Mamdani’s ‘economic justice’ deputy signals a brave new world of burning money

What the heck is a “deputy mayor for economic justice” tasked with doing?

Equalizing New Yorkers’ incomes? Redistributing their wealth?

Ensuring that “some animals are more equal than others,” perhaps?

OK, fine: After Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani named Julie Su to the job on Friday, he explained that she’ll oversee agencies that focus on “New Yorkers everyday economic realities,” including the Commission on Human Rights, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections.

But his transition staff made it sound like a lot more than that: Deputy Mayor Su is to “help usher in an era that protects working New Yorkers and consumers, delivering on an agenda that makes the city more affordable and ensures that those who work and toil here have the opportunity to live here as well.”

“Usher in” a new “era” to ensure that those who “toil” can afford to live in the city — and we’re pretty sure that doesn’t mean Far Rockaway, Brownsville or Belmont — suggests an extremely aggressive brief for a deputy.

Notably, Su has a big fan in Sen. Bernie Sanders, the socialist who only joins the Democratic Party when seeking its presidential nomination — while other, actual Democrats blocked her from being confirmed as federal labor secretary.

“There’s a reason Julie Su’s nomination failed to earn support from Democrats or Republicans,” solidly conservative Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told The Post, noting that at the Labor Department “she prioritized partisan activism over American workers and their families”; that, he snarks, makes her “a perfect fit for the Mamdani administration.”

Her biggest claim to fame dates back to her days as California’s labor secretary — when she oversaw up to $40 billion in unemployment checks sent to fraudsters.

In short, her record is about protecting union pay and privileges, while sending cash out the door in the name of a good cause without much attention to who really benefited.

Asked to comment on her past, Mamdani bristled: “I’m aware of the deputy mayor’s record, and I’m very excited to have her.”

And so New York City enters a new era: What could go worng?