A mostly obscure and widely derided sector of the financial industry—bond rating agencies—may be one of the few remaining things with the power to save some of America’s largest cities from destruction by the policies of the far-left mayors who run them.
Moody’s Ratings this week revised its outlook on New York City to “negative” from “stable.”
“The negative outlook reflects the emergence of sizable and persistent projected budget gaps that signal underlying structural imbalance and reduced financial flexibility,” the agency said, noting that if New York City is struggling to balance its budget even in a strong economy, things could worsen “if economic growth slows sharply or an outright downturn materializes.”
“That the city projects large and persistent imbalances under still-favorable economic and revenue conditions highlights the extent of its underlying structural budget challenges,” Moody’s said.
Analysts at S&P Global, another ratings agency, also warned that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans “make it difficult to sustain budgetary balance beyond fiscal years 2026 and 2027,” a Bloomberg report said.
Moody’s and S&P Global have since been joined by Fitch, and Kroll:
This is terrifying. If you are in NYC, pay attention. It’s like a cancer diagnosis. https://t.co/QsV50eP9U6
— Jim Walden (@jimfornyc) March 21, 2026
As I wrote last fall, I’m absolutely certain that the New York Daily News has a “TRUMP TO CITY: DROP DEAD” cover page already laid out as an Adobe InDesign file and ready to go for when Mamdani takes office and demands a bailout.
