A Marxist, Antisemitic, New York Mayor and the Jewish Vote

The race for the next mayor of New York is shaping up to be a major inflection point in the ongoing infiltration of socialist/woke/Marxist ideology into the fabric of the United States. The success of Zohran Mamdani is very concerning for the future of NYC, the most important and consequential city in the US. If he becomes the mayor, the deleterious effects will be immediately and permanently consequential. The seat of capitalism for the entire world will be led by a socialist, anti-capitalist. To boot, the most Jewish city outside of Israel will be run by an avowed antizionist, pro-Hamas, antisemite. 

It is a complete failure that a better candidate wasn't recruited to run for mayor. It is critical for the financial industry centered in New York to have a moderate mayor and the blame and consequence will be directed at them. Where are the finance leaders like Jamie Dimon that invest billions into NYC? Where are the NY real estate moguls that have so much to lose if Mamdani wins. There should have been a candidate for mayor from the business world. Instead we had the choice of a Marxist, a washed out disgraced politician in Andrew Cuomo, and an ineffective incumbent in Adams. But it is too late.

It is inconceivable that the majority of New Yorkers desire Mamdani to lead their city, but he can win for several reasons. The small but vocal woke minority will be sure to get a high percentage of its adherents to get out and vote, while the complacent moderates will have a lower turnout. Futhermore, it is appearing  that the  anybody but Mamdani vote will be split amongst more than one competitor. This anybody but Mamdani vote has to consolidate behind one candidate for their to be a chance.

Most importantly, the Jewish vote has to be motivated and mobilized to vote. There is every reason for every Jew in NY to vote against this antisemitic, anti-Zionist. The Jewish vote can sway the election holding 12% of the electorate with the potential for an even greater relative percentage by pumping up turnout. Every Rabbi should begin immediately sermonizing to their congregations about the importance of coming out to vote in November. Every Jewish organization should be pounding its NY members to vote.  

We cannot sit idly by and watch an anti-capitalist lead the center of capitalism and we cannot allow an anti-semite lead the center of Jewish life in the diaspora.

If you are horrified by the events of October 7 and the public's pro-Hamas response it is incumbent on you to vote. If you are Jewish or supporter of Israel, please make it your business to vote on November 4 . 

NO EXCUSES.

for early voting by mail or in person:

https://vote.nyc/RequestBallot

Private Equity Scam

 I recently had a very honest sprinkler mechanic come by my house to fix some issues and I was enlightened by his description of the sprinkler business. Basically, the sprinkler companies pump up their earnings by requiring their technicians to upsell questionable services and repairs. After achieving a certain level of revenue they sell the business to a private equity firm for a multiple of the revenue. The private equity firm consolidates several of the sprinkler acquisitions into one company which it then sells for a profit. Is this good for the consumer?

This model seems to be effecting many business, including the medical business, where private equity  gobbles up profitable, autonomous, doctors practices then employs doctors at a set rate. The doctor becomes an employee and earns a salary based on productivity and doesn't gain from the profit of the business. The PE firm tries to maximize its profit by increasing the revenue and minimizing expenses. Basically, the business goes from a doctor run enterprise to a doctor employee model. Does anybody think that the employed doctor would be as motivated as the doctor owner? Does anybody think the PE firm cares about the best interest of the patient's health?

We are experiencing the corporatization of many businesses that were traditionally run as Mom and Pop endeavors and are being consolidated into larger entities by private equity and this is not in the interest of the consumer. Pre-sale, it creates negative incentives for small business owners and results in unscrupulous business practices.  Post-sale, the corporatized employees that ultimate deliver the services have little incentive to generate satisfied, recurring customers but only to generate a cash flow for their bosses to pay off the debt incurred by the acquisition. Furthermore, the corporatized business will attempt to drive down expenses, including salaries, in an attempt to reach projected targets. The greater the profit minus debt service, the greater the value of the enterprise and hence, valuation to the next buyer. Until it all comes crumbling down.

I believe that many of these consolidated business entities will fail as they will have overpaid for the underlying businesses, projected unrealistic goals, and cannot generate the cash flow required to support the debt. Additionally, the services provided by these large businesses will be of poor quality in comparison to the small business providers, further decreasing their profits leading to their demise. 

Private equity is creating short term profit at the expense of reliable, honest, quality services. Their goal is only to increase the value of the business to sell to the next buyer at higher valuation. Ultimately this model will not succeed. But as with everything, opportunities arise when other things fail. The appeal of a committed local small service provider and the relationship between a local provider and his/her customer will be preferred. Personally, I always search out for the individual plumber, HVAC technician, or sprinkler mechanic.

Lessons from the First Israel Iran War

There are two lessons that can be learned from the ongoing Israel Iran war started on October 7, 2023, its mission, to eradicate the State of Israel and the Jews. The first is that Israel is most vulnerable when they have been lulled into a sense of security and complacency as was the case prior to October 7, 2023. The second lesson is that the enemy has only 12-24 hours to achieve enough of their goals before Israel has the time and ability to mobilize. And this is an obvious weakness of the Israeli military since it relies heavily on its reserve forces to compensate for its smaller population and hence smaller standing army. Time is required to mobilize this reserve force as most are going about their normal lives.

As in the case in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israeli intelligence failed to recognize the impending attack which resulted in the enemy forces making significant progress against Israel in the beginning of the war. They failed to capitalize on these gains and allowed Israel time to mobilize which eventually led to their defeat. Had the enemy been able to disrupt the mobilization of Israeli forces, the outcome may not have been favorable for the Jewish state.

If there is another existential war against Israel, the enemy will have probably learned their lesson and after a surprise initial attack would plan a secondary mission to prevent mobilization of Israeli reserve forces. This may take the form of disrupting communications via electromagnetic pulse or a biological or chemical attack.

Israel must prepare for such a scenario. Their best preparation is to capitalize on their strengths which include their intelligence and their technology advantage. In addition, it is clear that preemptive attacks by Israel results in its best outcomes and this was proven by the 67 war, the destruction of the nuclear reactors in Iraq and Syria, and the recent attack against Iran. Intelligence will lead to necessary preemptive attacks preventing full scale existential strikes against it as well as secondary strikes.

Israel's demographic disadvantage can be offset by their technological advantage. They require a force to withstand the initial attack to give it time for its reserve forces to mobilize. This may take the form of a drone/robotic force led by artificial intelligence that requires minimal front line personnel. Imagine a force of remote controlled tanks, remote controlled drones, remote controlled surface to surface missile banks along with a defensive shield. This can all be controlled by a small remotely located technology group assisted by AI, allowing time for reserve forces to mobilize.

We are living during the first Israel Iran war which started on October 7, 2023 led by the proxies of Iran. Israel is winning the war on multiple fronts but lessons are learned by both sides and both will make changes as a result. Israel has to invest in its natural advantages to overcome its demographic disadvantage. Although hopefully there wont be another, the second Israel Iran war will look very different from the current one.