New York 2BG2FAIL

New York 2BG2FAIL I’ve begun reading Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 2009 book Too Big To Fail- But then Getting in my spirit understandable ‘Push Back’ for what follows on this blog……… Yes- New York is our World Capital and our nation as indeed all the nations do- Have our enthusiastic representatives in the city with one of those a former Prime Minister already lining up for the top job at United Nations overlooking the East River So is our World Capital Too Big to fail? Well I think back to equally amazing cities- Empire sized successful cities which have been devastated. London twice 1666 and 1941. Berlin 1945. The twin Russian Cities Stalingrad and Leningrad such that few emerged from them alive. And yes Tokyo has burned three times- twice in the 20th Century! While not be out done. Chicago and San Francisco have burnt and New York herself burned at the time of the revolutionary war and again in the civil war on the evening of Monday 13th July 1863 was on the verge of being burnt out when a sudden deluge came and damped down the out of control fires saving the city- And yes no author I have read on what happened that week puts the seriousness of the event into any intelligent context admitting the foundational dysfunction of New York’s political system….. So what can we say of this David Wilkerson from Times Square Church as to the one predicting things? Well I reread last night his April 1973 book The Vision and found a very human person making predictions about matters which he had little understanding and where at times his own opinions get in the way of what may turn out to be reality. But the actual timing of his receiving The Vision is stunning. It comes at precisely the time when USA has reached the peak of her power and is most secure- And then events in 73 such as a war in the middle east and a President telling lies, these events start tremors in the world system. While at the geological level the most disastrous earthquake in North America occurred in 1809 at New Madrid and 1973 is when this failed Rift Valley quite capable of ripping North America in pieces- Woke Up and geological tremors as well are part of an uncertain future. Both economically and geologically if any reasonable sized event occurs in New England- New York is fragile. Too Big to fail? Well as a Marxist economic geographer I would say New York has long past the reason for her existence. When in the 1950s New York ceased to be a manufacturing location. When the critical infrastructure of the Eire Canal went to being used by pleasure craft. When MoTown –Great Lakes Giant Detroit went into decline- Yes from 1973 the signs are year on year increasingly bad for the survival of New York. Fear is a reasonable response. As a world city New York firstly needs to belong to and be vital for USA- is that the case? As a world city New York secondly needs to belong to and be vital for the world? –Is she? Look if you are a New Yorker reading this –‘crap’ Take Stock. What am I doing in life? Could that be done more efficiently and better in some other location? My people migrated here- Maybe 400 years ago or slightly less than that but could migration be again on the cards? If the power supply and water supply are cut off…. How long could we live? Too Big 2 Fail? Well that depends on whether you are superstitious and believe in the God of Israel and hey reading His Hebrew book I got the impression - one city at the end of the book ends up burning but Zion is loved by God forever.