New York: Center of the World? (compare, raise, states, building)

[jman650]

Originally Posted by Caymon83

Not to turn this into a NYC vs. DC pissing match...maybe too late

I didn't mean to imply that NYC is just some "Sex in the City" celeb hub, I just meant that there is a glamorous, larger than life factor to NYC which exaggerates the city's true power (although still enormous in reality). When standing in Time Square you may feel like you are in the center of the universe, with the giant buildings and overwhelming crowds. But does Times Square actually impact people's lives? Is someone in Cleveland's life materially different because 3 states away 20,000 tourists are crammed into a giant square? No, IMO.

Although, DC is not a financial capital in the traditional sense, the city does have significant power over global markets, given its abilities to tax, regulate, set trade policies, subsidize, bail out, and print money.

With the media comment, I just meant that the NYC-based "hard news" media spends significant amounts of time covering DC.
Getting off topic, IMO people think about NYC more then they should because it is glamorous and iconic, and underestimate DC because it can seem small and parochial to many. For example, who thinks about things like the FDA or the EPA on a daily basis? Very few people. But they do matter.

None of this means that NYC isn't important, its just not the only place in the world that matters. Even if it is the world's most powerful city, in the grand scheme of things it still constitutes of small share of total world power. NYC is one pull among many, and its pull weakens the further you get from it.


Final Rant ( I promise):
It is too simplistic to say that when Wall Street coughs the nation catches a cold. It is more likely to be the other way around. The current crisis was rooted in dumb mistakes all over the world: Wall Street's short term outlook, American's pathetic savings rate, Washington's failure to regulate, the Fed's easy money policies, China's and the rest of the world's willingness to fund our massive trade deficits, the real estate industry's delusions about ever rising home prices, and the American consumer's willingness to buy into the delusion. All of which illustrates the point the world is too diffuse and complex for any one city to dominate? If Wall Street has so much power to control markets, would they have allowed the stock market to fall in half. All the world is a stage, Wall Street (and NYC) is a mere player, albeit a major one.

Excellent post.

[Hoarfrost]

Originally Posted by Caymon83

Plus, there are tons of areas where neither city is particularly important. Academia or IT come to mind.

DC nor New York are particularly important to Academia?

Columbia, NYU, Barnard(among many)? The highest raw number of students of any city in the Americas? Some of the best public and private schools in the nation?

George Washington, Georgetown?

Only Boston can claim to be more influential in the field of education than New York. And even Washington is no slouch compared to most cities.

New York is not even my favourite city in the world, but if you had to pick the single most influential, there's simply no case to be made against it. Not that any one city dominates, that's an absurd notion. But it does have the largest span of influence of any single city.

As far as political influence goes, DC is definitely the winner there, among all the cities of the world. Next would be NY(UN), Brussels(EU), and Geneva.

[Mekitor]

I don't know where you people get 'the Center Of the World' thing. Living in NYC for more than 10 years and no one I spoke to say that they were at the Center of The World. maybe it used to be an old saying or it was quote from some movie. I am not sure.

[mgt04]

Hmm I've never heard of this term "the Center of the World" thing either and I've lived around NYC all my life. It sounds like something a travel agency marketed for travel. I wouldn't go turning it into some ego-centric thing thinking all NY'ers think they're the center of attention of everything.

[Lancer78]

Originally Posted by Caymon83

Not to turn this into a NYC vs. DC pissing match...maybe too late

I didn't mean to imply that NYC is just some "Sex in the City" celeb hub, I just meant that there is a glamorous, larger than life factor to NYC which exaggerates the city's true power (although still enormous in reality). When standing in Time Square you may feel like you are in the center of the universe, with the giant buildings and overwhelming crowds. But does Times Square actually impact people's lives? Is someone in Cleveland's life materially different because 3 states away 20,000 tourists are crammed into a giant square? No, IMO.

Although, DC is not a financial capital in the traditional sense, the city does have significant power over global markets, given its abilities to tax, regulate, set trade policies, subsidize, bail out, and print money.

With the media comment, I just meant that the NYC-based "hard news" media spends significant amounts of time covering DC.
Getting off topic, IMO people think about NYC more then they should because it is glamorous and iconic, and underestimate DC because it can seem small and parochial to many. For example, who thinks about things like the FDA or the EPA on a daily basis? Very few people. But they do matter.

None of this means that NYC isn't important, its just not the only place in the world that matters. Even if it is the world's most powerful city, in the grand scheme of things it still constitutes of small share of total world power. NYC is one pull among many, and its pull weakens the further you get from it.


Final Rant ( I promise):
It is too simplistic to say that when Wall Street coughs the nation catches a cold. It is more likely to be the other way around. The current crisis was rooted in dumb mistakes all over the world: Wall Street's short term outlook, American's pathetic savings rate, Washington's failure to regulate, the Fed's easy money policies, China's and the rest of the world's willingness to fund our massive trade deficits, the real estate industry's delusions about ever rising home prices, and the American consumer's willingness to buy into the delusion. All of which illustrates the point the world is too diffuse and complex for any one city to dominate? If Wall Street has so much power to control markets, would they have allowed the stock market to fall in half. All the world is a stage, Wall Street (and NYC) is a mere player, albeit a major one.

I agree with the basic thrust of the argument (the world is too diffuse for any one city to be truly overly dominant) however I also agree with those that say, if one had to pick, NYC is overall the most influential city in the world (and a case can be made for London as well).

Unlike so many on this thread taking one side or the other, I don't think the two statements are mutually exclusive and, IMHO, they are both correct.

Over 1/4 of US GDP flows through the gov directly. Not to mention the indirect economic power it wields through institutions like the Federal Reserve,

Lastly...
Regarding an earlier post... The Federal Reserve is actually a private institution quite independent from the federal government. And it is this private institution that has a lot of sway over the federal government regarding the issuance of money, printing, who the federal government can bail out, interest rates..etc. So, yeah, the federal government is powerful but there's a few kinks in there...
I do believe, however, that it should be federalized and here's hoping Ron Paul's audit bill goes through.

Also not to nitpick, but the FDA headquarters is not in Washington DC, but in Silver Spring, MD... which is nearby.

[Lancer78]

Originally Posted by Caymon83

For better or worse, its power is growing by the day as the government “reshapes” the finance, automotive, energy, food, education and health care industries, just to name a few.

It is also true that the federal government plays a major role in shaping several industries, including health care, energy, education, automotive and so on.. But a case can be made that the federal government is in many ways just a puppet acting out the interests of external forces such as private bankers, entrepreneurs, conflicting interest groups, environmentalist groups (and so on) each with their own private agenda. There is strength in money and in numbers, and in general, whoever makes their voice loudest heard , more often than not, gets to see their version of reality realized through the power of the federal government.

In many ways, the federal government's role is that of facilitator, moneylender or donator and at the mercy to even more powerful external forces. If anything, the Wall Street bailout shows just how important NYC is to the country and why the federal government thought its bailout was so necessary.

[AC/PHILLY/NJ/NYC]

No, New York City is not the center of the world. Paris, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong are very influential in their countries. However, I believe New York City is still the most influential city in the world and definitely holds that title in the United States.

[Native17]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

How has it the most influential???

First off, the southern region has 4 large cities. Probably half of the people in the south could care less about NYC, same with the West and Midwest.

NYC has lost the power it once had as being the center of America or the most influential, because many other regions are forming their own identities.

This is a +1 post, Right Although "New York City" is probably a huge influence I dont see how it still holds that great influence that it had back in the 20th century when just the world didn't have as much cities.
now you have new emerging cities it seems every second, and New York yeah It is probably the world's leading financial place along with London but I just dont think it causes as big of Influence In the world as it used to.
Sao Paolo, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Atlanta, Houston, Miami ect... Now all have that to share

[rxnasi]

It really depends on where u live. in the western world i think NYC is like really important to a lot of countries (would not call it the center of the world even though the U.N is there)

[ChasT]

NYC is the most influential city in the United States. No other city is even close and this is coming from a born and raised southerner.