream of escape. The people who live outside that system dream of the story. That is the riddle of socialism in the modern world. In America, where shelves are full, businesses open every day, and a man can still become rich selling dog food, software, roofing, sermons, or lies, there are millions who speak warmly of … Continue readingWhy Socialism Sounds So Attractive in America -— While People in Socialist Countries Dream of Freedom