What people are talking about is a city populated by the “hardworking middleclass.” That’s pretty much over. I’m beginning to subscribe to the bitter truth, which is: except for elections and buying stuff with cash from home equity loans, the American middleclass has become more or less irrelevent. So, the pols and the car manufacturers kiss their butts — but they don’t get much else.
Since I currently live midway between NYC and Philly, I can honestly tell you that two things happenned in the latter that did not happen in the former a. an exodus of the wealthy (dare I say, more important that the "middle class") and b. exodus of employers. Philly was once a manufacturing and financial center, but the former could not be sustained in light of cheaper and more efficient labor elsewhere, while the latter was eliminated through consolidation of said industry.
To think, back in the 1970s, we kept hearing about the dangers of the exodus of the "middle class" (Read: Archie Bunker) from the cities. NYC survived, however, while Philly (largely dominated by blue collar machine politicians) did not.
Nevertheless, there remain some nice neighborhoods in Philly (Society Hill, Chestnut Hill) which are bargains compared to NYC. However, would you really want to commute via Amtrak everyday? ;-)
>...the American middleclass has become more or less irrelevant.<
The direct result of multinationalist corporations and outsourcing caused by NAFTA, GATT and the WTO. Even globalist FDT says we’re becoming a service nation. We’re sinking faster than I thought we would.
Once the middle class is an empty husk financially, the sh*t will hit the fan, because all of those who depend on us to shut up and pay our taxes won't have the tax-dollar ATM anymore.