Week of September 22, 2025
Economic outcomes are substantially driven by policies that result from social or cultural priorities. To wit – Obamacare promised affordable, accessible healthcare, yet high premiums and limited networks left many disillusioned. The gap between rhetoric and reality offers a cautionary tale. In New York, Zohran Mamdani’s push for rent control and free bus rides carries the same risk: popular ideas with moral appeal, but costly trade-offs. Rent control can shrink housing supply, and free transit demands new funding. Like Obamacare, such plans may over-promise and under-deliver, straining resources while failing to solve the core problems. Our Signals remain unchanged.
Bob Bilkie, CFA
