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April 12, 2005
(DON'T) EAT THE RICH
Here's an interesting piece about why the obscene concentration of obscene wealth in NYC is good for the city and its inhabitants:
For literally centuries, New Yorkers have complained about the effects of extreme wealth on the city. Many would, of course, prefer an egalitarian paradise where the working man has a window on Central Park, too. But such utopian notions obscure what is, in fact, a very successful aspect of New York. The historical record clearly shows that when the very rich lose interest in living in a city, the dominoes tumble. Look at Philadelphia or Cleveland.
Part of what sustained New York through the crisis of the seventies was that Fifth Avenue never stopped being Fifth Avenue—apartment prices surely dipped and Central Park did get a bit woolly, but no landlords ever started torching those buildings and running away, as they did in the Bronx. The fancy sections of New York endured to an extent that many solid middle-class neighborhoods did not. “The majority of cities in America would die to have this problem,” says Edward Glaeser of Harvard. “If a city is doing well, then people are willing to pay a lot to be there.” Some are also willing to pay a lot to rule over the city, like our mayor and State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
...So love them or hate them—we’d better learn to live with the rich. They’re not going away. If 9/11 couldn’t scare them off, one has to wonder what will. The very rich may be carving out more space for themselves. But in this highly uncertain economy, that’s something of a blessing, not an unmitigated curse. The ultimate definition of a city’s health is the ability to attract people, companies, and industries that can choose to be anywhere in the world. “You can argue about the dangers of having an economy at the beck and call of the very rich,” says economist Ken Goldstein. “But it basically comes down to this: It’s better than the alternative.”
Read the whole thing.
Posted by Dr. Manhattan at 12:04 AM | Permalink
Comments
Manhattan without rich people wouldn't be Manhattan. Don't like it? Move to the suburbs.
Me, I prefer the suburbs. But I don't begrudge Manhattan its identity.
Posted by: Crank | April 21, 2005 1:29 PM