Bill de Blasio Facts: 5 Crazy, Paranoid Things That Rich New Yorkers Have Said About the Next Mayor

Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, is currently up 40% in the polls, having excited the New York lefties tired of the rampant economic inequality and racial profiling that marked the Bloomberg years. But that doesn’t mean everyone is happy. De Blasio’s "Tale of Two Cities" rhetoric has angered many of the city's hyper-wealthy, who aren’t looking forward to paying higher taxes for dumb stuff like "affordable housing" and "education." Where are we, Stalinist Russia? Can someone who is not a billionaire effectively manage a city? Can you fathom having a mayor whose life does not revolve around going to philanthropy galas? These are the questions the wealthy are asking behind closed doors. Out in the open, they say things like:

1. "I fear for New York City if Mr. de Blasio gets elected."

"I fear for New York City if Mr. de Blasio gets elected," said Muffie Potter Aston. “He just wants to tax everyone to smithereens."

That’s right folks, de Blasio’s plan for a modest, less than 1% tax increase on those making more than $500,000 to pay for universal pre-K has ignited a new bout of class warfare! Have you seen the new Batman movie? That’s where we are headed if rich heiresses are forced to fork over 0.1%-0.5% of their income to give poor kids a chance at making it to the middle class.

2. "I've never understood why New Yorkers vote against their own interests."

Jacqueline Weld Drake says: "I’ve never understood why New Yorkers vote against their own interests. New York is a city of financial entrepreneurs, of genius stock traders and bankers. It would be a smart idea to keep it that way. It’s not a city that’s going to benefit from high taxes because people who have substantial incomes have a choice. They have a choice of venues. New Jersey beckons. Florida beckons. All kinds of other states who do better at job creation. We are really biting the hand that feeds us. No question about it."

Again, dear readers, we are talking about a less than 1% tax hike that may not happen, and even it if does, many rich people will most certainly circumvent it. Also, for the millions of parents of children who would benefit from the universal pre-K program, it’s definitely in their interests to vote for de Blasio. And Drake's bluff is to move to Florida? Whatever. Rich people should take a look at what’s in store for them down there.

3. Bill de Blasio's plan is "the most absurd thing I've ever heard."

E.E. "Buzzy" Geduld called de Blasio’s plan "the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard" and "not a smart thing to do."

It appears E.E. "Buzzy" Geduld clearly has not heard his own name said aloud, because that is actually the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard ("Buzzy?!") But the irony of this quote is that Geduld is a trustee of Manhattan’s Dalton School, where tuition is $40,000 a year (nearly the median household income of the U.S.) What’s worse is that research shows early childhood education is a great investment, and moderates like Ben Bernanke are happy to get behind it.

4. "Attract more poor people, and inequality will grow."

Harvard Professor Edward Glaeser writes, "Make New York City’s public sector far more generous to those at the bottom, and it will attract more poor people. Attract more poor people, and inequality will grow."

That’s right folks, as Mayor Bloomberg has explained, "We have made our shelter system so much better that, unfortunately, when people are in it — or fortunately, depending on what your objective is — it is a much more pleasurable experience than they ever had before," he said. In fact, the homeless shelters are so great, Bloomberg plans to take his next vacation in a homeless shelter, instead of his normal trip to Bermuda. After all, homeless shelters offer Barbara, a women interviewed by the New York Times, the following perks:

"Sometimes she takes a tote bag filled with dirty clothes to work to take to the laundromat afterward, she said, because the machines at the shelter are always either broken or being used. ... There is no escaping the noise and fitful sleep of a dormitory shared with eight other women."

In the Wall Street Journal, Nicole Lee describes the other fancy accoutrements of the "luxury" shelters:

"Oh my God, you got rats, holes in the wall, critters, water bugs, roaches. Some places are too hot, some are too cold. They don't let you have an AC so it gets real hot."

It’s more likely, as de Blasio has argued, that many people, even those working two jobs, simply have no other option because of the demise of affordable housing. 

5. Bill de Blasio's campaign is "racist."

The city's single richest man, who has been known to go by the alias El Bloombito, first claimed that the de Blasio campaign was "racist" and then argued, "The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people. They are the ones that pay the bills ... He's a very populist, very left-wing guy, but this city is not two groups, and if to some extent it is, it's one group paying for services for the other." And, to top it off, he said, "By most of the world's standards, you ain't poor."

So, to summarize, de Blasio is racist for marrying a black woman, rich bankers are the "makers" while subway workers are "takers," and all you homeless people, well, "You ain't poor."

Good riddance.