November 5, 2025 • 47 mins
Please text and tell us what you like
We unpack what Mamdani's win signals for New York’s markets and whether capitalism is shifting toward protectionism and cronyism rather than socialism. We weigh crime, taxes, housing, and transit funding against ratings risk, capital mobility, and the city’s tech-and-finance future.
• election results as the context for market sentiment
• is capitalism evolving or declining in practice
• Mamdani's platform and business community reaction
• crime and police leadership as talent retention drivers
• tax sensitivity, mobility, and slow erosion of the base
• federal protectionism and deal-by-deal policy volatility
• New York versus Texas, Florida, and Connecticut dynamics
• tech as the backbone of modern finance in New York
• housing rezoning as the fastest credible win
• MTA funding, congestion pricing, and cost overruns
• ratings agencies, borrowing limits, and fiscal guardrails
• near-term predictions for the council, midterms, and the House
Please listen for more podcasts thank you
Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None
Please check out our other podcasts:
https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com
Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve Davenport (00:26):
Hello everyone and welcome to Skeptics Guide to
investing.
We're here on November 5thafter the elections last night
and the mayor's race in in NewYork and the governor's race in
New Jersey , in Virginia.
And I'd say it was kind of asweep for the Democrats.
I think they are probably in inthose areas very hard to see
(00:51):
somebody really doing somethingdifferent.
So I'm not sure if it's avictory or if it's just kind of
life goes on as the same.
Today's topic is capitalism.
Are we redefining it or are weor is it declining?
And I think that we've seen somany things in the last six
(01:13):
months, nine months, twelvemonths that all make you think
that we're living in a differentworld now.
And the most, you know, thecapitalist city in the world,
the center of markets in NewYork City, , has decided on a
socialist born in Uganda whowants to give free buses and
(01:34):
universal care and set upgrocery stores in the five
boroughs.
So today we've got Fraser Ricewith us from Wealth actually,
and Frazier has been a guestwith us before, and he does a
tremendous job of looking outfor what's happening in the
world of wealth management andbeing in the heart of New York.
(01:55):
I thought it would be great tohave his opinion on some of
these issues.
So, Frazer, tell me, iscapitalism dying or is it in
such a great place now that themarkets are high that it doesn't
matter who the mayor is, he'snot a factor.
Frazer Rice (02:12):
Well, it's sort of a tough question in the sense
that it usually these thingsall get sort of adjudicated in
in the rearview mirror oncewe've had some sort of
perspective on it.
But just some thoughts onMandami and his election.
I you know that the I haven'tbeen able to totally troll
through the data, but it I Ithink a couple of things to take
(02:34):
for granted or take in mindhere.
N ber one, huge turnout andoverwhelming response from
young people, male and female,as far as being pro-Mandami,
which tells me that especiallyamongst college-educated types,
et cetera, his message ofaffordability and being able to
(02:58):
access the things that aregreat in the city resonated.
Uh he did not have to make astatement vis-a-vis how he would
pay for certain things.
And as a result, he, youknow, I think, you know, under
the you know sort of guise ofyou know someone who's
charismatic and attractive, etcetera, for a very popular
(03:20):
candidate, both at the primaryand at the general election.
You know, I think Cuomo, we Ithink we can all agree that one
name in the Democraticnational circles is now, I
think, officially dead.
I think the Cuomo brand isover.
Um and Curtis Sleewa was not,you know, he's just an oddity
and sort of an interestingpolitical candidate in a
(03:42):
extremely weak Republicansetting.
And so it was Mandami's totake.
And having gotten through therank choice voting gauntlet to
become the nominee, it was justa matter of time.
Uh, I think that as far as hisrelationship to the business
community, that is to bedefined.
Um, and I think he's trying tosay some of the right things.
I think now that he's elected,he can probably ease off the
(04:04):
base a little bit and have a bitmore of a conciliatory tone,
especially behind closed doors.
Um, I think the most importantthing, the thing that I'm
watching the most is how hedeals with the police
commissioner hire.
Uh, because Jessica Tisch is, Ithink, well regarded from the
police perspective.
(04:25):
I think from the highly moneyedperspective, she's one of them.
And if he's able to keep heron, I think he gets at least a
year or two of leeway in termsof crime.
Uh, and I think that's onething that people really focus
on as far as New York'seffectiveness in the capitalist
environment.
Um, I think across the river toNew Jersey, I think seeing
(04:48):
Democrat win the governorshipthere, , I think that signals
that whatever we thought thegains might have been from Tr p
in his election are particularto him and him alone and not
necessarily a marker or a seachange as far as electoral
politics in the Northeast andNew York in particular.
(05:09):
Um, and then, you know, I thinkas far as, you know, sort of
wealthy people saying, oh myGod, they're gonna, he's gonna
raise taxes and so on.
I don't see that happening,certainly this year, because
Governor Hulkel needs to bere-elected or, you know, try to
get re-elected in 2026.
I very much doubt she's gonnabe in a hurry to raise taxes on
New York City, a place that shedoes not come from.
(05:31):
She's Buffalo based.
And so as a result, I thinkanything sort of revolving
around that happens well after2026 and 2027-28.
Um, and that's where I wouldsort of focus my focus my lens
on it.
Uh, you know, the fact of thematter is also that you know,
New York City, and frankly, NewYork State runs as the financial
(05:54):
services industrial complexruns.
Uh, a gigantic fraction of thetax revenue comes directly from
that.
Uh, and it's no surprise that Ithink Connecticut and New
Jersey and other surroundingstates are licking their chops
as far as you know being ableto soak up some of the financial
services firms.
And then if you start thinkingabout sort of Palm Beach, Miami,
(06:15):
Tennessee, Texas, as otherplaces that have their eyes open
and are putting up billboardsin Manhattan saying, why are you
paying state income taxes?
That's out there too.
And I think Mundami, young ashe is, I think he has political
instincts that are to be, youknow, taken seriously.
And he he's not going to be ina hurry to blow all that up.
Uh, you know, when you see whenthe when the favorite meme is
(06:36):
that Florida's best realtor ofthe year is Mandami, because he
creates the situations forpeople to move, I think that's a
real thing.
Uh and that just to sort ofround out the monologue
slightly, I think Mandami'sgonna learn real quick how
things get funded or not funded.
And to drive out, maybe notthe billionaires, they're gonna
(07:00):
be mobile whether, you know, nomatter what happens, but to
drive out the the millionaires,the income earning class, not
the asset owning class, hereally sets himself up for a
problem.
Uh, and that ultimately thataffects things statewide, which
then gets back to his ability toborrow via you know municipal
bonds, et cetera.
(07:20):
And you know, those are a lotof very difficult lessons for a
33-year-old with limitedlegislative Albany experience
to learn, but he's gonna learnthem real quick.
Clem Miller (07:32):
So, Fraser, you answered one of my questions,
actually, my biggest questionalready, which was are we gonna
see an erosion of the tax base?
And it sounds like the answerto that is maybe not right away.
There might be some inanticipation, right, of taxes
later on.
Right.
Frazer Rice (07:49):
About right?
I think the the sort of theinstant case, and I think I've
I've sort of anecdotally seenthis, is that people who own
gigantic properties in New York,and I think this is happening
in London in advance of theirtax regime changes, are going
from say townhouse totwo-bedroom apartment.
Uh and I think there'sdownsizing to that as a way to
(08:11):
stage an ultimate exit once kidsare out of schools and all the
different life stages that havethat happen to, you know, for
people who ultimately thinkthey're gonna be bail out of New
York eventually, this is actingas a way to sort of begin
your phase out on that front andthen to eventually move.
(08:32):
Now, I would argue you'reprobably six months too late and
that some of the hysteria isalready baked in, and you know,
to get somebody to come in andbuy your $18 million townhouse
is gonna be somewhat tricky.
But at the same time, I Ithink that the tax base erosion
in general, I think that isit, I don't think that's a
(08:52):
near-term thing.
I think people who are you knowin hysterics and j ping up and
leaving, they're kind of they'regonna do that anyway.
Uh, but I think if you startgetting some conditions that
make capital formation andbusiness development and the
being able to earn you know,create headwinds with that
vis-a-vis crime, vis-a-visability to do business, be it
(09:15):
vis-a-vis being able to developproperties, that type of thing,
then I think you start seeingthe slow gears start to turn.
And if then if you you know addon to that sort of the
political window dressing of taxrates going up, then I think
you might see some accelerationthere.
Clem Miller (09:32):
So I think one of the key questions we wanted to
talk about in this broadcast is, you know, essentially, are we
sliding a little bit in thesocialist direction, , in you
know, away from sort of a morepure capitalist approach?
And you know, the reason we wepose that question is not just
(09:54):
because of the left, you know,the rise of Mamdani and AOC and
Bernie, , but also because youhave some, you know, within the
administration, the presidentpresident's administration,
Tr p's administration, you havea move towards ownership of
(10:17):
various you know strategiccompanies, you know, like in
rare earths and semiconductors,you know, minority stakes.
Uh you've got government, theTr p administration trying to
manage a deal with TikTok.
So you know, the question is,are we moving in the direction
(10:40):
of state ownership of theeconomy, or let's call it mixed.
You know, there's a phrasemixed ownership of the economy,
, away from something that'smore private sector focused
because of politicaldevelopments on either side.
Frazer Rice (10:55):
Yeah, I don't know if I'd call it sort of a secular
trend versus maybe a moretactical trend.
I think I would divide the twoinitiatives into two different
types of governmentintervention.
I would say the first onerelated to socialism and sort of
having command and controlfrom the government on down with
(11:17):
certain things.
I am more sanguine on thatnotion.
I think the way I woulddescribe it maybe differently is
that we are going into aprotectionist slash cronyist
type of environment at thefederal level.
Um, you know, I think it Tr p'spersonality and his, you know,
everything from tariffs toownership of things like Intel
(11:38):
to , you know, soybeans, sortof correcting a misstep there
because he, you know, sort oflooks at the political wins and
that didn't work.
I would I think we're in thatvein a little bit more than sort
of the socialist vein, becausehe's certainly not sort of
staffing the federal governmentwith experts to be able to have
a command and control type ofimpact on the overall
(12:02):
environment.
Uh Tr p, by virtue of being areal estate developer, is
deal-to-deal.
He's even he's week to week,not even quarter to quarter at
this point.
And so I I to say that he'sthat we're look going toward
like a China five-year planenvironment, I don't think we're
anywhere close to that.
Yeah.
But I do think, you know, thereare winners and losers.
And you know, that's as quicklyas you donate to the new East
(12:26):
Wing or you know, buy the latestcrypto offering.
And I I think the cronyistslash protectionist, depending
on you know how much you believein what's going on, that that's
the that's where we are at thefederal level.
Clem Miller (12:38):
Well, it it it's interesting that you bring up
cronyist because it kind ofreminds me, I don't know if you
remember back when Putin cameinto power around the turn of
the century, 2000 this turn ofthis century, right?
Where where when he came intopower, basically he called in
all the oligarchs and he said,Look, I'm gonna let you guys
(13:01):
make a lot of money.
In fact, I'm gonna give awaystate assets and let you guys
make a lot of money as long asyou don't criticize me or as
long as I can count on you to domy bidding.
And that sounds pretty muchexactly what Tr p's doing with
US oligarchs, especially inthe tech sector.
(13:23):
Sounds exactly the same.
Frazer Rice (13:25):
Just to add on to that, I mean, the what the
framework I use to analyze Tr pto the extent anybody can, , you
know, n ber one, it's to justsort of understand that, you
know, he's the disciple of RoyCohn, and that has its own
weirdness to it.
But I I view success in thiscountry usually along three
principles.
N ber one is currency, theother one is votes, and then
finally ratings.
(13:46):
I would give Tr p in generalmiddling marks on the dollars
and votes part, believe it ornot, even though politically
there's lots of evidence to say,you know, you don't know what
you're talking about, Frage.
But but he is aonce-in-250-year genius in terms
of ratings, and all of hissuccess comes from that.
(14:07):
Uh, and ultimately, I thinkthat's how he's running this
country and running the economy.
And, you know, that and it'sjust sort of results, contracts,
commitments, they don'tmatter.
They're all negotiable all thetime with him.
And you know, against thatbackdrop, that's it's very
difficult to plan for.
(14:28):
Uh, it's very difficult tobudget for, it's very difficult
to sort of you know look aroundcorners and try to understand,
you know, what you can count onand what you can't count on.
But , you know, ultimately, ifyou if you play into the ratings
game, , you know, I I thinkthat's the that's that's the
metric that he understands best.
Um, and if you operate in thatworld, you know, hopefully for
(14:51):
your sake, the votes and thedollars follow.
Uh, but in, you know, as wewere talking about before we
started recording, I think Ithink we're in sort of like this
Berlusconi post postmodernenvironment with new US
politics.
And so, you know, if you canrecover from certain things by
just getting past the news cycleas fast as possible, that's in
(15:13):
many ways how the economy'sbeing run.
Yeah, Burliscone.
Steve Davenport (15:17):
One thing that j ped out at me in terms of this
is the similarity between youknow the Hillary and Tr p first
election.
And I look at it and I say,Boy, you know what I mean?
It wasn't him winning as muchas it was her really doing a
poor job in terms of how sheattracted different voting
groups and how she listened towhat was happening on the
(15:38):
internet with fundraising andother things.
And I look at this situationand I'm sitting there saying, is
this what the Democrats aregoing to present as their
solution to pick a candidatewho's got all the sexual
innuendo and all the problems inhis background?
You'd say almost like theDemocrats wanted to present a
(15:59):
Tr p-like candidate to see ifthey could win.
And I I I don't know what thetest was, and I don't know why
it wasn't more important tothem, but they seem like if
everybody wants to characterize,and I'm sure that Tr p is going
to win from having M done,because basically you're just
saying, hey, we went as far leftas we could go, and we are away
(16:23):
from the norm, and thereforethat's where you know the
Democratic Party is going.
Frazer Rice (16:30):
Yeah, look, I I I think the Democratic Party has a
real has a real, I don't knowif I'd call it crisis, but they
they they have a real ideaissue.
And you know, while a lot ofRepublicans way back when you
had sort of the, let's call itthe fiscal conservatives,
socially liberal types, and thenit sort of morphed into the
hard right.
And then when Bush II kind ofopened up the spigot from a
(16:53):
spending perspective, then thethe the root system of fiscal
conservatives kind of went awaywith the Republican Party, and
you were left with the socialconservative components of it
as a as a way to hold your base.
I mean, I think the theDemocrats are kind of facing
that right now.
I the the the tent is so wideopen, the issue the being
(17:15):
everything to everybody all atonce component of the party is
such that they don't at themoment stand for anything.
And I think that allows, let'scall it, experiments at the
local level.
And I would call Mandami'swin an experiment in
democratic principles.
Uh, I I think the Democratsthat look at that and say, oh my
(17:36):
gosh, I mean, there's a reasonwhy Obama didn't endorse him.
There's a reason why HakeemJeffries didn't j p out and
endorse him.
It's because they aren't surethat, and there's lots of
precedent to say this is thecase.
They're not sure that New YorkCity is the rest of the country.
And their jobs in many ways areto sort of preside over the
party and to make sure thatthey're relevant nationwide and
(17:58):
that they present an interestingalternative to whatever
candidacy the Republicans putforward.
I'm ass ing it's Vance at themoment, but you know, Tr p, they
say he's gonna try to do it.
I find that constitutionallydubious, if not necessarily
clear.
Um, but the the party, theDemocratic Party is in a period
(18:19):
of experimentation right now.
And , I mean, I think I thinkthey have to feel heartened that
the the sugar high of thelast election with Tr p seems to
be off, and that you know then bers are such that at least in
New York and Virginia, and youknow, it looks like California
is gonna win with theredistricting plan and New
(18:40):
Jersey, that there are somesuccesses there that they can
build off of, , and that that'ssomething that that points to a
better midterm outcome than theymay have had before.
But , you know, I think thelong-term component is that
until they have, for lack of abetter words, like a contract of
America that Gingrich came upwith, or a somebody who
(19:02):
embodies a broad stroke ofpeople and is able to articulate
and get people excited and soon, , you know, Newsom AOC,
manual.
I've heard that name pop backup.
And you know, those are peoplewho are who sense the vacu and
want it, but you know, whetherwhether they are the solution to
the Democratic problems on thatside, I don't know about that.
(19:25):
But that's that's what theDemocrats are wrestling with.
I think the ideas component ofit has just gotten so mashed up
that that the you know the thethe experimentation at the
local level are going to bekicking at things until they
grasp onto some ideas.
And it's something they have tograsp on to very quickly
because these midterms are vitalfor them going forward.
(19:49):
I I mean if I'm kind of a Ilike divided government, so I I
well the you know thetraditional Republican me,
Republican in me sort of says,well, I don't know if I want
this, but the idea of having ahouse controlled by the
Democrats to offset what's goingon at the with the rest of the
federal level is appealing to mein terms of sort of laying
(20:27):
out some accountability, whetherlearn it or not.
Um, but at the by the sametoken, I I think that I
wouldn't ass e it's there.
Uh and that, you know, eitherturbocharge gerrymandering
efforts or others that don'tprotect that Republican
majority, and then you haveanother two years of essentially
the same type of governmentthat we're feeling right now.
Steve Davenport (20:50):
Yeah, it it just feels to me like we if if
you were the the the king of theDemocratic Party and you said
it would be really good for usto win back New Yorkers and win
back the idea that Democrats cancoexist and and and thrive and
in endorsing the markets andendorsing the industry of
(21:12):
finance.
You know, right now it seemslike if I were Jamie Diamond
opening up a $59 millionheadquarters in New York City, I
I gotta think it's you knowit's not an the place he once
wanted it to be two years ago orthree years ago when he started
(21:32):
building this campus.
Frazer Rice (21:34):
Yeah, no question.
I think look, I mean, theydon't have buyers or boars.
I mean, this has been a 15-yearplan of his essentially to get
that skyscraper up.
And he actually, you know,COVID was the biggest favor of
him ever because that he had abunch of empty streets, he could
take down the old building veryquickly.
But yeah, I think he looks atNew York and says, look, you
know, what are we doing here?
I I I need to be able to staffthis thing, and I need to be
(21:58):
able to have the best andbrightest come here.
And I need for the capitalmarkets, the international
capital markets, to look at NewYork and and be that beacon on a
hill to borrow you know somepolitical phrasing from way
back, , so that we are theones that are attracting the
capital and we're the ones thatare advising on it so that we
(22:18):
can drive our revenues.
But it's no secret that youknow Dallas has got more
employees than New York does forJP Morgan.
Steve Davenport (22:25):
And , you know, they I I think that , you know,
as as do you think thispromotes the Texas becoming the
new marketplace?
Um it's already happening.
Yeah, I know it's happening,but it it feels like to me this
is going to be an acceleratorfor the relocation of markets to
(22:45):
Texas.
Frazer Rice (22:46):
I don't take it as feta comply that Texas is
where everything shows up, orthat Miami or think I think it
will just diffuse according toyou know the particular, let's
call it regional needs of thesedifferent institutions.
I don't think you need to run awealth management firm out of
New York to be particularlycompetitive to a national client
(23:06):
base, for instance.
But I do think you know theinvestment banking world
probably needs to center aroundNew York in order to deal with
worldwide interests, , youknow, whether you're London or
Kyrgyzstan or wherever, theythey got to come to New York to
do it.
You can't have that run out ofNashville.
Steve Davenport (23:26):
The regulations and the ideas of Texas, I mean,
I really do think they have apoint about how how do we access
capital and how do we getthings you know started and
incorporating in Texas for a lotof oil companies and a lot of
other companies is now making,you know.
I mean, I think that Austin hasbecome a chip headquarters, and
(23:47):
I think that there is atechnology side to this that I
think people are missing.
And my my only thing is I wentto school in New York, I love
New York, I think it's a greatcity, I think the arts and the
the things there, but if we doso many, if you keep making
mistakes, I guess I would sayhow do we know that somebody
(24:08):
couldn't, you know.
Um I mean, I I don't know howyou turn and make New York more
favorable when you're gonna havea government that is going to
be almost you know the oppositein terms of how they're gonna
want to treat the averagecitizen and and who they're
gonna be.
I mean, the affordable housingisn't gonna help Wall Street.
Frazer Rice (24:29):
Well, look, I mean, I think that , you know, if
you're a business thinking aboutlocating in New York, I think
you have to sort of understandthe costs of doing business
here.
Everyone already kind of doesalready, and say, you know, it's
probably gonna go up.
Uh, can I house my people?
Can they be close by?
Uh, you know, Greenwich is ahedge fund haven for a reason.
And , you know, New Jersey iswhere pharma ultimately went for
(24:51):
reasons.
Uh, and people migrate down toFlorida and Texas.
And manufacturing hasn't been asignificant thing in sort of
the New York City area in a verylong time for all these
different reasons that we'retalking about.
The important thing for NewYork, I think, and this was
really a great legacy ofBloomberg, was the positioning
or sidestepping over to techand the Googles and et cetera,
(25:14):
and attracting them as as WallStreet 2.0 in many ways.
And so I if I were reallyworried about New York, and I am
because I'm a live here and Iwant it to be good and you know,
I don't want my taxes to go upanymore than they have to, and
all that stuff, like if I startseeing tech companies wander
away because it's just not whatit needs to be in service of
(25:36):
them, you know, apart from whatthey do on the left coast,
then that's when you startsaying, okay, something really
significant is here.
Because we are now, I mean, NewYork is sort of pressing the,
you know, retreating from workfrom home and get back to the
office and all that stuff.
Um, if the and the techcompanies are sort of the major
(25:57):
manifestation of that, and WallStreet is gonna fall in line
very quickly.
If the tech underpinning ofWall Street's economy weakens,
that's a disaster because thatthat that is the next 50 years,
that is the next hundred years.
I mean, it's you know, Wyomingis the crypto state, and you
know, Texas is oil and gas, andFlorida is whatever it is,
(26:20):
besides tourism.
But , you know, New York is thefinancial capital of the world
and finance is tech at thispoint.
And so if that weakens, thenthen you've then the diffusion,
I think, accelerates, and , youknow, the critical mass that
sort of powers the city and thestate in terms of business, that
that that's when you startseeing you know the light bulb
(26:41):
flicker, and that's not great.
Clem Miller (26:43):
So so Fraser, , I I would characterize Mom Donnie
as in large part a reaction toTr p.
Um that's how I wouldcharacterize it.
I mean, there are otherspecific New York elements to
it, but I think he's more orless a reaction to Tr p.
The question then becomeswhat'll happen?
(27:06):
You know, what what will MomDani's election trigger in terms
of future opposition to him?
I mean, where are we gonna gonext?
You know, what what what'sgonna be the trend in New York?
There's not gonna be a secondMamdani, I don't think, right?
I mean, what what follows MamDani?
Frazer Rice (27:22):
Well, you know, let's go back to how New York is
funded.
Uh and it's funded at the NewYork City level that drives most
of the tax revenue.
And then, you know, the fundingdecisions around New York
really happen at the statelevel.
Uh, if you see an issue withMandami where crime goes up, the
standard of living goes down,, he doesn't come through on
(27:46):
affordability, that type ofthing.
Uh the Republican Party is soweak in New York City at this
point that the you know, the theopposition will come from
within the Democratic Party, andthey'll you know, that centrist
person, whomever that is, , youknow, if they make any sort of
pro-business gestures or youknow, are able to deliver some
(28:07):
sort of achievement aroundincreasing housing and you know
the different components on thatfront, , then you know, I think
that's that's where it's gonnahappen.
Um but you know, all of whichis to say that you know, if you
come out on the backside of itand Mandami, you know, somehow,
you know, his policies quoteunquote work, which I don't
think they will, but let's saythat there are successes that he
(28:30):
can point to, you know, the thethe world, the way the world is
set up, it's just not in withrank choice voting and those
types of things, you have toreally split hairs in order to
distinguish yourself from thecurrent incoming candidate.
And I think once he get learnsand learns how to, you know,
raise real money for things thatare larger than the current
(28:53):
election, and he starts gettingused to getting driven around
New York and things like that.
I suspect there's gonna be abit of a softening.
And then, you know, the worldof compromise is gonna the the
job of mayor of New York is thetoughest political job in the
country, including president ofthe United States.
He is in front of people withsevere opinions and real
(29:15):
issues all the time.
And you that there just aren'tenough buffers for that, and
that wears on you.
So I think there's gonna be abit of a softening of his of
his stances in order to try toget things done.
Um is that good, good or badfor New York?
I'm not sure.
Steve Davenport (29:35):
The the thing that I find very intriguing is
the connection between a Mandaniand a de Blasio.
I mean, are they reallydifferent or are they kind of
just a 2.0 of the same ideathat we need to give more, we
need to do more, we need to helpmore of the people in the city?
And he he was able to somehowgenerate the idea that he was
(29:57):
the solution.
And I think Mandani kind ofstepped in his shoes and moved
it even a little bit further tothe left.
But I guess I wonder, is thereanything in his record or in his
candidacy that you say, youknow, he he may be a little bit
left on this and this, but he'she's right on in terms of how
he's talking to voters and howhe's trying to get them to see a
(30:21):
different city.
Because I I think New Yorksurvived De Blasio, who I
thought was perhaps one of theworst mayors ever, but maybe,
you know, maybe there'ssomething there that you know
I'm missing.
Frazer Rice (30:34):
Uh yeah, I'm missing it too.
Uh, you know, from a puresubstance portion of his
message, you know, it's sort ofyou know.
five new five co-op grocerystores and free buses and
universal this or that and taxtax hikes on billionaires that
that's kind of that that that'sthat's his agenda and then other
(30:55):
than that you know I I wantmore housing and it's gonna be
union built and all that thatthat's it the I mean why
would so many people fall forthat kind of like if we have an
intelligent electorate what whatwhat would lead them to go past
(31:15):
the simple question of wellwell how are we gonna pay for I
well so first of all peopledon't care how that gets paid
for I think they just sort ofass e that it magically happens
and you know that New York Citydoesn't print money it borrows
money at the you know the behestof the people who are willing
to lend it to them but theythey're not in charge of the
dollar and just doesn'tmagically appear that's where
(31:38):
you get back into sort of a beamdays and Ford goes to city drop
dead we're not guaranteeingyour payment that that's
ultimately what happens if youreally turn the dial all the way
the wrong way and you overspendto the point that it's not
supported by any revenuebecause states have to balance
their budgets cities do too etcI I I think look he's young
(32:00):
and untested without muchaccomplishment sort of
surrounding him and so there'slet without that there's not
much to really parse through andcriticize and so you wrap that
up into a charismatic packagethe right person for the right
moment and people are I'mreally overstating what I think
(32:22):
the zeitgeist is doing but ifpeople are willing to give him a
chance as sort of retributionagainst what's happening at the
federal level then you knowthat that's that's part of the
emotion that people are sort oftaking taking with it from a
when they go to the ballot boxso you you mentioned borrowing
which raises an interestingquestion actually two related
(32:43):
questions one is does heactually does would momdani
actually be able to control howmuch is borrowed or is that is
the comptroller of New Yorksort of more independent I think
the controller has moreindependence over that the
because absent that then youknow mayor adams would have
borrowed he would have borrowedeverything in order to and you
(33:06):
would have you know the the thegiveaways would be infinite if
there was control at the mayorlevel.
Clem Miller (33:13):
And then the second question I have about same same
general issue is how muchbuffer does he have before the
rating agencies start reallydowngrading big time New York
City?
Frazer Rice (33:27):
So I think that I again I give him a year on
that front because I think thatthe you know the budgets are
strained currently and youknow that that that happens if
he starts spending willy-nillyon a variety of different
giveaways and he's able tohe's able to extract that at the
(33:52):
state level from Holkel thenyou know I think he's got some
buffer to work with but I thinkthat leash is real short and
the Holkel needs to getreelected in 2026 she's in no
hurry to raise taxes at thecity level where she needs she's
not from New York City she'sfrom Buffalo and and she's an
(34:15):
outsider in that environment andso she can't be you know sort
of raising taxes in order to payfor things that don't really
help her very much they'rebetter for Mamdami's political
benefit that to me is the realthat that's the real
go-between there you know as faras rating agencies you know
ultimately they're gonna lookand say look if you're spending
125 billion and you're onlytaking in 110 that's not great
(34:39):
and you know if you persistin that over a couple of cycles
then that's really not great.
Ultimately I think the three ofus would agree the the pen hits
the paper when they miss apayment.
And I think there are a lot ofvested interests not only
Mamdami but Hochul and lots ofother people who just can't have
that happen.
(34:59):
Uh and that message will getback to Mamdami saying look you
know this is great and all butyou if you do this you you're
not gonna be mayor for muchlonger.
Clem Miller (35:09):
So is there going to be now I know that there's
been some talk of New York stateredistricting of congressional
districts I don't think if I'mnot mistaken they can't do it
before 26 or maybe they can ifthey found a way to do it.
But I was asking I wasthinking more specifically about
(35:29):
Staten Island.
I heard something about aboutsome effort to try to make
make Staten Island moredemocratic.
Frazer Rice (35:37):
Sure.
So the redistricting animalrises up all the time there was
a one plan that got struck downby the courts for being overly
tailored.
And so you know nationallyspeaking when you hear about
Republicans redistricting Texasto get more seats they you know
they say well what about NewYork?
They they did it too so much sothat the neutral court said
(35:58):
this was crazy.
Um and so that thatconstantly happens and so the
you know if you look at the waythe lines are drawn that they're
just the the gerrymanderingthat that really is the if I
were to sort of say one thingthat scares me the most about
the future of this country it'sthe prevalence of the you know
the gerrymandering to sort ofcement in vested interests for
(36:19):
a very long period of time.
The you know I I I think atthe moment yeah Staten Island
they they may you know try tostick some you know take part
of Brooklyn and you know wedgethat in there and make that part
of the the voting component.
But I'm in the very shortterm I don't think that's gonna
(36:42):
be a huge deal you know Ithink there will be some
gestures to try to you know ekeout another district or two at
the Democratic level within thestate the larger question is is
that New York state actuallyloses is has been losing
Congress people over the last 10to 20 years as they flee in
theory to go to Florida andwarmer states or the growth
(37:06):
doesn't catch up or what haveyou that that to me is a
larger issue you know and thenit's sort of for a different
podcast maybe it's sort of theidea of you know how New York
City versus the rest of New YorkState and how does that align
with it you know is it reallytwo different states in terms of
what they need from the federalgovernment at all yeah we
(37:28):
could go that that doesn't hitthe capitalism part too closely.
Steve Davenport (37:33):
Yeah just wanted to add on one question
though regarding the debt andthe subway I mean is it is there
a a path forward that doesn'treally decimate the balance
sheet in of of New York City?
Frazer Rice (37:47):
I mean how is the subway treated is that separate
debt from the city debt or yesso the MTA which is jointly
controlled by New York NewJersey is the they're they're
the the that's what pays for thesubway and the transportation
infrastructure and and thosetypes of things you know the
(38:09):
congestion pricing was the wayto fill the gaps on that that
I guess is going to continue Imean Tr p comes in and says oh
I'm gonna outlaw it or whateverI I I really don't think that's
gonna happen but I I've beenwrong before I you know for
things like capital projects andgeneral maintenance and so on
(38:31):
it it the money has to comefrom somewhere and the idea that
congestion pricing you knowpeople who are driving cars etc
help to fund that I I couldenvision an expansion of
congestion pricing to try to youknow sort of improve the
subways and the other parts ofthe infrastructure that are
important it just seemsfunny to me to not say free
(38:53):
transportation you say freebuses and I don't know why the
subway like isn't in like I I Inever liked using the bus
because there was too much aboveground traffic but maybe New
York's a different place now.
But you know I the free busesI mean I take the business yep
(39:13):
and so you know that's a youknow it it it's really gonna be
end up being kind of a amoving of shells in order to
pay for one thing you're gonnahave to take from something
else.
Uh you know and keep in mindtoo capital projects you know I
don't know if this is the rightn ber but it seems like it costs
2x to 3x more to do anything inNew York versus anywhere else.
(39:35):
And so you know to doanything to actually improve
situations is extremelyexpensive.
And you know the the the actualcost of upgrading things and
sort of taking a switchingsystem that that is turn of the
century and making it modern tobe one way to sort of improve
things and by turn of thecentury I mean 1900 not 2000
(39:57):
the it's just a real problemand so the you know where does
the money come from when you'redealing with you know Ben
billions and billions andbillions and billions of dollars
if you if you're coming out ofthe same AMTA and you're gonna
take less income it feels likeyour capital projects are going
to be less capable you knowyou're gonna be less able to
achieve them unless you come upwith a some new revenue source.
Steve Davenport (40:19):
And I don't think that the people in New
York feel like they you knowwant to become another revenue
source.
Frazer Rice (40:26):
No and then and that that underscores I mean
again the the that is sort of adeath by a thousand cuts problem
where you know you're not goingto see these things sort of
manifest themselves instantlybut if you take that in
conjunction with a decline instandard of living manifested by
crime then that's when peoplesay you know do I really want to
(40:47):
have my kids educated here oris it just easier to head off to
Westchester County or FairfieldCounty or New Jersey or a
different state to build my lifeif I think that you know in
in in general, you know, whenwhen people feel like the
government is taking you forgranted, that's when you're in
deep trouble if you're anelected official.
And you know Mundami's goingto have a little grace period on
(41:09):
that, but not long, I don'tthink okay we got about three
minutes left.
Steve Davenport (41:15):
Does everybody want to kind of make their like
believe that you know Mundamiseems like a one term I don't
see it as a long term going tobe good for the community to
have somebody who wants toredistribute more money when
there's so many fiscal problemswith New York as it's currently
constructed.
(41:35):
So I think he's gonna face realproblems in the crime rate and
real problems in thetransportation updates he's
trying to make so I think he'sgonna make it a less livable
place and once they start to seesome of that tax revenue
leaving as I know it's beenleaving over the last 10 years,
but I could see it definitelypick up as people just say I
(41:57):
want to go to a different placewhere I think it's more aligned
with my values.
What are you two guys think ins mary about Mandani and his
long or short term I would agreewith you Steve.
Clem Miller (42:09):
I think it's one term I also have a fear that
you know Trump is going to usehim as the symbol of the
Democratic Party in general andthe Democrats what they have to
do is they have to leverage allthe other things that they
achieved yesterday.
When you take Mamdani out ofthe equation really yesterday
(42:31):
was a victory not just forDemocrats but for I would say
independence as well so I meanbasically for anybody who's not
MAGA I think yesterday was abig victory.
It's just that the Mamdanithing is sort of the downside of
that because he could usethat he and my MAGA could use
(42:52):
that to paint you know allDemocrats with a brush I think
those are two heavily democraticAir states though so I wouldn't
I don't know if I could declarea big victory because I think
those states didn't go for Tr pand probably wouldn't have right
well it what was interestingwas that even in Georgia I
don't know if you saw in Georgiathere were three I know this
(43:14):
sounds kind of silly publicservice commissioners right
but I I think well you wouldknow better than I what a public
service commissioner is Stevebut my understanding is that
they're pretty big officials atthe local level from what I
heard and three three formerRepublican public service
(43:34):
commissioner roles went toDemocrats yesterday and so I
think that's you know considerthat's more significant to me
than the New Jersey governmentbeing Democrat which is why I
bring it up I know I like thatFraser do you have more comment
on Modami short term long termwhat it's really tough to say
long term because you just don'tknow but I I I think that he as
(43:58):
I said before the thing I'mwatching the most is is who he
ends up hiring as policecommissioner.
Frazer Rice (44:04):
If he if Tisch sticks around he gets two years
on crime I think and then thatlets him focus on other things.
The other thing is in side noteis that three initiatives to
sort of speed up rezoning forhousing went but were passed
yesterday in New York City.
If if I'm advising Mandami Iwould pour all of my efforts
(44:30):
into housing rezoning and andto get as much built or as many
shovels in the ground aspossible so that he can point to
some sort of win economicallythat is in line with his in
line with his principles, whichis to get more people housed as
cheaply as possible as possible.
And I you know if he's ableto do that then I think he gets
(44:55):
even more bandwidth and you knowif he you know if he came out
of the mirror if he came outfour years from now and said I
was able to get 5000 units builthe wins.
Simple as that.
I mean that that's one of thethe real unsolvables in New
York City and if he's able toarticulate a solution to that I
(45:15):
think you know I it it's a winfor everybody.
Um all that to say I I thinkthe other big takeaway is that
the the imagery that a Tr p ledsort of MAGA effort made huge
inroads into a variety ofdifferent minority groups from
as a voting block I think is anillusion or or certainly more
(45:39):
muted than was sort ofdeclared at the last election
and that that is the part that Ithink will be interesting to
watch going forward into themidterms.
So and if I have a predictionwhich is usually a horrible
idea because they're minor go goshort it run the other way I
I do think the Democrats win theHouse by like one vote or you
(46:03):
know one seat and then and thenthe final two years of Tr p
are quite a bit differentbecause every step is going to
be challenged and it's gonnatake four times as much energy
for him to do what he's beentrying to do recently.
Steve Davenport (46:21):
Thank you Frazier this has been a great
call glad to always great totalk to you no it's this is a
treat.
Frazer Rice (46:29):
I love doing it and I hope I pass the audition
for the next one.
Steve Davenport (46:33):
Yes we're always on the calendar every six
months and we we reallyappreciate you Fraser and and
we look forward to some of yourthings and coming back and
talking again about New YorkCity because it is key to the
financial services in the UnitedStates.
So thanks everyone hope youenjoy this and please listen for
more podcasts thank you
Hello everyone and welcome to Skeptics Guide to
investing.
We're here on November 5thafter the elections last night
and the mayor's race in in NewYork and the governor's race in
New Jersey , in Virginia.
And I'd say it was kind of asweep for the Democrats.
I think they are probably in inthose areas very hard to see
(00:51):
somebody really doing somethingdifferent.
So I'm not sure if it's avictory or if it's just kind of
life goes on as the same.
Today's topic is capitalism.
Are we redefining it or are weor is it declining?
And I think that we've seen somany things in the last six
(01:13):
months, nine months, twelvemonths that all make you think
that we're living in a differentworld now.
And the most, you know, thecapitalist city in the world,
the center of markets in NewYork City, , has decided on a
socialist born in Uganda whowants to give free buses and
(01:34):
universal care and set upgrocery stores in the five
boroughs.
So today we've got Fraser Ricewith us from Wealth actually,
and Frazier has been a guestwith us before, and he does a
tremendous job of looking outfor what's happening in the
world of wealth management andbeing in the heart of New York.
(01:55):
I thought it would be great tohave his opinion on some of
these issues.
So, Frazer, tell me, iscapitalism dying or is it in
such a great place now that themarkets are high that it doesn't
matter who the mayor is, he'snot a factor.
Frazer Rice (02:12):
Well, it's sort of a tough question in the sense
that it usually these thingsall get sort of adjudicated in
in the rearview mirror oncewe've had some sort of
perspective on it.
But just some thoughts onMandami and his election.
I you know that the I haven'tbeen able to totally troll
through the data, but it I Ithink a couple of things to take
(02:34):
for granted or take in mindhere.
N ber one, huge turnout andoverwhelming response from
young people, male and female,as far as being pro-Mandami,
which tells me that especiallyamongst college-educated types,
et cetera, his message ofaffordability and being able to
(02:58):
access the things that aregreat in the city resonated.
Uh he did not have to make astatement vis-a-vis how he would
pay for certain things.
And as a result, he, youknow, I think, you know, under
the you know sort of guise ofyou know someone who's
charismatic and attractive, etcetera, for a very popular
(03:20):
candidate, both at the primaryand at the general election.
You know, I think Cuomo, we Ithink we can all agree that one
name in the Democraticnational circles is now, I
think, officially dead.
I think the Cuomo brand isover.
Um and Curtis Sleewa was not,you know, he's just an oddity
and sort of an interestingpolitical candidate in a
(03:42):
extremely weak Republicansetting.
And so it was Mandami's totake.
And having gotten through therank choice voting gauntlet to
become the nominee, it was justa matter of time.
Uh, I think that as far as hisrelationship to the business
community, that is to bedefined.
Um, and I think he's trying tosay some of the right things.
I think now that he's elected,he can probably ease off the
(04:04):
base a little bit and have a bitmore of a conciliatory tone,
especially behind closed doors.
Um, I think the most importantthing, the thing that I'm
watching the most is how hedeals with the police
commissioner hire.
Uh, because Jessica Tisch is, Ithink, well regarded from the
police perspective.
(04:25):
I think from the highly moneyedperspective, she's one of them.
And if he's able to keep heron, I think he gets at least a
year or two of leeway in termsof crime.
Uh, and I think that's onething that people really focus
on as far as New York'seffectiveness in the capitalist
environment.
Um, I think across the river toNew Jersey, I think seeing
(04:48):
Democrat win the governorshipthere, , I think that signals
that whatever we thought thegains might have been from Tr p
in his election are particularto him and him alone and not
necessarily a marker or a seachange as far as electoral
politics in the Northeast andNew York in particular.
(05:09):
Um, and then, you know, I thinkas far as, you know, sort of
wealthy people saying, oh myGod, they're gonna, he's gonna
raise taxes and so on.
I don't see that happening,certainly this year, because
Governor Hulkel needs to bere-elected or, you know, try to
get re-elected in 2026.
I very much doubt she's gonnabe in a hurry to raise taxes on
New York City, a place that shedoes not come from.
(05:31):
She's Buffalo based.
And so as a result, I thinkanything sort of revolving
around that happens well after2026 and 2027-28.
Um, and that's where I wouldsort of focus my focus my lens
on it.
Uh, you know, the fact of thematter is also that you know,
New York City, and frankly, NewYork State runs as the financial
(05:54):
services industrial complexruns.
Uh, a gigantic fraction of thetax revenue comes directly from
that.
Uh, and it's no surprise that Ithink Connecticut and New
Jersey and other surroundingstates are licking their chops
as far as you know being ableto soak up some of the financial
services firms.
And then if you start thinkingabout sort of Palm Beach, Miami,
(06:15):
Tennessee, Texas, as otherplaces that have their eyes open
and are putting up billboardsin Manhattan saying, why are you
paying state income taxes?
That's out there too.
And I think Mundami, young ashe is, I think he has political
instincts that are to be, youknow, taken seriously.
And he he's not going to be ina hurry to blow all that up.
Uh, you know, when you see whenthe when the favorite meme is
(06:36):
that Florida's best realtor ofthe year is Mandami, because he
creates the situations forpeople to move, I think that's a
real thing.
Uh and that just to sort ofround out the monologue
slightly, I think Mandami'sgonna learn real quick how
things get funded or not funded.
And to drive out, maybe notthe billionaires, they're gonna
(07:00):
be mobile whether, you know, nomatter what happens, but to
drive out the the millionaires,the income earning class, not
the asset owning class, hereally sets himself up for a
problem.
Uh, and that ultimately thataffects things statewide, which
then gets back to his ability toborrow via you know municipal
bonds, et cetera.
(07:20):
And you know, those are a lotof very difficult lessons for a
33-year-old with limitedlegislative Albany experience
to learn, but he's gonna learnthem real quick.
Clem Miller (07:32):
So, Fraser, you answered one of my questions,
actually, my biggest questionalready, which was are we gonna
see an erosion of the tax base?
And it sounds like the answerto that is maybe not right away.
There might be some inanticipation, right, of taxes
later on.
Right.
Frazer Rice (07:49):
About right?
I think the the sort of theinstant case, and I think I've
I've sort of anecdotally seenthis, is that people who own
gigantic properties in New York,and I think this is happening
in London in advance of theirtax regime changes, are going
from say townhouse totwo-bedroom apartment.
Uh and I think there'sdownsizing to that as a way to
(08:11):
stage an ultimate exit once kidsare out of schools and all the
different life stages that havethat happen to, you know, for
people who ultimately thinkthey're gonna be bail out of New
York eventually, this is actingas a way to sort of begin
your phase out on that front andthen to eventually move.
(08:32):
Now, I would argue you'reprobably six months too late and
that some of the hysteria isalready baked in, and you know,
to get somebody to come in andbuy your $18 million townhouse
is gonna be somewhat tricky.
But at the same time, I Ithink that the tax base erosion
in general, I think that isit, I don't think that's a
(08:52):
near-term thing.
I think people who are you knowin hysterics and j ping up and
leaving, they're kind of they'regonna do that anyway.
Uh, but I think if you startgetting some conditions that
make capital formation andbusiness development and the
being able to earn you know,create headwinds with that
vis-a-vis crime, vis-a-visability to do business, be it
(09:15):
vis-a-vis being able to developproperties, that type of thing,
then I think you start seeingthe slow gears start to turn.
And if then if you you know addon to that sort of the
political window dressing of taxrates going up, then I think
you might see some accelerationthere.
Clem Miller (09:32):
So I think one of the key questions we wanted to
talk about in this broadcast is, you know, essentially, are we
sliding a little bit in thesocialist direction, , in you
know, away from sort of a morepure capitalist approach?
And you know, the reason we wepose that question is not just
(09:54):
because of the left, you know,the rise of Mamdani and AOC and
Bernie, , but also because youhave some, you know, within the
administration, the presidentpresident's administration,
Tr p's administration, you havea move towards ownership of
(10:17):
various you know strategiccompanies, you know, like in
rare earths and semiconductors,you know, minority stakes.
Uh you've got government, theTr p administration trying to
manage a deal with TikTok.
So you know, the question is,are we moving in the direction
(10:40):
of state ownership of theeconomy, or let's call it mixed.
You know, there's a phrasemixed ownership of the economy,
, away from something that'smore private sector focused
because of politicaldevelopments on either side.
Frazer Rice (10:55):
Yeah, I don't know if I'd call it sort of a secular
trend versus maybe a moretactical trend.
I think I would divide the twoinitiatives into two different
types of governmentintervention.
I would say the first onerelated to socialism and sort of
having command and controlfrom the government on down with
(11:17):
certain things.
I am more sanguine on thatnotion.
I think the way I woulddescribe it maybe differently is
that we are going into aprotectionist slash cronyist
type of environment at thefederal level.
Um, you know, I think it Tr p'spersonality and his, you know,
everything from tariffs toownership of things like Intel
(11:38):
to , you know, soybeans, sortof correcting a misstep there
because he, you know, sort oflooks at the political wins and
that didn't work.
I would I think we're in thatvein a little bit more than sort
of the socialist vein, becausehe's certainly not sort of
staffing the federal governmentwith experts to be able to have
a command and control type ofimpact on the overall
(12:02):
environment.
Uh Tr p, by virtue of being areal estate developer, is
deal-to-deal.
He's even he's week to week,not even quarter to quarter at
this point.
And so I I to say that he'sthat we're look going toward
like a China five-year planenvironment, I don't think we're
anywhere close to that.
Yeah.
But I do think, you know, thereare winners and losers.
And you know, that's as quicklyas you donate to the new East
(12:26):
Wing or you know, buy the latestcrypto offering.
And I I think the cronyistslash protectionist, depending
on you know how much you believein what's going on, that that's
the that's where we are at thefederal level.
Clem Miller (12:38):
Well, it it it's interesting that you bring up
cronyist because it kind ofreminds me, I don't know if you
remember back when Putin cameinto power around the turn of
the century, 2000 this turn ofthis century, right?
Where where when he came intopower, basically he called in
all the oligarchs and he said,Look, I'm gonna let you guys
(13:01):
make a lot of money.
In fact, I'm gonna give awaystate assets and let you guys
make a lot of money as long asyou don't criticize me or as
long as I can count on you to domy bidding.
And that sounds pretty muchexactly what Tr p's doing with
US oligarchs, especially inthe tech sector.
(13:23):
Sounds exactly the same.
Frazer Rice (13:25):
Just to add on to that, I mean, the what the
framework I use to analyze Tr pto the extent anybody can, , you
know, n ber one, it's to justsort of understand that, you
know, he's the disciple of RoyCohn, and that has its own
weirdness to it.
But I I view success in thiscountry usually along three
principles.
N ber one is currency, theother one is votes, and then
finally ratings.
(13:46):
I would give Tr p in generalmiddling marks on the dollars
and votes part, believe it ornot, even though politically
there's lots of evidence to say,you know, you don't know what
you're talking about, Frage.
But but he is aonce-in-250-year genius in terms
of ratings, and all of hissuccess comes from that.
(14:07):
Uh, and ultimately, I thinkthat's how he's running this
country and running the economy.
And, you know, that and it'sjust sort of results, contracts,
commitments, they don'tmatter.
They're all negotiable all thetime with him.
And you know, against thatbackdrop, that's it's very
difficult to plan for.
(14:28):
Uh, it's very difficult tobudget for, it's very difficult
to sort of you know look aroundcorners and try to understand,
you know, what you can count onand what you can't count on.
But , you know, ultimately, ifyou if you play into the ratings
game, , you know, I I thinkthat's the that's that's the
metric that he understands best.
Um, and if you operate in thatworld, you know, hopefully for
(14:51):
your sake, the votes and thedollars follow.
Uh, but in, you know, as wewere talking about before we
started recording, I think Ithink we're in sort of like this
Berlusconi post postmodernenvironment with new US
politics.
And so, you know, if you canrecover from certain things by
just getting past the news cycleas fast as possible, that's in
(15:13):
many ways how the economy'sbeing run.
Yeah, Burliscone.
Steve Davenport (15:17):
One thing that j ped out at me in terms of this
is the similarity between youknow the Hillary and Tr p first
election.
And I look at it and I say,Boy, you know what I mean?
It wasn't him winning as muchas it was her really doing a
poor job in terms of how sheattracted different voting
groups and how she listened towhat was happening on the
(15:38):
internet with fundraising andother things.
And I look at this situationand I'm sitting there saying, is
this what the Democrats aregoing to present as their
solution to pick a candidatewho's got all the sexual
innuendo and all the problems inhis background?
You'd say almost like theDemocrats wanted to present a
(15:59):
Tr p-like candidate to see ifthey could win.
And I I I don't know what thetest was, and I don't know why
it wasn't more important tothem, but they seem like if
everybody wants to characterize,and I'm sure that Tr p is going
to win from having M done,because basically you're just
saying, hey, we went as far leftas we could go, and we are away
(16:23):
from the norm, and thereforethat's where you know the
Democratic Party is going.
Frazer Rice (16:30):
Yeah, look, I I I think the Democratic Party has a
real has a real, I don't knowif I'd call it crisis, but they
they they have a real ideaissue.
And you know, while a lot ofRepublicans way back when you
had sort of the, let's call itthe fiscal conservatives,
socially liberal types, and thenit sort of morphed into the
hard right.
And then when Bush II kind ofopened up the spigot from a
(16:53):
spending perspective, then thethe the root system of fiscal
conservatives kind of went awaywith the Republican Party, and
you were left with the socialconservative components of it
as a as a way to hold your base.
I mean, I think the theDemocrats are kind of facing
that right now.
I the the the tent is so wideopen, the issue the being
(17:15):
everything to everybody all atonce component of the party is
such that they don't at themoment stand for anything.
And I think that allows, let'scall it, experiments at the
local level.
And I would call Mandami'swin an experiment in
democratic principles.
Uh, I I think the Democratsthat look at that and say, oh my
(17:36):
gosh, I mean, there's a reasonwhy Obama didn't endorse him.
There's a reason why HakeemJeffries didn't j p out and
endorse him.
It's because they aren't surethat, and there's lots of
precedent to say this is thecase.
They're not sure that New YorkCity is the rest of the country.
And their jobs in many ways areto sort of preside over the
party and to make sure thatthey're relevant nationwide and
(17:58):
that they present an interestingalternative to whatever
candidacy the Republicans putforward.
I'm ass ing it's Vance at themoment, but you know, Tr p, they
say he's gonna try to do it.
I find that constitutionallydubious, if not necessarily
clear.
Um, but the the party, theDemocratic Party is in a period
(18:19):
of experimentation right now.
And , I mean, I think I thinkthey have to feel heartened that
the the sugar high of thelast election with Tr p seems to
be off, and that you know then bers are such that at least in
New York and Virginia, and youknow, it looks like California
is gonna win with theredistricting plan and New
(18:40):
Jersey, that there are somesuccesses there that they can
build off of, , and that that'ssomething that that points to a
better midterm outcome than theymay have had before.
But , you know, I think thelong-term component is that
until they have, for lack of abetter words, like a contract of
America that Gingrich came upwith, or a somebody who
(19:02):
embodies a broad stroke ofpeople and is able to articulate
and get people excited and soon, , you know, Newsom AOC,
manual.
I've heard that name pop backup.
And you know, those are peoplewho are who sense the vacu and
want it, but you know, whetherwhether they are the solution to
the Democratic problems on thatside, I don't know about that.
(19:25):
But that's that's what theDemocrats are wrestling with.
I think the ideas component ofit has just gotten so mashed up
that that the you know the thethe experimentation at the
local level are going to bekicking at things until they
grasp onto some ideas.
And it's something they have tograsp on to very quickly
because these midterms are vitalfor them going forward.
(19:49):
I I mean if I'm kind of a Ilike divided government, so I I
well the you know thetraditional Republican me,
Republican in me sort of says,well, I don't know if I want
this, but the idea of having ahouse controlled by the
Democrats to offset what's goingon at the with the rest of the
federal level is appealing to mein terms of sort of laying
(20:27):
out some accountability, whetherlearn it or not.
Um, but at the by the sametoken, I I think that I
wouldn't ass e it's there.
Uh and that, you know, eitherturbocharge gerrymandering
efforts or others that don'tprotect that Republican
majority, and then you haveanother two years of essentially
the same type of governmentthat we're feeling right now.
Steve Davenport (20:50):
Yeah, it it just feels to me like we if if
you were the the the king of theDemocratic Party and you said
it would be really good for usto win back New Yorkers and win
back the idea that Democrats cancoexist and and and thrive and
in endorsing the markets andendorsing the industry of
(21:12):
finance.
You know, right now it seemslike if I were Jamie Diamond
opening up a $59 millionheadquarters in New York City, I
I gotta think it's you knowit's not an the place he once
wanted it to be two years ago orthree years ago when he started
(21:32):
building this campus.
Frazer Rice (21:34):
Yeah, no question.
I think look, I mean, theydon't have buyers or boars.
I mean, this has been a 15-yearplan of his essentially to get
that skyscraper up.
And he actually, you know,COVID was the biggest favor of
him ever because that he had abunch of empty streets, he could
take down the old building veryquickly.
But yeah, I think he looks atNew York and says, look, you
know, what are we doing here?
I I I need to be able to staffthis thing, and I need to be
(21:58):
able to have the best andbrightest come here.
And I need for the capitalmarkets, the international
capital markets, to look at NewYork and and be that beacon on a
hill to borrow you know somepolitical phrasing from way
back, , so that we are theones that are attracting the
capital and we're the ones thatare advising on it so that we
(22:18):
can drive our revenues.
But it's no secret that youknow Dallas has got more
employees than New York does forJP Morgan.
Steve Davenport (22:25):
And , you know, they I I think that , you know,
as as do you think thispromotes the Texas becoming the
new marketplace?
Um it's already happening.
Yeah, I know it's happening,but it it feels like to me this
is going to be an acceleratorfor the relocation of markets to
(22:45):
Texas.
Frazer Rice (22:46):
I don't take it as feta comply that Texas is
where everything shows up, orthat Miami or think I think it
will just diffuse according toyou know the particular, let's
call it regional needs of thesedifferent institutions.
I don't think you need to run awealth management firm out of
New York to be particularlycompetitive to a national client
(23:06):
base, for instance.
But I do think you know theinvestment banking world
probably needs to center aroundNew York in order to deal with
worldwide interests, , youknow, whether you're London or
Kyrgyzstan or wherever, theythey got to come to New York to
do it.
You can't have that run out ofNashville.
Steve Davenport (23:26):
The regulations and the ideas of Texas, I mean,
I really do think they have apoint about how how do we access
capital and how do we getthings you know started and
incorporating in Texas for a lotof oil companies and a lot of
other companies is now making,you know.
I mean, I think that Austin hasbecome a chip headquarters, and
(23:47):
I think that there is atechnology side to this that I
think people are missing.
And my my only thing is I wentto school in New York, I love
New York, I think it's a greatcity, I think the arts and the
the things there, but if we doso many, if you keep making
mistakes, I guess I would sayhow do we know that somebody
(24:08):
couldn't, you know.
Um I mean, I I don't know howyou turn and make New York more
favorable when you're gonna havea government that is going to
be almost you know the oppositein terms of how they're gonna
want to treat the averagecitizen and and who they're
gonna be.
I mean, the affordable housingisn't gonna help Wall Street.
Frazer Rice (24:29):
Well, look, I mean, I think that , you know, if
you're a business thinking aboutlocating in New York, I think
you have to sort of understandthe costs of doing business
here.
Everyone already kind of doesalready, and say, you know, it's
probably gonna go up.
Uh, can I house my people?
Can they be close by?
Uh, you know, Greenwich is ahedge fund haven for a reason.
And , you know, New Jersey iswhere pharma ultimately went for
(24:51):
reasons.
Uh, and people migrate down toFlorida and Texas.
And manufacturing hasn't been asignificant thing in sort of
the New York City area in a verylong time for all these
different reasons that we'retalking about.
The important thing for NewYork, I think, and this was
really a great legacy ofBloomberg, was the positioning
or sidestepping over to techand the Googles and et cetera,
(25:14):
and attracting them as as WallStreet 2.0 in many ways.
And so I if I were reallyworried about New York, and I am
because I'm a live here and Iwant it to be good and you know,
I don't want my taxes to go upanymore than they have to, and
all that stuff, like if I startseeing tech companies wander
away because it's just not whatit needs to be in service of
(25:36):
them, you know, apart from whatthey do on the left coast,
then that's when you startsaying, okay, something really
significant is here.
Because we are now, I mean, NewYork is sort of pressing the,
you know, retreating from workfrom home and get back to the
office and all that stuff.
Um, if the and the techcompanies are sort of the major
(25:57):
manifestation of that, and WallStreet is gonna fall in line
very quickly.
If the tech underpinning ofWall Street's economy weakens,
that's a disaster because thatthat that is the next 50 years,
that is the next hundred years.
I mean, it's you know, Wyomingis the crypto state, and you
know, Texas is oil and gas, andFlorida is whatever it is,
(26:20):
besides tourism.
But , you know, New York is thefinancial capital of the world
and finance is tech at thispoint.
And so if that weakens, thenthen you've then the diffusion,
I think, accelerates, and , youknow, the critical mass that
sort of powers the city and thestate in terms of business, that
that that's when you startseeing you know the light bulb
(26:41):
flicker, and that's not great.
Clem Miller (26:43):
So so Fraser, , I I would characterize Mom Donnie
as in large part a reaction toTr p.
Um that's how I wouldcharacterize it.
I mean, there are otherspecific New York elements to
it, but I think he's more orless a reaction to Tr p.
The question then becomeswhat'll happen?
(27:06):
You know, what what will MomDani's election trigger in terms
of future opposition to him?
I mean, where are we gonna gonext?
You know, what what what'sgonna be the trend in New York?
There's not gonna be a secondMamdani, I don't think, right?
I mean, what what follows MamDani?
Frazer Rice (27:22):
Well, you know, let's go back to how New York is
funded.
Uh and it's funded at the NewYork City level that drives most
of the tax revenue.
And then, you know, the fundingdecisions around New York
really happen at the statelevel.
Uh, if you see an issue withMandami where crime goes up, the
standard of living goes down,, he doesn't come through on
(27:46):
affordability, that type ofthing.
Uh the Republican Party is soweak in New York City at this
point that the you know, the theopposition will come from
within the Democratic Party, andthey'll you know, that centrist
person, whomever that is, , youknow, if they make any sort of
pro-business gestures or youknow, are able to deliver some
(28:07):
sort of achievement aroundincreasing housing and you know
the different components on thatfront, , then you know, I think
that's that's where it's gonnahappen.
Um but you know, all of whichis to say that you know, if you
come out on the backside of itand Mandami, you know, somehow,
you know, his policies quoteunquote work, which I don't
think they will, but let's saythat there are successes that he
(28:30):
can point to, you know, the thethe world, the way the world is
set up, it's just not in withrank choice voting and those
types of things, you have toreally split hairs in order to
distinguish yourself from thecurrent incoming candidate.
And I think once he get learnsand learns how to, you know,
raise real money for things thatare larger than the current
(28:53):
election, and he starts gettingused to getting driven around
New York and things like that.
I suspect there's gonna be abit of a softening.
And then, you know, the worldof compromise is gonna the the
job of mayor of New York is thetoughest political job in the
country, including president ofthe United States.
He is in front of people withsevere opinions and real
(29:15):
issues all the time.
And you that there just aren'tenough buffers for that, and
that wears on you.
So I think there's gonna be abit of a softening of his of
his stances in order to try toget things done.
Um is that good, good or badfor New York?
I'm not sure.
Steve Davenport (29:35):
The the thing that I find very intriguing is
the connection between a Mandaniand a de Blasio.
I mean, are they reallydifferent or are they kind of
just a 2.0 of the same ideathat we need to give more, we
need to do more, we need to helpmore of the people in the city?
And he he was able to somehowgenerate the idea that he was
(29:57):
the solution.
And I think Mandani kind ofstepped in his shoes and moved
it even a little bit further tothe left.
But I guess I wonder, is thereanything in his record or in his
candidacy that you say, youknow, he he may be a little bit
left on this and this, but he'she's right on in terms of how
he's talking to voters and howhe's trying to get them to see a
(30:21):
different city.
Because I I think New Yorksurvived De Blasio, who I
thought was perhaps one of theworst mayors ever, but maybe,
you know, maybe there'ssomething there that you know
I'm missing.
Frazer Rice (30:34):
Uh yeah, I'm missing it too.
Uh, you know, from a puresubstance portion of his
message, you know, it's sort ofyou know.
five new five co-op grocerystores and free buses and
universal this or that and taxtax hikes on billionaires that
that's kind of that that that'sthat's his agenda and then other
(30:55):
than that you know I I wantmore housing and it's gonna be
union built and all that thatthat's it the I mean why
would so many people fall forthat kind of like if we have an
intelligent electorate what whatwhat would lead them to go past
(31:15):
the simple question of wellwell how are we gonna pay for I
well so first of all peopledon't care how that gets paid
for I think they just sort ofass e that it magically happens
and you know that New York Citydoesn't print money it borrows
money at the you know the behestof the people who are willing
to lend it to them but theythey're not in charge of the
dollar and just doesn'tmagically appear that's where
(31:38):
you get back into sort of a beamdays and Ford goes to city drop
dead we're not guaranteeingyour payment that that's
ultimately what happens if youreally turn the dial all the way
the wrong way and you overspendto the point that it's not
supported by any revenuebecause states have to balance
their budgets cities do too etcI I I think look he's young
(32:00):
and untested without muchaccomplishment sort of
surrounding him and so there'slet without that there's not
much to really parse through andcriticize and so you wrap that
up into a charismatic packagethe right person for the right
moment and people are I'mreally overstating what I think
(32:22):
the zeitgeist is doing but ifpeople are willing to give him a
chance as sort of retributionagainst what's happening at the
federal level then you knowthat that's that's part of the
emotion that people are sort oftaking taking with it from a
when they go to the ballot boxso you you mentioned borrowing
which raises an interestingquestion actually two related
(32:43):
questions one is does heactually does would momdani
actually be able to control howmuch is borrowed or is that is
the comptroller of New Yorksort of more independent I think
the controller has moreindependence over that the
because absent that then youknow mayor adams would have
borrowed he would have borrowedeverything in order to and you
(33:06):
would have you know the the thegiveaways would be infinite if
there was control at the mayorlevel.
Clem Miller (33:13):
And then the second question I have about same same
general issue is how muchbuffer does he have before the
rating agencies start reallydowngrading big time New York
City?
Frazer Rice (33:27):
So I think that I again I give him a year on
that front because I think thatthe you know the budgets are
strained currently and youknow that that that happens if
he starts spending willy-nillyon a variety of different
giveaways and he's able tohe's able to extract that at the
(33:52):
state level from Holkel thenyou know I think he's got some
buffer to work with but I thinkthat leash is real short and
the Holkel needs to getreelected in 2026 she's in no
hurry to raise taxes at thecity level where she needs she's
not from New York City she'sfrom Buffalo and and she's an
(34:15):
outsider in that environment andso she can't be you know sort
of raising taxes in order to payfor things that don't really
help her very much they'rebetter for Mamdami's political
benefit that to me is the realthat that's the real
go-between there you know as faras rating agencies you know
ultimately they're gonna lookand say look if you're spending
125 billion and you're onlytaking in 110 that's not great
(34:39):
and you know if you persistin that over a couple of cycles
then that's really not great.
Ultimately I think the three ofus would agree the the pen hits
the paper when they miss apayment.
And I think there are a lot ofvested interests not only
Mamdami but Hochul and lots ofother people who just can't have
that happen.
(34:59):
Uh and that message will getback to Mamdami saying look you
know this is great and all butyou if you do this you you're
not gonna be mayor for muchlonger.
Clem Miller (35:09):
So is there going to be now I know that there's
been some talk of New York stateredistricting of congressional
districts I don't think if I'mnot mistaken they can't do it
before 26 or maybe they can ifthey found a way to do it.
But I was asking I wasthinking more specifically about
(35:29):
Staten Island.
I heard something about aboutsome effort to try to make
make Staten Island moredemocratic.
Frazer Rice (35:37):
Sure.
So the redistricting animalrises up all the time there was
a one plan that got struck downby the courts for being overly
tailored.
And so you know nationallyspeaking when you hear about
Republicans redistricting Texasto get more seats they you know
they say well what about NewYork?
They they did it too so much sothat the neutral court said
(35:58):
this was crazy.
Um and so that thatconstantly happens and so the
you know if you look at the waythe lines are drawn that they're
just the the gerrymanderingthat that really is the if I
were to sort of say one thingthat scares me the most about
the future of this country it'sthe prevalence of the you know
the gerrymandering to sort ofcement in vested interests for
(36:19):
a very long period of time.
The you know I I I think atthe moment yeah Staten Island
they they may you know try tostick some you know take part
of Brooklyn and you know wedgethat in there and make that part
of the the voting component.
But I'm in the very shortterm I don't think that's gonna
(36:42):
be a huge deal you know Ithink there will be some
gestures to try to you know ekeout another district or two at
the Democratic level within thestate the larger question is is
that New York state actuallyloses is has been losing
Congress people over the last 10to 20 years as they flee in
theory to go to Florida andwarmer states or the growth
(37:06):
doesn't catch up or what haveyou that that to me is a
larger issue you know and thenit's sort of for a different
podcast maybe it's sort of theidea of you know how New York
City versus the rest of New YorkState and how does that align
with it you know is it reallytwo different states in terms of
what they need from the federalgovernment at all yeah we
(37:28):
could go that that doesn't hitthe capitalism part too closely.
Steve Davenport (37:33):
Yeah just wanted to add on one question
though regarding the debt andthe subway I mean is it is there
a a path forward that doesn'treally decimate the balance
sheet in of of New York City?
Frazer Rice (37:47):
I mean how is the subway treated is that separate
debt from the city debt or yesso the MTA which is jointly
controlled by New York NewJersey is the they're they're
the the that's what pays for thesubway and the transportation
infrastructure and and thosetypes of things you know the
(38:09):
congestion pricing was the wayto fill the gaps on that that
I guess is going to continue Imean Tr p comes in and says oh
I'm gonna outlaw it or whateverI I I really don't think that's
gonna happen but I I've beenwrong before I you know for
things like capital projects andgeneral maintenance and so on
(38:31):
it it the money has to comefrom somewhere and the idea that
congestion pricing you knowpeople who are driving cars etc
help to fund that I I couldenvision an expansion of
congestion pricing to try to youknow sort of improve the
subways and the other parts ofthe infrastructure that are
important it just seemsfunny to me to not say free
(38:53):
transportation you say freebuses and I don't know why the
subway like isn't in like I I Inever liked using the bus
because there was too much aboveground traffic but maybe New
York's a different place now.
But you know I the free busesI mean I take the business yep
(39:13):
and so you know that's a youknow it it it's really gonna be
end up being kind of a amoving of shells in order to
pay for one thing you're gonnahave to take from something
else.
Uh you know and keep in mindtoo capital projects you know I
don't know if this is the rightn ber but it seems like it costs
2x to 3x more to do anything inNew York versus anywhere else.
(39:35):
And so you know to doanything to actually improve
situations is extremelyexpensive.
And you know the the the actualcost of upgrading things and
sort of taking a switchingsystem that that is turn of the
century and making it modern tobe one way to sort of improve
things and by turn of thecentury I mean 1900 not 2000
(39:57):
the it's just a real problemand so the you know where does
the money come from when you'redealing with you know Ben
billions and billions andbillions and billions of dollars
if you if you're coming out ofthe same AMTA and you're gonna
take less income it feels likeyour capital projects are going
to be less capable you knowyou're gonna be less able to
achieve them unless you come upwith a some new revenue source.
Steve Davenport (40:19):
And I don't think that the people in New
York feel like they you knowwant to become another revenue
source.
Frazer Rice (40:26):
No and then and that that underscores I mean
again the the that is sort of adeath by a thousand cuts problem
where you know you're not goingto see these things sort of
manifest themselves instantlybut if you take that in
conjunction with a decline instandard of living manifested by
crime then that's when peoplesay you know do I really want to
(40:47):
have my kids educated here oris it just easier to head off to
Westchester County or FairfieldCounty or New Jersey or a
different state to build my lifeif I think that you know in
in in general, you know, whenwhen people feel like the
government is taking you forgranted, that's when you're in
deep trouble if you're anelected official.
And you know Mundami's goingto have a little grace period on
(41:09):
that, but not long, I don'tthink okay we got about three
minutes left.
Steve Davenport (41:15):
Does everybody want to kind of make their like
believe that you know Mundamiseems like a one term I don't
see it as a long term going tobe good for the community to
have somebody who wants toredistribute more money when
there's so many fiscal problemswith New York as it's currently
constructed.
(41:35):
So I think he's gonna face realproblems in the crime rate and
real problems in thetransportation updates he's
trying to make so I think he'sgonna make it a less livable
place and once they start to seesome of that tax revenue
leaving as I know it's beenleaving over the last 10 years,
but I could see it definitelypick up as people just say I
(41:57):
want to go to a different placewhere I think it's more aligned
with my values.
What are you two guys think ins mary about Mandani and his
long or short term I would agreewith you Steve.
Clem Miller (42:09):
I think it's one term I also have a fear that
you know Trump is going to usehim as the symbol of the
Democratic Party in general andthe Democrats what they have to
do is they have to leverage allthe other things that they
achieved yesterday.
When you take Mamdani out ofthe equation really yesterday
(42:31):
was a victory not just forDemocrats but for I would say
independence as well so I meanbasically for anybody who's not
MAGA I think yesterday was abig victory.
It's just that the Mamdanithing is sort of the downside of
that because he could usethat he and my MAGA could use
(42:52):
that to paint you know allDemocrats with a brush I think
those are two heavily democraticAir states though so I wouldn't
I don't know if I could declarea big victory because I think
those states didn't go for Tr pand probably wouldn't have right
well it what was interestingwas that even in Georgia I
don't know if you saw in Georgiathere were three I know this
(43:14):
sounds kind of silly publicservice commissioners right
but I I think well you wouldknow better than I what a public
service commissioner is Stevebut my understanding is that
they're pretty big officials atthe local level from what I
heard and three three formerRepublican public service
(43:34):
commissioner roles went toDemocrats yesterday and so I
think that's you know considerthat's more significant to me
than the New Jersey governmentbeing Democrat which is why I
bring it up I know I like thatFraser do you have more comment
on Modami short term long termwhat it's really tough to say
long term because you just don'tknow but I I I think that he as
(43:58):
I said before the thing I'mwatching the most is is who he
ends up hiring as policecommissioner.
Frazer Rice (44:04):
If he if Tisch sticks around he gets two years
on crime I think and then thatlets him focus on other things.
The other thing is in side noteis that three initiatives to
sort of speed up rezoning forhousing went but were passed
yesterday in New York City.
If if I'm advising Mandami Iwould pour all of my efforts
(44:30):
into housing rezoning and andto get as much built or as many
shovels in the ground aspossible so that he can point to
some sort of win economicallythat is in line with his in
line with his principles, whichis to get more people housed as
cheaply as possible as possible.
And I you know if he's ableto do that then I think he gets
(44:55):
even more bandwidth and you knowif he you know if he came out
of the mirror if he came outfour years from now and said I
was able to get 5000 units builthe wins.
Simple as that.
I mean that that's one of thethe real unsolvables in New
York City and if he's able toarticulate a solution to that I
(45:15):
think you know I it it's a winfor everybody.
Um all that to say I I thinkthe other big takeaway is that
the the imagery that a Tr p ledsort of MAGA effort made huge
inroads into a variety ofdifferent minority groups from
as a voting block I think is anillusion or or certainly more
(45:39):
muted than was sort ofdeclared at the last election
and that that is the part that Ithink will be interesting to
watch going forward into themidterms.
So and if I have a predictionwhich is usually a horrible
idea because they're minor go goshort it run the other way I
I do think the Democrats win theHouse by like one vote or you
(46:03):
know one seat and then and thenthe final two years of Tr p
are quite a bit differentbecause every step is going to
be challenged and it's gonnatake four times as much energy
for him to do what he's beentrying to do recently.
Steve Davenport (46:21):
Thank you Frazier this has been a great
call glad to always great totalk to you no it's this is a
treat.
Frazer Rice (46:29):
I love doing it and I hope I pass the audition
for the next one.
Steve Davenport (46:33):
Yes we're always on the calendar every six
months and we we reallyappreciate you Fraser and and
we look forward to some of yourthings and coming back and
talking again about New YorkCity because it is key to the
financial services in the UnitedStates.
So thanks everyone hope youenjoy this and please listen for
more podcasts thank you
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.