Congratulations, Zohran Mamdani. Truly. This is elite governance. World-class stuff.
You publicly singled out one of the largest taxpayers, employers, and investors in New York City, used his apartment as a campaign backdrop your for freshman year at Pratt “tax the rich” art project, and now that same billionaire is openly admitting he’s doubling down on Miami instead of spending more in New York.
Brilliant stuff. Innovative economic development strategy at work. Two weeks ago, honestly, all you had to do was read the damn title:
According to Bloomberg yesterday, Ken Griffin said Citadel is now making its planned Miami headquarters even bigger after Mamdani decided it would be politically advantageous to make him the face of “wealth inequality” in a social media video.
Griffin called the video “creepy and weird,” which, honestly, feels restrained considering the sitting mayor of America’s largest city essentially filmed a personalized ransom note outside his home.
And the best part? This was entirely avoidable. Nobody is saying billionaires should be immune from criticism. Nobody is arguing tax policy shouldn’t be debated. But there’s a meaningful distinction between crafting policy and behaving like a petulent, emotionally unstable, 17 year old, double masked Reddit moderator chugging Mountain Dew in his mother’s basement while banning opinions he doesn’t like because of “misinformation”.
Last week I wrote that Mamdani was actively undermining the tax base he needs to fund his fantasyland agenda. Apparently that was too subtle, because now Griffin has essentially confirmed that exact concern in plain English. He said Mamdani’s rhetoric reminded him of the same hostile political climate that pushed him out of Chicago in the first place.
Close your eyes for a second and imagine being such a gifted policymaker that you successfully recreate the conditions people explicitly fled. Now, imagine doing it by targeting the wealthy…while your wife trots around New York City in $630 boots and a Balenciaga coat. That’s a talent that could only be perfect for politics in America.
As I said last month, let’s be clear about who Mamdani decided to dunk on for YouTube likes and subscriptions. Citadel employs roughly 2,500 people in New York. The firm says its principals and employees paid billions in city and state taxes over the past several years. Griffin is tied to the massive 350 Park Avenue development project that could bring billions more in investment to Manhattan.
Griffin is not some oligarch hiding cash in a Cayman shell company while contributing nothing. This is someone writing enormous checks to the city.
Even funnier? Griffin already left one major city because leadership there seemed determined to make success feel like a criminal act. He moved from Chicago to Miami for a reason. Apparently Mamdani saw that and thought: “You know what? Let’s speedrun the exact same mistake.”
And now Miami keeps winning by simply doing the impossible: not openly hating productive people. What a radical concept. Miami has spent the last several years aggressively courting finance firms, entrepreneurs, and high earners while cities like New York City increasingly flirt with messaging that sounds like it was focus-grouped by graduate students who think profit margins are a human rights violation.
This is where progressive politicians always seem confused. They speak about wealthy taxpayers as though they’re trapped in place like medieval peasants tied to land. They’re not. High earners are often absurdly mobile. Hedge funds can move. Family offices can move. Founders can move. Capital can move at the speed of a private jet and a DocuSign agreement.
Screaming at them may feel righteous, but it’s rarely profitable.
And before someone inevitably screams that New York shouldn’t be “held hostage by billionaires,” spare me. This isn’t about emotional loyalty. This is math. New York’s budget is enormous. Its spending ambitions are even larger. You cannot simultaneously depend on high earners for tax revenue while publicly treating them like cartoon villains in campaign content designed for viral applause. That is not courage. It is toddler-tier impulse control dressed up as activism.
What makes this even more absurd is that Mamdani seems to believe symbolic victories are actual victories. Congratulations, you “went viral” for a day. Meanwhile, one of the largest financial firms in America is publicly talking about expanding elsewhere, outside of your city. Hope your retweets can cover pension obligations. Maybe Instagram engagement can help finance public infrastructure next.
And what happens if this trend continues? It won’t just be billionaires leaving. It’ll be firms reconsidering expansions. Developers rethinking projects. Mid-level earners questioning why they’re paying astronomical taxes for deteriorating quality of life. The damage rarely arrives all at once. It happens gradually, then suddenly, and politicians act stunned when the bill comes due.
New York became New York because it attracted ambition, talent, and people willing to build absurdly successful things. It did not become a global capital by shaming achievement.
So is anyone surprised that Ken Griffin is doubling down on Miami? Please. This outcome was visible from space. Mamdani lit a match next to his own tax base and now appears confused by the smell of smoke.
Fantastic work, mayor. Really. Keep posting videos. Miami sends its thanks.
QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them. I failed Algebra in 8th grade and topped off my high school math accolades by getting a D- in remedial Calculus my senior year, before becoming an English major in college so I could bullshit my way through things easier.
The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.