New: The Main Themes For The Current Year -- Now Linked At The Sidebar At The Top -- August 23, 2020

Link here. 

There is currently a meme in the business world: for the US economy to get back on track, NYC has to get back to business. The argument is that NYC is the economic / financial engine for the US. 

That is clearly in question now.

I do believe the following "memes' perpetuated by the likes of CNBC need to be questioned:

• the US economy is in deep trouble (I don't think so);
• NYC is the economic engine for the US (I think the US economic engine is more Balkanized: NYC, Boston, Austin, Seattle, Chicago, etc)

NYC may no longer meet the criteria of a world-class city (see this very, very old Forbes article).

Today, from ZeroHedge, the most recent article on the challenges NYC is facing. My hunch: Governor Cuomo is looking on with horror what Mayor De Blasio is doing to the city. This is from today, not a collection of stories from the past year, but just this morning:

By the way, regardless of what Joe Biden says, what is now happening in NYC guarantees that there will be no new national lock down, no matter how much Joe wants one.

From the linked ZeroHedge article:

New York property owners are begging the city's largest businesses to return to work.

Names like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock have been on the speed dials of New York landlords, who are reportedly reaching out to the businesses begging them to get back to work and, in turn, save the city's economy. The landlords have formed a "loose coalition" according to a new report by Bloomberg.

The group includes RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler, Rudin Management’s William Rudin and Marc Holliday of SL Green Realty. These landlords, facing a catastrophic collapse in the price of commercial real estate, argue that it's safe to return to work and that most NYC businesses simply can't survive a shutdown much longer. Some are even calling it the "patriotic" thing to do.

So far, the reception hasn't been overwhelming. And with every day that passes, it becomes a tougher sell. As businesses close up, there becomes less reason to return to work. As a result, landlords could see a major demand drought and prices could crater.