Reading this last section of the book one of things that I was surprised by, was how much New York’s City economy was negatively affected by the war. My initial thought was that the war would have benefitted the city’s economy, by increasing the demands for products and increasing employment. However, it was quite the opposite, as the book noted. While other major cities were benefiting from the war economically, some didn’t have sufficient workers to fill the positions, New York’s unemployment rate was rising. Ships couldn’t enter the city’s harbor safely and this affected many people that were employed in this field.  Due to the way the city was structured and what was produced in the city, the industry and machinery needed to provide products that could be used in the war was not available. La Guardia went to great efforts to get contracts for small business and to redesign machinery that could be useful to the war, and in return build the city’s economy.  Reading this book you get the idea that the government within the city was always a bit more involve in the local affairs, forming regulations and trying to build the states economy. La Guardia’s action then as set the example or standard for what the city’s people expect from the government.