Fareed Zakaria criticized Democratic-led cities for what he described as fiscal mismanagement and ineffective policies, pointing to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago as examples.
“New York is really a prime example of a problem Democrats seem unwilling to confront,” Zakaria said.
“Blue cities are out of control, promising more, spending more, delivering less, and pushing off the fiscal problems to some future day.”
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He then turned to Los Angeles, describing it as “another one party Metropolis wrestling with affordability and disorder.”
Zakaria cited the city’s homelessness spending.
“The city's homelessness budget for fiscal year 2025 26 totals about $950 million the LA homelessness Services Authority reported that in 2023 homelessness was up 9% county wide and 10% in the city,” he said.
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He added that a 2024 Associated Press account found long-term increases.
“And a 2024 AP account noted that homelessness has surged 70% county wide since 2015 and 80% in city, all this amid public frustration, despite billions spent.”
Zakaria referenced a financial review of homelessness funding.
“An audit reviewed 2.4 billion in city homelessness funding and found that officials could not reliably track where it went or what it achieved.”
He also cited Chicago, describing it as a city facing financial strain.
“Or take Chicago with a mayor whose approval rating is deep under water, where the pension promises are so large that they will surely bankrupt the city at some point, what is the theory of good government here?” Zakaria said.
He questioned whether expanding programs would resolve affordability issues.
“If the answer is, keep adding programs, the city will keep producing unaffordability, because unaffordability is what happens when government becomes a machine that grows faster than the society it governs.”
Zakaria also addressed housing policy proposals.
“Zohran Mamdani's basic instinct is correct. Focus on affordability, especially housing, but not by providing government subsidies, these only seem to have driven up the cost of rent as subsidies naturally do.”
He cited rental assistance spending increases.
“The city's rental assistance spending rose from 263 million in fiscal year 2020, to 1.3 4 billion in the most recently reported fiscal year. That is a five times increase in a handful of years. And housing costs only got worse.”
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Direct consequence of un-elected officials