Hedge fund executive Ken Griffin announced he is meeting with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani singled him out while advocating for a new tax on luxury real estate.
Reuters reports Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel LLC, was angry over Mamdani’s citing him in an online video advocating for a new tax on second homes worth over $5 million. Hochul proposed the tax, and Mandani shot his video outside of the Central Park South property where Griffin paid $238 million for a penthouse, a record-breaking price for a US residence.
“I think the willingness of a mayor of New York to make this a policy debate a personal attack, just demonstrated a profound lack of judgment,” Griffin said during a Norges Bank Investment Management conference in Oslo.
Griffin stated his meeting with Hochul will discuss the city’s future direction while questioning the socialist agenda pushed by Mamdani.
“Is New York going to put their fiscal house in order and run itself from a position of strong government that’s pro-business?” he said. “Why do Americans think we can do socialism?”
Mamdani has not backed down for using Griffin and his city residence.
“In a political environment where there is always an attempt to describe any increase in taxes as if it would be one that would apply to all, we wanted to make very clear that this applies to a very select group of properties,” he said to reporters on Friday.
I wonder why Mr.G. thought it was all about him, personally, and not about the insane money being paid for a second home? Why shouldn’t he pay taxes on it? It’s not about him. It’s about the money being paid for property in NYC, where the people that work in service, cleaning, cooking, delivering, repairing the streets and taking out the trash, so billionaires can enjoy a second home in a city worth visiting. Those service people are the care-takers of the city. Add all the artists, and people that have small businesses that are the heart of the culture that makes NYC special, the 99%. Half of those people can barely afford rent, food, gas and health care. Meanwhile, the poor billionaire whines that his name came up. He was probably thrilled by the publicity. He’s likely proud he owns a $238,000,000 penthouse. The whole world knows what he spent. What an exciting life! And his response is to sound like a crybaby? Clearly, the man lacks gratitude.
I always thought billionaires were special people. People who are intelligent and well-spoken. People who are masters at being constructive, thoughtful, sharp, creative adults. Indeed, some are. But between this post and having read emails in the Epstein files, it’s evident some billionaires are just insufferably lazy when it comes to decision making and communication. Thoughtlessly, like lightning, he threw down the “socialism” card bonzo gonzo. I’m old, and even I know that sound bite has bit the dust. Zero creativity.
I appreciate all Phil’s posts but I don’t think Mr. G. deserves this space.
He’s just going to build bigger and better in Florida in West Palm Beach