Favor for free enterprise found Florida insisting it’s not “spiking the football” with a new Times Square billboard thanking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) with a new honor.
“This is really about trying to save our country from crazy.”
(Video Credit: Fox Business)
Over the years, estimates suggest that between tourists and residents, roughly a third of a million people pass through Times Square on any given day. Those looking up Monday would have spotted the socialist mayor’s smug smile as his face was plastered on a billboard paid for by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, naming Hizzoner the Freedom State’s “Economic Developer of the Year.”
The corner-wrapping sign includes the message, “Thanks for the jobs!”
Florida is taking its rivalry with New York straight to Times Square.
A massive new billboard in the heart of Manhattan has a message for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “Thanks for the jobs!”
The Florida Chamber of Commerce named Mamdani its “Economic Developer of the Year,” saying… pic.twitter.com/3A2fzmVL5W
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 10, 2026
Speaking with Fox News Digital about the advertisement, Florida Chamber CEO Mark Wilson explained, “We wanted to thank him for the jobs, the companies, the people that they’re pushing out of New York — and a lot of them are coming to Florida.”
Using IRS data, the chamber showed that as Florida gains 551 residents per day and about $2.4 million net taxable income per hour, New York loses 115 residents and $1.1 million. Meanwhile, Florida’s budget is less than half of New York’s, and even the city’s budget is about $8 billion more than that of the Sunshine State.
“America is at a crossroads right now. I think everyone that’s paying attention knows that our country was built on freedom and free enterprise and people having the liberty to make their dreams come true,” said Wilson. “And there’s a push in our country right now to take those liberties away and to attack free enterprise. And that’s never worked anywhere, and it won’t work in America.”
“What Mayor Mamdani is doing is dangerous for the country, right? It’s bad for New Yorkers. It’s bad for New York. It’s very harmful for the country,” he continued as Mamdani has come under fire for demonizing wealth-creators in the Big Apple and seeking additional means to squeeze them to prop up his socialist agenda. “We can choose free enterprise, which is what America was built on, or we can choose to destroy that, which is what the social[ist] policies do… And so, what we’re hoping happens from this campaign is that we refocus America on free enterprise.”
As an exodus from Gotham and other areas of increasing taxation carries on, Wilson posited, “What do people like Mayor Mamdani do? They want to then increase taxes on people who are left, which just further accelerates people leaving places like New York.”
“The socialist agenda sounds crazy because it is crazy, right?” remarked the CEO. “This isn’t about spiking a football or looking at the scoreboard about Florida versus New York. This is really about trying to save our country from crazy.”
As previously reported, the Citizens Budget Commission measured how much tax revenue New York has lost as a result of millionaires moving away. In 2022 alone, the fleeing personal incomes amounted to nearly $11 billion worth of revenue the city could have claimed.
Study says New York losing thousands of wealthy residents and billions in income https://t.co/UzSKx5Ysia via @BIZPACReview
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) July 14, 2026
Just as Mamdani denied the impact leftist policies were having on tax revenue when confronted with the figures, a City Hall spokesperson offered a vastly different take on what was happening to the local economy in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“By any metric, New York City’s economy under Mayor Mamdani is as strong as it’s ever been,” contended the spokesperson. “We look forward to continuing to grow the economy while ensuring that working-class New Yorkers are benefiting from that growth.”
Where it concerns the message of Free Enterprise Florida, Wilson suggested it may be brought to other leftist enclaves in the near future, such as California, Chicago and Minneapolis, emphasizing, “What we’re really trying to do here is remind people that America is an experiment. It’s 50 states competing for where do we take America going forward? And I think if you look at the scorecard of how Florida is doing compared to how New York is doing, we want to help New York follow in Florida’s footsteps.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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