25 years after the 9/11 tragedy, New York City might elect a mayor who supports terror organizations. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City, has openly criticized the FBI for its surveillance of al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki, who planned multiple terror attacks. Furthermore, Mamdani, who has posted a picture of himself giving the middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus, refuses to condemn the term “globalize the intifada,” and won’t acknowledge that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. With NYC being the financial capital of the world, there is a concern that a win by Mamdani would lead to major companies exiting the city and continuing the Covid-era trend of migrating to Florida.
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Major firms that are headquartered in NYC have reason to be worried, and it’s not only about the potential mayor’s support of terrorism. As a socialist, Mamdani has promised to freeze rent on the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments; raise the tax on millionaires to 46%; and tax passive income, such as dividends. If he were to become mayor, many wealthy people and property owners could choose to leave New York, and the businesses where they work could follow. Indeed, a corporate trade group in Florida, The Florida Council of 100, has already started a campaign to attract top-drawer businesses and draw them away from New York.
The group wrote, in an open letter to the CEOs of NY-based businesses, “When a city’s economic direction grows unpredictable, when the rules of engagement shift, and when free enterprise becomes a political target, CEOs must reevaluate where their companies can grow and prosper.”
Numerous financial institutions, including JP Morgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citi (C) are headquartered in New York City. With analysts predicting that the financial sector is on the cusp of massive growth, losing any of these stalwarts would be devastating to NYC. Mamdani plans to support the city via increased taxes, but paradoxically, his plans could prompt an exodus of high-tax-paying, profitable companies.
Using TipRanks’ Comparison Tool, we can easily see how well some of the largest NYC-based financial companies are performing. As shown below, the stocks of all six of these companies have been rising tremendously:
