NYC is a bustling, high-paced American city. In fact, it is an economic center of wealth and finance. Moreover, many of its residents consider it the center of the universe (a slight exaggeration, but only slight). The city holds an incredibly large array of culture and heritage and stands for the American dream of equality and pursuit of happiness. This is New York City. Or is it?
The readings for this week served as a narrative and analysis of the economic standpoint of New York City, but showed two very different sides to the great city. The Freeman reading was interesting because when I think of New York, I think of office buildings, men in suits with briefcases, and high-paid executives on Wall St. However, back in the 40’s the city was run by unions and blue collar workers. In one sentence Freeman mentioned, “it was almost impossible to look out a skyscraper and not see men engaged in physical labor.” What amazes me more is the number of factories there were. The city was completely dependent on these workers, demonstrated by the problems caused with different groups decided to strike, such as the elevator operators.
As our city grew, it became one of the leading economic powers, or “global city”. However, Harvey knocks this idea, using 9/11 as grounds for his argument. He counters that the World Trade Center attacks exposed the city’s vulnerabilities as a capitalist, economically divided society. Although immediately after the attacks, people came together to help one another, a few years later the American ideals dissipated, and gave way to the true American way, and the gluttonous consumption ensued. This article brought a lot of my pervious ideas of the city to a new light. Is America really all it’s cracked up to be?
