The End of New York

Self-interest being what it is-- self-interested, that is-- we have been closely following the stories about New York City’s eminent demise. We have felt, from the onset, that the crux of the problem would be New York’s political class-- a band of intrepid leftist radicals who have no idea whatever of how to govern anything. They will push their agenda, no matter what. 

In the now-distant past Governor Andrew Cuomo was a breakwall against the madness of the AOC clones. Now, however, what with Cuomo’s political future swirling down the drain, he does not have the clout to put on the brakes. Thus, the lunatics are in charge of New York State and New York City. 

Their first self-defeating gesture, in the state budget they just passed, was to punish the rich and to chase them out of New York City. New York is now going to distinguish itself for being the highest taxed state in the country. Considering that a mere 1% pay nearly half the taxes in the city and state, and that many of them are now considering whether they should return to the city, this move must count as depressingly stupid.

Yesterday, Michael Goodwin laid out the case that New York is not going to recover, ever. He wrote a front page story in the New York Post. Beginning with the tax increases:

Despite the bailout, and the December pandemic stimulus, and the ones before that, Gov. Cuomo and lawmakers are launching $4 billion of new tax hikes. Apparently being the highest taxed state by most measurements doesn’t satisfy them. They want to be No. 1 across the board.

Naturally, they say only corporations and the really rich will be hit, but don’t believe them. Tax hikes trickle down in that they tend to reduce the economic activity of those who pay them, a decline that eventually hits everyone. Having the government redistribute more taxpayer money is, at this historic juncture, a terrible idea.

Besides, even if it were true that only the rich would get hit, raising taxes sends the wrong message in a state where so many people and businesses already have left or are thinking about it.

What business would want to come here now? Why should existing ones continue to pay more and more for dangerous and dirty streets and arbitrary pandemic shut downs?

A salient point. It’s not just about whether any of the 1% will want to stay in New York, considering the nightmare that everyday life has become for so many people. It’s about whether any business will relocate here. Keep in mind when Queens and the Bronx elected an idiot bartendress as a Congressional representative, Amazon shut down the idea of having an Eastern hub in Queens. 

Thanks to other government policies, the city is becoming unlivable. Now that criminals are allowed to run wild, people are afraid:

The answer for many is no, no, hell no, and they have given up on New York. The proof is in the sagging real estate market and the empty storefronts in even the best locations.

Not all of those leaving are rich, but they’re all afraid, and not just of the inevitable cost of living increases that follow as the taxes ripple through housing, services, transportation and every bottle of beer and bag of potato chips sold.

Many are also understandably afraid of crime and public disorder. A snapshot of NYPD stats over two years paints an unmistakable picture of a city in serious decline.

Murder climbed nearly 45 percent last year and is up an additional 13.5 percent this year. The increases translate into an additional 153 New Yorkers shot, stabbed and strangled.

Shooting victims are up 72 percent in two years, and car thefts are up a staggering 91 percent. The city is in a death spiral, with unprovoked attacks and subway pushings adding more reason for rational fear.

Albany’s answer: put more handcuffs on cops, turn just about every criminal suspect loose, empty the prisons and raise taxes. Also, let’s give money, $2.1 billion to be exact, to illegal immigrants by creating an “excluded workers’ fund.”

Think about that last one, $2.1 billion for the illegal immigrants who missed out on the government stimulus checks.

Anyway, how are things looking now? When it comes to jobs returning, things are not looking very good at all:

Against that backdrop, there is zero surprise in the bulletin of bad news released by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. He reported Tuesday that of the nearly 2 million jobs the state lost during the pandemic, less than half have been recovered, meaning a million fewer people are working than a year ago.

Among 12 sectors, the construction industry is the closest to full recovery, and it has gained back just 74 percent of the jobs it lost, DiNapoli reports.

Naturally, we would largely prefer that these prophecies of gloom not be true. Yet, considering the incompetence and stupidity of the people New Yorkers have elected to govern them, we are fast running out of even the last smidgeon of optimism.