Going From NYC Today Into the 21st Century
By Red Sox Steve
This week especially, I'm inspired by what I see when I walk around my neighborhood and on TV, what I've experienced living here for the past half-decade (has it been that long?), and what I think of where I live: New York City.
First things first - when I came here, I was a kid. Like everyone who shows up here from wherever they come from, I thought that I was going to make a big splash. Intrepid, well-dressed, professional. It was easy - be ambitious and confident all the time and you can make it here. Uh, actually, it's not that easy - New York City is a huge place, and guess what? Everyone who lives here and everyone who wants to live here, who plans on living here, or who even dreams of living here is in on the secret: this is one special place, a place where lots of hungry people congregate to build their own fortunes, start their careers, and build their lives. It's a place where dreams can be made, and it is a place where dreams come to die.
Don't want to dwell on the philosophical. That's not what this is about. This is about this place. I'm especially inspired this week, of all the weeks I've been here, because of what happened in Flushing and in the Bronx. In the middle of the worst economic crisis since at least WWII, businessmen, politicians and blue-collar workers have come together to create two world-class sports stadiums, with a new football stadium coming our way out in the Meadowlands. Both Citi Field (Mets) and Yankee Stadium hosted their first of many MLB games this week.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been positively impacted by these events - and I'm not just talking about the fans. Iron workers, construction foreman, laborers, architects, landscapers, and stadium workers all have had steady work for the last three years because of the efforts taken to continue with construction of these amazing ball parks. The construction began on Citi Field and (the New) Yankee Stadium in 2006. This means that the start of the project took place in a much different economic and political climate than we have today, which proves how fast fortunes (especially those that are wrongly distributed!) can change. In 2006, cash was easy to come by - Wall Streeters and billionaires (like the Wilpons who own the Mets and the Steinbrenners who own the Yankees) were raking it in, the tax collector was their friend en absentia, property values were skyrocketing, and the New York city economy was booming, just like it had many times before. The municipality was even ready to engage New York's resources further by bidding on the 2012 Olympics, which would have required the spending of over $1 billion to construct an appropriate stadium in Flushing, Queens.
Fast forward to Opening Week 2009. We have a new president, and a multi-layered economic crisis that we have to deal with. Credit was historically easy to get back in 2006. Liquidity was available for any type of mortgage imaginable, and now we are facing the worst housing crisis in over 50 years. Banks grew ever larger by lending money, and insurance companies suddenly turned into hedge funds. Billionaires threw lavish soirees where the champagne flowed and the hangers on congregated; A staple of corporate life, the office holiday party, grew more and more extravagant; nothing was too costly when the bosses showed their appreciation, and, perhaps ultimately the most destructive factor of all, bonuses were bigger than ever. Those one time payouts to employees, aptly named for a time when they weren't relied on for ACTUAL income, became a "wink-wink" part of the white-collar workplace. "Yours is big, mine is big, but are we actually worth that much more to the company? No matter! Let's call our real estate agents!"
Large financial companies have been reduced to nothing but "toxic assets". One ideology has been replaced by another via the voting booth, and all of a sudden the world now sees again, whether any one individual agrees with him or not, what it's like to have a president who listens. The thing about the overall crisis is this: From the economy of the 1990s where fortunes were made and lost, we got the internet, cell phones, and technology for all to consume and make use of. Nations respected us; those that pumped oil truly feared us (look at the price back then); those that shared our goals wanted to work with us. 2000. America lurched back to the right - the technology bubble burst, and gave way to a finance bubble, a credit bubble, a housing bubble, an energy bubble. The danger signs were everywhere that this was a return to feudalism for America - home ownership suddenly became our top economic goal, oil crossed $120, $130, $140, spending in Iraq was up, government tax receipts were down... it was a disaster waiting to happen. 2008. Our governmental ideology changed again - back to a center-left - and now we are again in the midst of reorganizing our national priorities. Clean energy technologies, hybrid autos, military technology, national scientific research initiatives, and international collaboration with our economic counterparts all over the world has once again returned to the forefront of America's goals.
21st century american life has begun and when we hit mid-century the world will be a much different place because of the things happening today. The 2059 world we are heading for will be unrecognizable to someone living in 2009; just as 1959 was incomprehensible when considered in 1909. We are on the dawn of an Asian century - all over the Asian sub-continent, billions are hungry for new technologies, new opportunities, and new lifestyles. America, and most of the western world will watch in awe as both India and China rise and ultimately begin to lead the way. To an American born after 1950, but before 2000, this will be the reality that we will be forced to adapt to, and the old way, the "American" way, will continue to fade for us, like the British empire before it, the Spanish empire before it, the Roman empire before it, and the Egyptian and Persian empires before it. How will you react when you wake up in 2059?
