Tea at Trianon: Declining New York City

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Declining New York City

From The Daily Wire:

Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon warned at a Financial Times conference that New York City may cease to be a global financial hub if it does not end the policies causing its decline. During remarks at the conference, as summarized by The New York Post, Solomon said that “New York has to be aware that there are good choices, and it’s got to keep itself attractive” — especially with relation to “taxes” and “cost of living.” Solomon added that no city is guaranteed “a permanent place in the world,” referring to Detroit losing its status as the capital of the automobile industry. Indeed, the tax burden in New York City is among the largest in the nation. The New York Post noted that the Big Apple imposes a 3.9% tax on top income-earners, in addition to New York state’s 10.9% rate and the federal government’s 37% rate. Earlier this year, many investment bankers — including Goldman Sachs employees — flooded recruiters’ offices with requests for transfers to Florida. (Read more.)