One nasty recurring thought I've had over the years is "Now that NYC is run by and for Wall Street and the global aristocracy, who's going to give a f*ck if the terrorists blow it up?"
The answer is, of course, no one. As A Favorite Villain in Election Ads: New York City [NYT] reports, politicians -- mainly Democrats -- are running ads that equate the city with Wall Street.
Nine years ago, after 9/11, NYC was a symbol of fortitude under fire. Now political ads feature NYC tourist sites as the narrator sneers "That's the way they do it... on Wall Street."
I guess that might insult some sensitive New Yorkers, but I wish every Democrat had the spine to demonize Wall Street. And if some of the demon blood spatters the city, well tough luck -- that's the price of selling your soul.
In the article Mayor Bloomberg defends NYC's financial services industry as a bastion of middle class jobs, pointing out that half its workers make $71,000 or less (neglecting to mention that the average Wall Street salary is $392,000).
Bloomberg made his fortune building a computer network that democratized Wall Street gambling, and helped -- along with all the other financial "innovations" we've seen -- spread its poison throughout the economic system.
Maybe he really believes the average citizen has the desire and ability to become a full time capitalist, placing bets and dreaming up new ways to turn air into gold along with millions of other financial alchemists out there. But if he does it's because he hasn't got the empathy to imagine people not like himself.
For years we've heard arguments that NYC has always been all about change, money and power -- mainly from hustlers who profit from acceptance of that attitude -- and it's valid to an extent. We've heard that NYC is just going through the same inevitable changes -- thanks to globalization, the web & cellphones, and corporate concentration -- that have turned everywhere else into the same place, just with different branches of the same conglomerates, and helped create a world increasingly split in two, with connected islands of wealth floating on a sea of increasing misery.
But what's missing from these arguments is any notion of what made NYC special -- at both the sidewalk and mythical levels -- or any desire to shape its future in a meaningful way that does not serve the needs of people who already have too much money. They use the term "change" to suggest renewal, as they erase humble neighborhoods and replace them with the standard units favored by global aristocracy; they look at NYC the same way a suburban developer looks at barren land.
Somehow it all seems to go together -- all the bank buildings and corporate ads in Times Square, all the shiny new luxury condos and chain stores, the High Line and other gold plated attractions, the suburban bike trails. All part of a package meant to attract people who used to live in upscale suburbs, that just happens to force out the honest, humble commerce and culture that make urban living worthwhile.
Times Square is the center of the (media/shared) world. It becomes more intensely hollow all the time, as ads creep from the billboards onto the buildings, and corporations plant their flagship stores. The village square -- where civic and national victories were celebrated -- now serves to dazzle and congratulate consumers for their good citizenship, for their consumption. It is a sterilized boardwalk experience, with all the life squeezed out by corporate calculation.
And Bloomberg and his enablers have done their best to sterilize the rest of NYC in the same way, block by luxury block, so the people on top can profit from the life squeezed out, and Wall Street worker drones can live in the antiseptic environment they prefer, with plenty of places nearby to spend their money. The process leaves zero room for anything unexpected, and pushes out anyone who has not sold their soul in the same way they have.
Their vision of NYC is "urban" in the same way a paper company tree plantation is a "forest." It's a stainless plastic resort where wealth can recline in comfort, and be pampered with the service it believes it deserves, while it admires itself.
I would hope this round of demonization would shame them into leaving NYC, but these people are shameless.
Update: Want a 20% Raise? Work on Wall Street
