After democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, Peter Thiel stepped up his warnings about generational economic conflict, claiming that the failures of housing affordability are driving young Americans toward socialism.
Viral 2020 Email Resurfaces
A 2020 email from Peter Thiel to Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen resurfaced and went viral after Mamdani's victory, Fortune reported.
In the message, Thiel wrote, "When 70% of Millennials say they are pro-socialist, we need to do better than simply dismiss them."
See Also: Trump Clash Looms Over Zohran Mamdani’s NYC Agenda
Housing Crisis Drives Political Realignment
The venture capitalist cited stringent zoning regulations that favor property-owning baby boomers while rendering housing unaffordable for millennials in an interview with the Free Press on Friday. “If you proletarianize the young people, you shouldn’t be surprised if they eventually become communist,” Thiel said.
Thiel, a supporter of Donald Trump’s reelection, gave Mamdani credit for taking up the issue more than those in the establishment. He suggested that rather than being genuinely pro-socialist, young people might be more disenchanted with capitalism.
"Capitalism doesn't work for me. Or, this thing called capitalism is just an excuse for people ripping you off," Thiel said, describing their perspective.
Thiel also pointed out that incremental policy efforts have failed, pushing voters toward "some very left-wing economics, socialist-type stuff." He noted that the gap between baby boomer parents' expectations for their children and millennials' actual outcomes is unprecedented, fueling the generational divide.
‘Old People’s Socialism’ Predicted
Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL), stated that any socialist change would be “more of an old people’s socialism than a young people’s socialism, where it’s more about free healthcare,” due to America’s aging population. “If it’s a revolution, it’s grandmothers in their 70s,” he stated.
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