Feb 19 2026

Mamdani to Drain Rainy Day Fund AND Raise Taxes

Posted originally on Feb 19, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces he is “forced to raid the rainy day fund, retiree benefit trust reserve, and to increase property taxes” in order to keep the city on “firm financial footing”

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— America (@america) February 17, 2026

Here we go again. A city runs expansive social programs, expands spending, promises benefits, and then suddenly discovers a “budget crisis” that requires raiding reserves, tapping rainy day funds, drawing from retiree trusts, and raising property taxes to maintain so-called fiscal stability. New York City’s latest proposal openly admits it may withdraw nearly $1 billion from its rainy day fund, hundreds of millions from retiree health benefit trusts, and consider a roughly 9.5% property tax increase to close a multibillion-dollar deficit. This is not an emergency measure. This is the predictable outcome of policy trends I have repeatedly warned about, particularly in cities dominated by progressive and socialistic fiscal models.

I have written before about how politicians like Gavin Newsom and other liberal Democrats have also tapped rainy day funds during periods of economic stress while simultaneously expanding long-term obligations. The pattern is always the same: spend during the boom, blame external factors during the slowdown, and then drain reserves to avoid immediate political consequences. Rainy day funds are supposed to be buffers for recessions or crises, not routine financing tools to sustain structurally imbalanced budgets. Once governments normalize using reserves during periods of growth or mild deficits, they remove the very cushion needed when a true economic downturn arrives.

The mayor’s own budget framework acknowledges a significant fiscal gap and presents two paths: higher taxes on wealth and corporations or shifting the burden through property taxes and reserve withdrawals. You cannot continuously expand spending commitments while assuming tax revenues will keep pace indefinitely. That is not how economic cycles work. Capital is highly mobile, and as taxation rises, the tax base erodes.

Socialistic policy prioritizes redistribution and government expansion under the assumption that taxation can permanently fund rising obligations. In reality, economic confidence is the key driver of revenue. If policies discourage investment, business expansion, and high-income residency, the very tax base required to fund social programs begins to contract. Then governments are forced into the exact scenario we are seeing higher property taxes, reserve depletion, and political pressure for more state aid. Property taxes rise, services expand, costs escalate, and reserves shrink until a cyclical downturn exposes the imbalance.

Socialistic policies promoted by many progressive and socialist-leaning Democrats rest on the assumption that government can endlessly expand, redistribute, and intervene without consequence, as if economic cycles no longer apply. In the end, it is not markets that fail these systems, but the policy belief that government control can permanently override the business cycle.

Nov 4 2025

MARK LUCAS: New York City Is About To Elect A Foreign-Born Islamist Who Parades With Conspirators From The First World Trade Center Attack. Wake Up, America. What We Saw In Afghanistan Is Spreading To The West

Posted originally on Rumble on Bannon War Room on: November 3, 2025

Nov 3 2025

Bill Kristol for Mamdani?

Posted originally on Nov 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |

Bill Kristol not just as an individual but as a representative figure of the neoconservative network via his father, Irving Kristol. I know Bill, and we have been to dinner many times. He spoke at one of our conferences back in the 1990s, and he was not so neoconservative back then. He attempted to steal the election away from Trump by forcing it into the House to uphold the establishment. Most recently, Kristol made headlines for “endorsing” communist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

“He’s not going to destroy it, I don’t think. He’s gonna set up five silly government-run grocery stores, I guess. I don’t think he even will do that [inaudible]. And so they’ll be fine. So there’ll be some grocery store somewhere and it won’t be as good as the privately run ones, and it will go out of business in three years and it’ll be a little bit of a waste of taxpayer money, you know? Or it’ll be harmless, you know? And so people—I do think the right’s reaction to Mamdani has been a little hysterical. He’s a very impressive politician. I don’t know that he’s going to be a very good mayor. He’s 33 years old, he’s never run anything. They’re good people who could work for him though, in New York.”

Kristol is downplaying Mamdani’s destructive power he will unleash on the city of New York. The consequences will span further than a few failed grocery stores. Capital is fleeing the once great city of New York. Zohran Mamdani will be the death of New York City and the beginning of the end of democracy in America. If someone with his policies were to run even a decade ago, the world would have laughed him off. The extremist views on the left have pushed the blind masses to vote for the most extreme candidate, even if they dislike or fail to understand their views.

Socialists feed on increased taxation to support the welfare state, which comprises their voter base. They need people who are utterly dependent on big government to gain and maintain control. Equality to a Socialist means that everyone is equal in poverty. Not only does he want to raise property taxes, but he stated that “wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods” in New York City should disproportionately shoulder the majority of the tax burden.

Why would anyone want to conduct business in an environment that opposes capitalism? Why would anyone not living on the welfare state chose to live in a system where they are punished for productivity? Capital shifts alter society. Wall Street is fleeing to Miami. Government overreach, tax burden redistribution, welfare expansion, and collapse of civic order all lead to capital flight. The fact that someone like Mamdani could even be considered as a potential candidate is enough to cause capital to flee.

Confidence collapses when the money run dry. It is fascinating how the 309.6-year cycle, marked by the time when NYC was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1975, aligns precisely with the year NYC was founded in 1665. New York City will turn down sharply in 2026—51.6 years from the 1975 crisis. Blue states are at risk of big government socialism. Ponzi schemes always seem great in the beginning.

Oct 5 2025

WarRoom Battleground EP 863: LeoChurch in US authorizes first “gaywashed” bible and Germany in shock as INVADER shoves Ukrainian girl under train

Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 04, 2025

Oct 1 2025

Why Charlie Kirk Was Right to Warn Us Against the Rise of Islam in the West

Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: September, 30, 2025

Sep 10 2025

Repopulation is Turning the UK into a Muslim Nation

Posted originally on Sep 10, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |

The new Home Secretary of the United Kingdom is yet another reminder that the UK is a Muslim nation. Shabana Mahmood, a Pakistani woman, is now responsible for England and Wales’s internal affairs, including immigration, national security, and counter-terrorism measures. The issue is not that she is Muslim; rather, the issue is that open border policies have overwritten the history of the UK and permanently altered society.

This is not a one-off as all Muslims are taking office in all major political positions across the UK. The mayor of London, the mayor of Leeds, the mayor of Birmingham, the mayor of Sheffield, the mayor of Oxford– Luton, Oldham, Rochdale, Blackburn, Rotherham, and others—are all Muslim.

Around 46% of young people under 29 years of age in Britain are Muslim, compared to 29% of the general population. Muhammad has been the most popular baby name in the nation for several years. The 2021 England and Wales Census marked the first time that less than half of the population (46.2%; 27.5 million people) identified as Christian. Pew Research Center believes that Muslim women will have more children than Christian women by 2035, and Islam could become the most followed religion in the world. There is nothing inherently wrong with the religion of course, but it is understandable that people want to maintain their own nation’s traditions, religion, and morals.

Around 78% of the Muslim refugees in the UK do not work among the women, and 63% of male migrants also rely on government aid. About 8 in 10 Muslim refugees in the UK now receive free government housing. Asylum seekers are entitled to FREE healthcare from the National Health Service (NHS). “You may be able to get housing and money to support you and your family while you’re waiting to find out if you’ll be given asylum,” the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) promotes on its website. The NASS will pay for housing and free education for all migrants, even those who have been DENIED asylum.

The Labor Party under Starmer has agreed to increase government spending on migrants by 30% this year. Schools across the UK are required to provide Halal-only lunches to accommodate the rapidly growing Muslim population. According to the Halal Times, “The Halal certification process involves a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery, and windpipe, with the animal being alive and healthy at the time of slaughter. Blood must be fully drained from the carcass, and a Muslim must recite a dedication known as Tamiya or shahada during the slaughtering process.”

There were 1.6 million Muslims living in the UK in 2001. That figure rose to 4 million by 2024, and Muslims now account for 6.7% of England’s population and 2.2% of the population in Wales and Scotland. Repopulation theory is more of a tactic than a theory. Hence, leaders like Starmer are encouraging this massive demographic shift. As it stands, first-generation migrants will compose 25% of the UK’s population by 2035, according to the Centre for Migration Control, and the UK’s overall population will surge to 73 million. It may seem far off, but that is only a decade from now. All Build Back Better nations will be utterly unrecognizable thanks to repopulation tactics.