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WAY OT: New York is NOT the center of the universe
Buried in the excellent thread about Mission Statements was the comment that NEW YORK is the “center of the universe”. I didn’t want to tarnish that thread with this comment, so I’ve started a new one.
I just returned from a trip through China, and I can tell you that New York is NO LONGER THE CENTER of the universe. Pick a criteria: Architecture. Nope. Public Transportation. Nope. Public Cleanliness. Definitely Not. Industrial output? Not by a factor of ten. Financial power? Debatable. While all you New Yorkers were chanting “USA, USA, USA” or “We’re Number one” the center of the universe was shifting. Westward. All the way to China.
Pick a city. Shanghai? More incredible world class architecture than NY. Hong Kong? Financial services that rival wall street and public transportation that makes the NYC subway system look like a third world country. History and Culture? Bejing goes back THOUSANDS of years.
I’m not overlooking many of the issues currently plaguing China, like environmental disasters, or a massive population of underemployed. But seeing this massive country awakening and moving into the “developed world” was amazing. My son summed up the trip this way. “I feel like I’ve had a trip to the future”. I agree. For China, the future is now, and if we Americans keep thinking that we’re still the center of the universe, then we do so at our own peril. Wake up! New York hasn’t been center of the universe for some time now.
While this rant may seem OT, I guarantee you that the repercussions of a rising China will impact all of us regardless of what kind of business we’re in. You want to hear a mission statement? China’s mission statement is to become a “developed nation”. That simple statement is driving unimaginable construction efforts, industrial output, and environmental impact. A mission statement is a wonderful thing. Perhaps New York’s should be, “To become the greatest city in the world… again”.
Mark
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29 Replies
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China’s mission statement is to become a “developed nation” – Mark
Minor revision:
“A developed nation with limited internet access”Are the Chinese even permitted to log on to the Creative Cow?
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I’m learning Mandarin.
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Meteor Tower Films
We make music videos, design video for live theater, and build interesting contraptions. -
Very often you can find FREE WIFI provided by the government. Connection speeds were significantly faster than your average US city. Yes you can see the COW. I logged on regularly from many different cities. No, you can’t access Facebook. Frankly, they may be onto something there!
mark -
My tongue-in-cheekness notwithstanding, yes, we have BUNCHES of folks from China logging in. Not shockingly, one of our fastest growing territories here at the COW.
One way we’re growing so fast is that Bessie speaks Chinese – one of 12 languages, in fact. Check those flags in the lower right of the “meadow” banner at the top of the page. Allll over it.
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I’m dealing with banks right now to buy a building. I have a nearly 800 credit score and nearly 28% net profit on gross sales. They are still waffling even though this move could mean 3 more full time hires and one of the largest production companies in our fair city.
And I’m one of the little guys…what do the real movers and shakers feel like in this economy?
I’m fairly conservative fiscally, but I have to say that the banks probably caused most of this lack of growth right now. Don’t blame Obama that he can’t get the economy going because the CEO’s and top managers at our banks took all the money.
I believe there is money at the top and they are hoarding it so when the Chinese come to clean up in the USA, they will at least have something to bargain with. The rest can fend for ourselves.
This post got me riled up. Absolutely no excuse for this situation. We need to fix it. Put the power back into the hands of the innovators and the thinkers, the visionaries…then you’ll have your hope and change.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production and Post
Owner/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
Something that needs mentioning here as well is that the infrastructure China is investing in is a tremendous wealth multiplier. The real desire here is, as you mention, hoarding cash at the top. If anything, shoving paper around to generate illusory wealth, not based on anything genuinely value-additive has become the order of the day, week, moth, year, decade, and era.
It’s as though the banker-crats have decided amongst themselves that this is our “end time” and that they’re going to go out holding piles of cash while the rest of the world redevelops around us.
I am fortunate to have some (well-connected) friends from China and know some of this a bit more closely than do many Midwestern Americans.
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All the progress in China has come with a heavy environmental toll however. The government is pretty much unchecked and can do whatever it pleases in the name of progress. As part of the Assignment Earth series we did a few years back we did an episode on Chinese industry stripping the worlds forests for lumber.
Another episode showed the impact in Thailand as China prepares to dramatically alter the Mekong River. Not much Thailand can do to stop it.
And today, we are seeing the predictions of a cesspool at the Three Gorges Dam coming to fruition.
https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38517934/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
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True. But, still doesn’t change my initial statement.
Mark
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Mark,
I will try hard to not sound like a biased NYer and I quite understand that the 21 century might see China become the pre-eminent economic power in the world, however…
Pick a criteria: Architecture. Nope. Public Transportation. Nope. Public Cleanliness. Definitely Not. Industrial output? Not by a factor of ten. Financial power? Debatable. While all you New Yorkers were chanting “USA, USA, USA” or “We’re Number one” the center of the universe was shifting. Westward. All the way to China.
Cleanliness??? when was NY ever clean? Industrial output???? when was NY in the top 20 of industrial cities even in the US? NY’rs chanting “USA,USA” – my guess is that there is less jingoistic fervor in NY than any city in the US. Do you have NY somehow mixed up with Des Moines?
I’m sure NY’s public transport looks archaic – it is archaic. That’s because it’s been in the business of moving millions of people a day for almost one hundred years.
NY has always been about money — making it, trading it, stealing it. But because that wealth was accruing in a relatively “free” and liberal society, along with that wealth came one of the perks that come with the gold, namely culture. NY is rich in money, rich in culture – art, music, literature -and also, and most importantly, it is rich in people.
If you can re-call the video clip that started that whole thread twice the speaker remarked that it was surprising to find a cabbie who spoke English – and this got a big laugh from the audience. It got a laugh because it’s quite true – the driver could have been pakistani, indian, mexican, from any of twenty countries in Africa or a dozen countries in the mid-east. They come here for a reason, and as long as we welcome them and they still choose to come, then I don’t worry about the future of this city.
I’ve never been to Asia, obviously never been to China. When a Chinese spokesman can tell a story about a Panamanian or Nigerian or Pakistani cab driver who took him to the airport, then I might concede NYs right to considered the “center of the universe.”
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
[Herb Sevush] “I’ve never been to Asia”
When you’ve seen with your own eyes, then I will concede that your opinion is anything more than just that… an opinion.
Mark
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