When communist Mayor Bill de Blasio seized power in a bloodless coup two years ago, many local business leaders and NY Post editors warned that New York City would immediately devolve into a dystopian hellscape dominated by squeegee men on tall bikes and ex-cons in Elmo costumes demanding $20 hugs in Times Square. Crime would rise, the economy would collapse, Al Sharpton would drink Andrea Peyser's blood from David Koch's shattered skull. And yet...two years later, bearded mobs of artisanal Brooklyn revolutionaries have yet to pillage Park Avenue. How is it the rabble is still not roused?

Despite fears expressed by NYC's ruling class, the economy has actually grown in the past two years. Employment rose 2.3% last year, and according to the state Labor Department's seasonally adjusted job numbers for January 2016, New York City has reached a record 4.29 million total jobs. This is part of the biggest two year jump in job growth (249,000 jobs) in New York City's history, according to the Economic Development Corporation.

There were 35,400 new private sector jobs created in NYC in January 2016, with the largest growth seen in the Educational Services field. Strong local job growth has also been seen in Health Care & Social Assistance fields and Professional, Scientific, & Technical services. NYC's unemployment rate is down nearly three percentage points since de Blasio took office.

"The incredible growth we're seeing shows we can make our economy stronger and more fair at the same time," Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen said in a statement. "We're making strategic investments in fast-growing fields with good-paying jobs and real career pathways for New Yorkers."

NYC also welcomed a record number of tourists last year—58.3 million of them.

"What we expect from mayors is they encourage private-sector economic activity and they don’t screw it up,” Kathryn S. Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a powerful group that includes most of the city’s biggest employers, told the NY Times. "It’s obvious he has not screwed it up."

To be sure, NYC is still screwed up in many ways. Homelessness remains an intractable problem. Rent is still obscenely expensive. Soulless corporate chains are displacing local businesses and draining the city of its unique character. The NYPD is still routinely violating the Constitutional rights of countless New Yorkers. The subway keeps making us late for work. All these subway slashings are scary. Times Square still doesn't have designated Freedom Zones.

The city faces many complex challenges that the de Blasio administration may not be able to meet, but the conservative canard that a progressive leader = economic ruin turns out to be total bullshit. Who knew!