Market vs. Power - NYC and WDC respond to snow
Midtown Manhattan came back to life as residents and tourists rejoiced in the warming sunlight, digging out buried cars, heading to Broadway shows and frolicking in massive drifts left by New York City's second-biggest snowstorm in history.
In Washington, where a traffic ban was still in effect, the recovery got off to a slower start, with the entire transit system closed through Sunday. Federal government offices in the Washington area will be closed on Monday, the Office of Personnel Management said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa...
In Washington, where a traffic ban was still in effect, the recovery got off to a slower start, with the entire transit system closed through Sunday. Federal government offices in the Washington area will be closed on Monday, the Office of Personnel Management said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa...
I was thinking it needs to snow way more often in DC while reading the linked article.
Times like this suggest we really don't need DC at all. They keep threatening to "close the government" when they run out of money. So do it already.
And don't forget the state department who doesn't want to do anything and the Justice department leadership which refuses to do anything.
my point was that NYC actually does something and the financial and corporate culture might create some value; But DC...takes away value...no matter how bad they each are or not, they are still opposites on the same side of the coin.
Not many people - even here - earn an independent income from buying and selling fiduciary paper, so not many people understand it. We understand why LeBron James is paid well because we all know that we suck at basketball because we play it. We spend hours watching football. We do not spend hours watching the Standard and Poor, cheering with our buddies, running to the kitchen for Red Bulls...
It is true that Goldman-Sachs was bailed out, while Bear Sterns was not. We can condemne the corrupt bargain. However, NYC is more than one or two big firms.
"FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. We oversee nearly 4,430 brokerage firms, 162,155 branch offices and 629,530 registered securities representatives. Our chief role is to protect investors by maintaining the fairness of the U.S. capital markets." -- http://www.finra.org/investors/broker...
Our common culture denigrates speculation. Your comment is perfect example of that. Capitalism takes it on the chin every time, even here.
Back in 2000, Reason's Virginia Postrel published The Future and Its Enemies. She included leftwing radical environmentalists with rightwing radical millenarians.
This is a "push or shove" issue for the Gulch. Here in the Gulch, a private firm launching rockets to re-supply the International Space Station does not garner the admiration granted to subsistence farmers waiting for the end of the world. The fundamental question is:What future do you intend for yourself?
For me, in this topic, the fact that NYC - a city of commerce - recovered from a mere snowstorm, while Washington DC - a city of government - did not is a clarion call to "business as usual." (If you do not recognize that phrase from Atlas Shrugged you might want to go back and read the parts you skipped over.)
Again, see above to Puzzlelady: cities do not grow their own food, but they do not starve in the winter. WDC could have contracted all kinds of workers. NYC did that, paying anyone $13.50 an hour to shovel snow from bus stops, etc.
Where or where is global warming when you really need it. We could have flooded the whole town out like a Grecian Stable, helped restock the crab supply in the Chesapeke and down mother nature and mankind a good turn.
Digging out
By Frank McGurty and Ian Simpson
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Washington shut down federal government offices, while New York prepared for a normal workday following the worst snowstorm in decades to ravage the East Coast."