Posted on 09/03/2020 3:25:03 PM PDT by TBP
James Altucher, who might best be described as a renaissance man, recently wrote a sobering piece about New York City. Altucher is bearish on the city’s future for a variety of reasons.
I don’t quite share his pessimism, especially considering all of the variables likely to affect a NYC comeback—the widespread availability of a vaccine, government policy, “pandemic fatigue,” technological innovations, etc. But I am confident in saying that if the city resists tearing down the barriers to innovation—high taxes, burdensome regulations and gratuitous mandates—recovery will be all the more difficult.
I say this as someone who lives in Upstate New York and doesn’t have an insider’s perspective about NYC, but I do understand the power of free enterprise to make life better.
Unfortunately, NYC’s policy climate has not been very friendly to innovation. According to a Reason Foundation report, NYC ranks 49 out of 52 on the U.S. economic freedom index for metropolitan statistical areas. This is relevant because research indicates that economic freedom can positively impact outcomes like income, employment and population growth.
People, when free from government coercion, have an innate ability to serve others in the pursuit of their own interests. It’s this process—one that allows for innovation and production—that creates wealth for everyone.
What then are the policy implications to be drawn from this fact? As a start, NYC needs to reduce its bloated budget and high tax burden on people at all income levels. This will put more money back in the private sector, where resources are allocated based on consumer demand and entrepreneurial foresight rather than political preferences.
Another important step would be to loosen zoning restrictions. As Altucher points out in his piece, many businesses have switched to working from home, emptying floors of office buildings in the process. This could be a permanent move given the ease of tele-commuting. One way to combat this new problem of ghost buildings is to allow for rezoning, paving the way for vacant office space to become new housing—as suggested by Eric Kober of the Manhattan Institute.
Officials should also consider eliminating minimum wage and paid sick leave mandates for businesses looking to hire. Some have estimated that the pandemic and shutdowns have led to the closure of approximately 3,000 NYC businesses. For those businesses lucky enough to remain open, adding to their pain and the pain of people looking for work with costly mandates is unconscionable.
Innovation in education is also a critical component of a NYC comeback. Families with students in the district should be allowed to take their education dollars and use it for the school of their choice. NYC’s school reopening plan, which includes having students in class part-time, is not a viable option for many parents who don’t have the resources to watch or educate their children at home during the school year. Expanding school choice allows parents to find the school that’s best for their child while giving them the flexibility they need to work outside of the home if tele-commuting or hiring a childcare provider isn’t an option.
This next solution seems obvious but may be the most controversial. Officials must allow NYC to fully reopen. I understand concerns about a potential second wave hitting the city, but the unintended consequences of a prolonged economic shutdown could be worse. The decision about attending a Broadway play or eating inside a restaurant—and the risk involved—should be shifted to each individual, not decided by the government.
Risk tolerance varies by person, and so I imagine some people will visit NYC again if they’re confident it won’t be closed for business by the time they arrive. Others may stay away until a vaccine is available. That’s how the freedom of choice works. And it’s preferable to the one-size-fits-all paternalism imposed on us over the last several months.
Top down dictates from government squash innovation. They hinder entrepreneurs from meeting consumer needs. And they prevent people from adapting to their environment. If NYC is going to make a comeback, people need to be free to take risks again.
It’s time for the city that never sleeps to awake from its temporary slumber.
You have to explore the reason we have cities in the first place and then determine whether that reason still exists at the level required to keep a city going. Cities have always been the center of trade, usually located on a coast or river. Okay, that probably won’t change. Cities were always a place where there was a concentration of jobs, thus people could go there to improve their ability to earn a living. Whoa! Huge change. Cities have been driving away employers for a long time, with taxes and regulations. Now, the very nature of what we do for a living has changed. No longer does almost the entire working population put physical things together; radios, TV sets, and buildings. A significant portion of the economy, a growing portion, is virtual; bites and bytes. You can do that anywhere. It’s no longer necessary to travel an hour by crowded, dangerous mass transit to get to the place where you earn your living and from the place your living allows you to afford. You can live anywhere and work on anything because you can communicate via the information highway. Lastly, politics. When garbage collectors started earning over $100k, and that was a long time ago in New York, cities made themselves vulnerable to self destruction by making their infrastructure costs too high to maintain through bad times. And, don’t forget all those gold plated government retirements that the smaller remaining tax base will be required to support. Why would anyone pay the taxes for services they can get infinitely cheaper and better elsewhere? Cities, as we know them today, are dying. Frankly, good riddance.
The author essentially says that to save NYC, it just has to stop being a Leftist cesspool.
Good luck with that.
“Through all this, I would bet money that if DeBlasio were to run for re-election this year, he’d win again by a landslide. Liberals don’t learn.”
Upvote.
“Times Square webcam. Looks pretty dead to me. Maybe too early?“
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Looking at the Times Square webcam, I just see Black Lives Matter and other low IQers who are apparently inheriting NYC.
Rudy Giuliani put them on the right path. Bloomberg was preoccupied with how big sodas were, and so didn’t screw it up too much. But this arrogant character they have right now along with their hyper arrogant governor are convinced that they have the secret sauce. Whatever they do the world will come to them because they got it and no one else does. Same goes for California and silicon valley. I think in the next few years there are going to be some rude awakening out there.
What is that large group of people just standing there with umbrellas on a corner? Otherwise, street traffic on the sidewalks looks rather light.
I wouldn’t bet on that. DeBlasio has created Dinkins-like conditions, only worse. The Dinkster gave rise to Rudy.
The next mayor will be tough on crime and clean up the place. And that goes a long way.
What New York ought to do, in addition to the things mentioned in the article, is decentralize. Devolve some functions on the boroughs. Smaller, more efficient power centers and economies of scale.
Looking down, they could see the last convulsions: the lights of the cars were darting through the streets, like animals trapped in a maze, frantically seeking an exit, the bridges were jammed with cars, the approaches to the bridges were veins of massed headlights, glittering bottlenecks stopping all motion, and the desperate screaming of sirens reached faintly to the height of the plane. The news of the continent's severed artery had now engulfed the city, men were deserting their posts, trying, in panic, to abandon New York, seeking escape where all roads were cut off and escape was no longer possible.
The plane was above the peaks of the skyscrapers when suddenly, with the abruptness of a shudder, as if the ground had parted to engulf it, the city disappeared from the face of the earth. It took them a moment to realize thatthe panic had reached the power stations—and that the lights of New York had gone out.
Dagny gasped. "Don't look down!" Galt ordered sharply.
She raised her eyes to his face. His face had that look of austerity with which she had always seen him meet facts.
She remembered the story Francisco had told her: "He had quit the Twentieth Century. He was living in a garret in a slum neighborhood.
He stepped to the window and pointed at the skyscrapers of the city.
He said that we had to extinguish the lights of the world, and when we would see the lights of New York go out, we would know that our job was done."
I don’t understand why anyone would give a damn about NYC. They voted in the Mayor, city council, and every other inept, corrupt official in the city. And given the chance they will do it again. Those leaving are taking the infection with them and will screw up your city.
BTTT.
As a resident would you care to comment on Post #31,either to confirm or refute?
In Upstate, NY, the libtards made it illegal to remote start and warm one’s car.
That has been the modus operandi in NYC and neighboring NJ for years now; as Americans follow their employers to greener pastures, the local (and now state) governments simply traffick illegals here to keep housing and most importantly (from the Dem Party viewpoint) public schools full. All of the gubmint jobs related to tending this permanent underclass give Dems a huge electoral advantage, and much of it is taxpayer-funded.
I’m a Brooklynite (was born there) - my family escaped from NYC when I was seven; moved to WA to be as far away from it as possible.
Let’s not.
L
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