How did a 34-year-old democratic socialist become the mayor of the city that built Wall Street? New York, the global hub of capitalism, just handed the keys to City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, a young politician whose platform promises to reshape the most powerful financial city on Earth. It's an extraordinary experiment. Can socialism coexist within the beating heart of global finance?

I have lived and worked for over three decades in the world of finance and capital markets in New York and have seen cycles come and go, from the near-collapse of the early 1990s to the Great Financial Crisis, and the COVID shock that emptied Manhattan's streets. Yet this moment feels different. Mamdani's election is a symptom of a deeper, global frustration.

New Yorkers are angry, and many are desperate. The affordability crisis has reached a breaking point. Renters are spending half their income on housing, grocery bills have soared, and young professionals, burdened with student debt, are living in overcrowded small apartments. Mamdani tapped into that pain with political precision. He

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