New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies could lead to shortages and economic decline, Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday.
"I think the people in New York will discover about socialism when they've taken over the grocery stores," Paul said during an appearance on Newsmax TV’s "The Big Take" with Ed Henry.
"They're going to discover what Milton Friedman said."
Paul cited the late economist’s warning about government control of resources.
"Milton Friedman said that if you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, within a short period of time, there'll be a shortage of sand," he said.
The Kentucky Republican argued that government-run grocery stores would likely struggle to keep shelves stocked.
"So when there's no food on the grocery store shelves of the government store, that apparently is going to cost $30 million, you know, most of the time that the government has tried owning grocery stores, it hasn't worked," he said.
Paul also referenced shortages in centrally planned economies, recounting a story from behind the Iron Curtain.
"There was a story behind the Iron Curtain where a guy goes into the store and he says, 'Are you the store that doesn't have any eggs?' And the guy says, 'No, we're the store that doesn't have any toilet paper. The store that doesn't have any eggs is across the street,' " Paul said. "It was a joke because there were always shortages."
He pointed to Venezuela as a more recent example.
"That's what happened in Venezuela, where the average person lost 30 pounds because of a shortage of food," Paul said. "Meanwhile, they sat atop more oil than Saudi Arabia."
"I don't think socialism is going to work well," he added.
Paul also urged Republicans to push back more aggressively against government expansion.
"I hope my party will begin to oppose, you know, the government spending that leads to government ownership of businesses," he said.
He warned that broader fiscal challenges are worsening.
"But we're hurting right now and the debt gets bigger and bigger as we speak," Paul said.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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