Opinion

Mike’s reckless driving

We said yesterday that New York’s arbitrary treatment of Madison Square Garden makes the city look like a banana republic. We may have been too kind. It turns out the mayor, just a week earlier, made our point himself in a far more colorful way.

The incident occurred at a Madison Square Garden VIP club, where Bloomberg bumped into Gene Freidman, CEO of one of the city’s largest taxi fleets. Freidman had recently won a lawsuit that put on hold one of Bloomberg’s pet projects, the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow.

As The Post reported, Freidman approached Bloomberg to ask about the judge’s decision. Whereupon the mayor screamed: “Come Jan. 1, when I am out of office, I am going to destroy your f–king industry.” And then: “After January, I am going to destroy all you f–king guys.”

Just what New York needs at a time when we’re trying to sell the idea that the city’s a good place to do business: our top elected official vowing to ruin an industry because he’s had a fight he didn’t win.

Think of it as the darker side of nannyism.

The irony is that Bloomberg has a legitimate beef with the taxi industry — and he’s even taken some modest steps to address it. At the heart of the problem is that our taxis do not operate in a free market. They operate as part of a city-protected oligopoly that limits competition to those who have bought expensive medallions.

If Bloomberg really wants to get back at Freidman in a way that helps rather than harms, he should consider some kind of buy-back mechanism — such as the one proposed by the Manhattan Institute’s Steve Malanga. As always, the great sticking point of any reform is that people like Freidman, who have shelled out for the medallions, have a right to be fairly compensated for their loss.

Once back in the private sector himself, Bloomberg will be in an excellent position to find the right mix of experts to come up with a market solution to this vexing problem. It’s sure better than blowing a blood vessel — or telling a New York business he’s determined to ruin it.