Reihan Salam loves New York. He loves the free market. And he's very worried.

Salam's affection for the city is rooted in its dynamism, its openness to ambition, and its capacity for reinvention. He sees the free market as the engine of that vitality, the mechanism that allows talent to rise and ideas to compete. Yet his worry is not abstract; it is specific and urgent. He fears that the conditions making New York a beacon of opportunity are eroding — that regulation, complacency, and a retreat from competitive principles are dulling the city's edge.

This tension defines his perspective: a deep commitment to the ideals that built the city, paired with a sharp anxiety about their fragility. Salam does not reject progress; he insists that progress depends on preserving the systems that enable it. His voice carries the weight of someone who has studied the mechanics of prosperity and knows how easily they can jam.