From:
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS
Why did New York City become so powerful and famous? Two reasons: geography and money. The
geography led to the money.
What’s so special about New York City
geographically? Well! It has the deepest port/harbor in the
western hemisphere. Huge ships from Europe and all over the world could
sail right up to land and unload their cargoes (the goods or stuff that
they carried). In regard to other cities on the east coast, sometimes the ships
had to anchor out to sea and send the cargo in to land on smaller
boats. That was a real pain in the ass. It was much better
to sail right up to the land and unload or load up a ship.
Also, New York City did not really have any
type of crop nearby. The soil sucked and no real crop could be grown. A
crop is a type of food that is grown: wheat, rice, barley, corn etc.
People could not survive as farmers so they became highly aggressive
traders. They built roads and canals to help farmers and manufacturers
get their goods to New York City’s port, where the goods could be shipped
overseas. Once goods arrived in New York, they were easily transported
out to various other regions of the country. For example, the southern
part of the USA was heavily dependent on New York City to ship its cotton
overseas to England and other countries. The South then also received
various goods from England. So the first stage of New York City’s rise
was located at South Street. This is where the main port was. You
can still go there and see some old ships. They have lots of stores and
restaurants there and few people even know that this area is what gave New York
City its early boost toward wealth and fame.
People who engaged in trade out of New York
City became fabulously (hugely) wealthy. America’s first millionaire –
John Jacob Astor – was one of these guys. Astor came to America right
after the Revolution, from Germany. He began to buy animal furs
from Native Americans and he would sail his ships all the way to China to trade
these furs for Chinese silk, tea and porcelain. He would then sail to Europe to
sell these Chinese goods. When Astor died it was estimated that he had so
much wealth that if his money were converted into contemporary
dollars, he would be considered the third wealthiest person to have ever lived!
(I don’t know who the first two were.)
OK, so that’s the geography part. Guys
like Astor were making so much money trading that they literally couldn’t use
most of it. Even with the fanciest houses in the USA and every luxury,
they still had too much money just lying around. So, basically, they
began building banks. This way they could loan money they didn't need to
others and make a profit by collecting interest
on these loans. Where did they start building these banks? Wall
Street. One bank after the other was built along Wall Street by the guys
who made money by trading. As I mentioned earlier, Trinity Church is the
only building that still exists that existed before they began tearing down
houses and churches to build banks on Wall Street. A stock market was
also set up on that street and it is now the famous Stock Exchange (get your picture
taken next to the giant statue of a bull there).
So these guys who had been traders began to
realize that it was a lot easier to make money by building banks and loaning
out money for interest. Within a relatively short time New York City
started to become the financial capitol of the world. So do you see the development here? New York City started out as a trading center
but was so successful as a trading center, it evolved into a banking center.
It took the Civil War, however, to
really launch New York City into the stratosphere. At this time,
1861, America had two different economies – a northern industrial economy and a
southern agricultural economy. The industrial economy was based on folks
who owned factories and folks who worked in factories while in the south the agricultural
or farming economy was based on folks who owned land and the slaves who were
forced to work on this land for free under inhumane conditions.
The interesting thing is, traders and Wall
Street bankers in New York City were making a huge amount of money from the
cotton that was being produced by slaves in the south. The cotton had to
be transported up north and then it had to be shipped across the Atlantic
Ocean, primarily to England. So, believe it or not, initially folks on
Wall Street wanted to support the South in the American Civil War.
In fact, southerners joked that once the
south stopped sending its cotton up to New York City, grass was going to start
to grow in the streets of lower Manhattan and Wall Street because there would
be no business any more. Wrong. Once the southern states left the
United States and stopped shipping cotton to New York City, the northern
economy paradoxically took off. Why? New York City traders
and bankers realized that, in reality, the southern method of doing business
was not very efficient and the exporting of cotton was a good source of making
money but not the best source of making money. New York City traders soon
began gathering grain and various food products from the Midwest and other
northern areas and began exporting this. At that time Europe had been
experiencing a drought and desperately needed food. So New York
City lost the cotton trade but discovered a much more lucrative food
trade. The economic situation for the
Wall Street bankers blossomed.
Furthermore, the United States government
needed money to fight the war. They got virtually all of the money they
needed from Wall Street. Basically, Wall Street bankers paid for the
North to win the civil war. They loaned the United States government an
immense amount of money and the government paid that money back with
interest. And, now that the south was gone, the Congress was made
up entirely of northern congressmen. Southern congressmen had been
stopping northern industrialization by blocking various laws that the north
needed to develop technologically. Such laws would have hurt the
south. Now that the south was gone from the Union (the term for the
United States of America) the north began to pass laws that allowed the
development of many new industries and technologies and the development of a transcontinental
railroad system.
Getting rid of the south for awhile and then
beating the south in the Civil War was the best thing that ever happened to
America! Unfortunately hundreds of thousands of people died in this war
brought about by ignorant southern racists. Without the South the Wall
Street economy really took off! It went through the roof!
The south had been dead weight to the American economy and without the South,
America was now free to fulfill its economic potential. Or, at least,
lots of bankers and factory owners got filthy filthy filthy rich. Filthy rich means really rich.
So this is another paradox that I realized
when I got to America. Basically New York City is the most exciting city
in the world primarily because of the bankers and factory owners who lived from
around 1861 to 1900. They created so much wealth in the United States of
America that all kinds of things could be developed and created. Great
universities, museums, concert halls, huge department stores, skyscrapers
etc. I mean, the Metropolitan Museum, which has to be one of the greatest
museums in the world, was started by these wealthy guys who made a fortune
between 1861 and 1900. Oh! Did you ever hear of The Frick
Collection?
There was a guy named Henry Frick who lived during
this time and he was a steel guy – he worked with Andrew Carnegie to produce
some of the best steel in the world.
Steel is the strong metal you need to build railroad tracks and
skyscrapers. He made so much money that
he bought a lot of great works of art from Europeans who were desperate for
money. When he died he had so many masterworks of world art that they
just turned his house into a frigging museum! And it’s one of the
nicest museums in the city! There are paintings by Rembrandt and
Velasquez and Goya and Holbein there! Virtually every painting is a
masterwork!
So these greedy white guys who lived for
money and were super aggressive, and who often treated their workers like
garbage, endowed this city with great art and great services. That’s why I say it’s a paradox. You would think that greedy behavior would
lead to corruption and decline, but New York City seemed to develop amazing
institutions. In fact, economists have
an expression for this paradox: private vice
leads to public good. So basically the
more greedy people are, and the more they pursue their own economic interests,
the more wealth will be generated for the public to enjoy. Yet, New York City
has a huge gap between the rich and the poor, so, obviously, this system isn’t
as perfect as the economists might suggest.
So there have been various incarnations
of New York City. The first incarnation was when the Native
Americans lived here and farmed and hunted. Then the Dutch came and lived
pretty peacefully with the Native Americans (for awhile). They were
interested in getting beaver skins from the Indians so they could make money
by making and selling fancy hats back in Holland. So there was trade and
peaceful coexistence. If you look at the flag of New York City
you’ll actually see two beavers on it.
So we can say the second
incarnation of New York City involved the Dutch, and later the English, who
stole New York City from the Dutch in a war, and this incarnation was a
pre-international trade New York. Then we get the third incarnation,
which was centered around South Street. This is the big trading period
where New York City’s excellent port came in handy and helped traders
develop excess (more than was needed) wealth. This period led to the
fourth incarnation, which was the banking incarnation. The excess
wealth developed through trade was used to create banks which allowed more
wealth to be created more easily. These days New York City seems to
remain the off-spring of these wealthy, greedy, aggressive white guys
who turned to banking. Of them, J.P. Morgan was the most famous and
powerful. They turned his house into a
museum as well – it’s near the Empire State Building.
How does that make you feel? Basically
NY City kind of owes its prominence
to a few guys who made zillions of dollars through trade, oil, steel and
banking. I’m not sure how it makes me feel. Should I feel grateful to
these guys who were not interested in creating wealth for their society but who
accidentally created it while they got filthy rich?
Will there be another incarnation of New
York? Probably. Who knows? I can feel New York City struggling
toward something else, but without proper leadership, and New York City hasn’t
had any leadership in a long time, the struggle might be in vain.
Definitions of terms
geography – the physical features of an area;
i.e. Chicago is near a lake and on a flat area of land. The city of San
Francisco is located geographically in a hilly area.
a port/harbor – this is a place
where ships come in to shore (land) or the place from which ships depart from
the land.
right up to – some students are
confused by two prepositions next to each other. Right up to means
directly up to something; practically touching something.
anchor out to – again, two
prepositions…no big deal. To anchor out to sea means that a ship drops
its anchor out in the middle of the sea or far from land. An anchor is
that huge and heavy cross-shaped thing that ships drop into the water to stop
the ship from moving.
in to land – again, two prepositions…moving in
toward the land
a pain in the ass – this is a "dirty" or slang expression. If a person is a pain in your ass the person
bothers you. If something is a pain in the ass it is a nuisance or a
bother. Don't use this expression formally - it is only for very casual conversation among friends.
a boost - this is a lift off the ground; it
means assistance or help, to help someone get off the ground or to help someone
or something to get started.
The Revolution – this is the
American Revolution, which was fought against England from 1775-1783.
Basically, this was a revolution started by wealthy people living in America at
that time, but fought primarily by brave farmers and city workers. The
wealthy people did not want to pay taxes to a far-away English government that
wanted to use its American colonies to support the English economy.
Basically, England wanted Americans to produce raw materials that would be
processed in England and sold back to Americans. That wasn’t fair, was it? Of course not! Americans wanted to process and export their
own goods. Some people have said that this “revolution” was more of a
“Civil War” since the Americans had considered themselves English
citizens. That’s an interesting argument.
It’s not true, though. By 1775
Americans and Englishmen were totally different types of people.
fur – this is the skin of an animal that helps
to keep a person warm when it is worn by the person. Many women own fur
coats made of mink, for instance.
to convert – to change.
contemporary – right now.
interest
–
if you take out a loan, you will be charged interest. This is extra money you have to pay back in
addition to the amount you borrowed.
This allows the loaner to make a profit.
If you take out a loan you are a borrower. Many students get confused when they use the
terms “borrow” and “loan.” If you give
the money, you are loaning. If you take
the money, you are borrowing.
The Civil War – this was the war
that was fought between the north part of the US and the south part from 1861 –
1865. Basically the USA had two economies at that time. There was a
northern industrial economy and a southern agricultural (farming) economy.
The southern economy was based on slave labor. The big issue which really
caused the war to start, however, was the issue of tariffs. A tariff is a
tax on imports to a country. The north always wanted high tariffs because
they were good at producing goods and the south always wanted low or no tariffs
because they liked importing stuff from England. When Lincoln won the
presidential election of 1860 the south realized he would promote an economic
policy favoring the north and they left the United States and formed their own
country: The Confederate States of America. Ultimately they lost the war
because of Wall Street, Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and many brave northern
soldiers who died because they believed the world could be a more just place (a
"just" place is a place with justice - real justice). God bless them
for believing that.
the stratosphere – this is an upper
layer of the earth’s atmosphere. To say that something went into the
stratosphere means that something really did well or really soared; it did
unbelievably well.
inhumane – not showing human or humane values.
If someone acts in a cruel or nasty way, he is inhumane.
a paradox – when you expect one thing and
something opposite happens.
a drought – a long period of time without rain.
lucrative – if something is lucrative it
generates a lot of money.
Congress – The US Congress makes the
laws. There are three parts to the US government: the Congress, The
President and the Court system. Each of these parts can control or limit
the power of the other parts. This is one reason why the USA has never
had a dictator. Even though the president is called the most powerful
person in the world, his power is really quite limited by the Congress.
transcontinental – going across the
continent of North America.
to take off – to soar, to rise,
to increase.
through the roof – a figurative
term. If something goes through the roof it increases quickly and more than
anyone could have expected.
dead weight – something
unnecessary that might hold back a person’s progress. Let’s say that you
go hiking in the mountains. You don’t want to take high-heeled shoes with
you – those would be dead weight because you can’t use them.
sky scrapers – tall buildings
found in cities around the world.
frigging – a term just a little less dirty
than fucking. It’s still kind of dirty.
to endow – to fund or to provide resources
to.
vice – immoral behavior,
behavior which seems evil or wrong.
an incarnation – a version of
something.
beaver skins – the skins from
the fat little animal that likes to build dams in small streams. You know
the type of animal – he likes to float on his back.
coexistence – to live together.
to come in handy – to be useful.
the off-spring – something born
from something else.
Prominence/to
be prominent
– if something is prominent, it stands out from other stuff. A prominent doctor is more famous or
well-known than other doctors.
to be
in vain –
if something is “in vain,” that means that an effort was made but nothing was
accomplished. i.e. Jack had studied for
3 years to pass his CPA exam, but each time he took it, he failed. All of that studying was in vain.
Grammar stuff: the subjunctive
The subjunctive is dying in English.
It is really only used when “was” is changed into “were” in situations which
are unreal. But because formally educated Americans tend to use the
subjunctive, you should know about it.
If I were that fat guy, I would not eat so
much fried food. You would think it should be “If I was that fat
guy”…however, to indicate unreality “was” is changed to “were”.
Basically, the rule for the subjunctive is
that you always change “was” to “were” after “if.” This helps more clearly
indicate that this is an unreal situation.
It’s the same for the third person singular
as well.
If he were feeling better, he would go to
the baseball game.
If she were not interested in literature,
she wouldn’t be writing a book about it.
If he were a bit more relaxed, he would live
longer.
Just remember that if you use “if” and the
verb “to be” in the past tense in the first clause, you should use “were” and
not “was.” Many Americans use “was” anyway. As I said, the
subjunctive seems to be dying out.
If he were more handsome, he would be able
to date more women.
15 essential vocab words
Fill-in-the-blanks
geography, a harbor, fur, to convert,
contemporary, in vain, inhumane, a paradox, a drought, lucrative, to endow, an incarnation,
to coexist, vice, skyscraper
Many people who object to the usage of fur
coats feel that the animals used for this fur are treated in an ______________
or very cruel manner.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai
Lama is the actual, literal ___________ of the God of Mercy; the God of Mercy
lives within his body.
I am an open-minded and tolerant person and
I respect everyone’s religious beliefs, but I hate it when people try to
_________ me to their religion by taking me to their church and trying to make
me believe what they believe.
A society’s definition of what constitutes
(makes up) ____________ often changes. At
one point drinking alcohol was considered immoral and wrong in America, but now
alcohol is drunk freely in the States.
Henri did not want to give up the dream of
owning his own business. He had worked hard and saved money for many years and
he did not want all of this effort to be _____________.
Although the differing races and ethnicities
in America don’t always mix with each other socially, at least they seem to
____________ with each other peacefully.
Due to scientific farming techniques,
farmers do not need to fear ____________ as much as they used to. Even if
it doesn’t rain, water can be stored or transported long distances.
Some people like the artwork of the old
masters but for those who like more ___________ art, the Guggenheim Museum or
MoMA might be more interesting.
J.P. Morgan, an incredibly wealthy banker
from the early 1900s, helped to ___________ a number of cultural institutions
with his huge amount of wealth.
America not only has a diverse population
but also a diverse __________; there is everything here from deserts, to
mountains to prairies to marshlands.
A great transition occurred in the history
of the economy of New York City when it was discovered that banking could be
much more _____________ than trading; bankers made more money more easily than
traders.
Although New York’s ____________ is the
deepest in the western hemisphere, it is not used as often as it was when
thousands of ships would sail up to the pier near South Street.
The origin of the universe seems to involve
a puzzling __________: how could something come from nothing or how could
something always have existed?
The Empire State Building used to be the
world’s tallest ____________. Looking at
it now, it still seems tall, but that that huge.
John Jacob Astor became America’s first
millionaire by obtaining animal ________ from the Indians and trading it with
the Chinese for tea, silk and porcelain.
Answers: inhumane, incarnation,
convert, vice, in vain, coexist, droughts, contemporary, endow, geography,
lucrative, harbor, paradox, skyscraper, fur
