She’s DEAD, Jim. This time for real.
I love NYC. When I first moved to NYC, it was a dream come true. Every corner was like a theater production happening right in front of me. So much personality, so many stories.
Every subculture I loved was in NYC. I could play chess all day and night. I could go to comedy clubs. I could start any type of business. I could meet people. I had family, friends, opportunities. No matter what happened to me, NYC was a net I could fall back on and bounce back up.
Now it’s completely dead.
“But NYC always always bounces back.” No. Not this time.
“But NYC is the center of the financial universe. Opportunities will flourish here again.” Not this time.
People say, “NYC has been through worse,” or “NYC has always come back.”
No and no.First, when has NYC been through worse?
Even in the 1970s, and through the ’80s, when NYC was going bankrupt, even when it was the crime capital of the U.S. or close to it, it was still the capital of the business world (meaning, it was the primary place young people would go to build wealth and find opportunity). It was culturally on top of its game — home to artists, theater, media, advertising, publishing. And it was probably the food capital of the U.S.
Altucher breaks things down into categories to explain in detail why he deems NYC well and truly doomed, but this next but for me is the important:
NYC has never been locked down for five months. Not in any pandemic, war, financial crisis, never. In the middle of the polio epidemic, when little kids (including my mother) were becoming paralyzed or dying (my mother ended up with a bad leg), NYC didn’t go through this.
This is not to say what should have been done or should not have been done. That part is over. Now we have to deal with what IS.
Perzackly. As I said early on, the “unprecedented” thing about the COVIDIOT panic was never the virus itself; it’s turned out to be fairly ordinary as these things go—just a bad flu, not the planet-depopulating scourge it’s been sold as. The only thing truly unprecedented was the hysterical reaction to it; the speedy exploitation of a cringing, fearful populace by a whole damnable horde of wanna-be tyrants both high and low; and the pathetically submissive obedience in response to that exploitation by subjects of a country once proud to misnomer itself as “land of the free, home of the brave.”
Altucher goes on from there to present an intriguing take on why this time might be different:
I lived three blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11. Downtown, where I lived, was destroyed, but it came roaring back within two years. Such sadness and hardship and then quickly that area became the most attractive area in New York.
And in 2008/2009, there was much suffering during the Great Recession, again much hardship, but things came roaring back.
But… this time is different. You’re never supposed to say that but this time it’s true. If you believe this time is no different, that NYC is resilient, I hope you’re right.
I don’t benefit from saying any of this. I love NYC. I was born there. I’ve lived there forever. I STILL live there. I love everything about NYC. I want 2019 back.
But this time is different.
One reason: Bandwidth.
In 2008, average bandwidth speeds were 3 megabits per second. That’s not enough for a Zoom meeting with reliable video quality. Now, it’s over 20 megabits per second. That’s more than enough for high-quality video.
There’s a before and after. BEFORE: No remote work. AFTER: Everyone can work remotely.
The difference: bandwidth got faster. And that’s basically it. People have left New York City and have moved completely into virtual worlds. The Time-Life Building doesn’t need to fill up again. Wall Street can now stretch across every street instead of just being one building in Manhattan.
We are officially AB: After Bandwidth. And for the entire history of NYC (the world) until now, we were BB: Before Bandwidth.
Remote learning, remote meetings, remote offices, remote performance, remote everything.
That’s what is different.
Very interesting indeed. This James Altucher fella seems to be a pretty smart and perceptive guy, and you should definitely read it all. Even for those of you who give not one damp fart about the fate of what was once indisputably the world’s greatest metropolis (and I myself don’t care nearly as much as I once would have, I admit), it seems obvious to me that most if not all of this grim prognostication could probably be applied to any other American city as well—most certainly the Democrat-Socialist misgoverned ones, at least. As enjoyable as the schadenfraude no doubt is for a great many of us out here in the hinterlands now, that is NOT gonna be a good thing long-term…for anybody.
(Via Insty)
- Entries
My other sources agree. As The Mrs. and I were discussing today – what will be the long term demographic impacts? Will the Leftists try to outnumber the folks on the Right in red states?
Thanks for the link to Altucher – he’s a good writer that I lost track of.
“Even for those of you who give not one damp fart about…”
I suppose I get counted as one of “those” but it’s not really accurate. I’m not a big city person and would never live in a NYC. But I don’t dislike the cities. The few times I have visited in NYC I found the people to be quite kind to a stranger with a very Southern accent. It is the marxist driven destruction that has been occurring in the cities long before the election/china Virus came on the scene that leads me to the “let it burn” sentiment. As long as the marxists run the cities they are destined to become Somalia. Might as well let it go and get it over with, the sooner something better might rise from the ashes.
NYC and the others are just not as far along as Detroit. They’ll catch up quickly now. I agree, there is no recovery coming.
Giuliani was a driving force in NYC to get that Stock Exchange Open and get things back to normal.
So was Trump.
Trump is a Florida resident now. He’ll forever be associated with Gotham, but is the Joker’s Gotham now.
I don’t believe Giuliani spends much time there anymore either.
Leaders like that would have gotten “back to normal” by April and would have given a Big Middle Finger to The Election Flu.
Wilhelm DiPinko wants to see it Burn. How can you argue aagainst the very people that live there now.
Which btw means millions of illegals from criminal backgrounds replacing those hard working immigrants the City was famous for having.
Not to be all pissy and such but there are some things in that article that really tick me off:
Businesses give back to the Community by being in BUSINESS. It is the Community that has Failed here. They went and hid away from a Virus because their Idiot and Evil Mayor and Governor completely screwed the Pooch on how to handle a Virus.
In situations like this it was Imperative to protect the elderly and Sick and Keep The Businesses Open and Working by Keeping the Economy open.
Which is the very reason you never SHUT DOWN in the first place. You cannot wait for the Virus to be gone because there will always be Viruses.
Also, we have never had a vaccine for a Virus. AIDS is still like that 40 years later. Every year our “Flu Shots” are hit and miss at best. One cannot wait for a Vaccine that may never come. Don’t Shut Down.
The Only Profitable Business Model for this WuFlu was to Remain Open, Weather the Storm, Protect the Elderly and not fill your city with Illegal Immigrants from Shitholes with bad hygienics and 12 people to an apartment living in squalor conditions.
Finally, the best thing you can do is not to Elect Democrat Commies that Hate America.
Their GOAL is to destroy America and Wilhelm DiMarxio and Pol Pot Cuomo just turned your City into a Ghost Town with Killing Fields all around.