<p>barrons, I see that you feel you
but in fact what you seem to know is just the mindset of some IB people you’ve worked with.</p>
<p>They don’t necessarily represent the finance industry as a whole, and the finance industry does not actually set the tone for much of the city.</p>
<p>“Sex and the City” is a completely accurate representation of what all New York City women look and dress like, though. </p>
<p>Um. Just kidding there.</p>
<p>tried to add this -
maybe I became a bit more defensive after speaking to someone from California, who, upon hearing of a teenage girl from this area whose father was killed on September 11th said “maybe if he wasn’t in there working to buy her that $200 purse or their next BMW he’d still be here.” Huh??</p>
<p>Oh come on. New York is a huge and diverse city with lots of people with lots of different mindsets. If there is one common quality in all New Yorkers it is that they tolerate all different types of mindset.</p>
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<p>I’dve punched the guy in the face for saying that. And then some.</p>
<p>The finance industry along witht the supporting legal and accounting groups set the tone for Manhattan. The rest of NYC really does not matter much.</p>
<p>to whom???</p>
<p>barrons, do you think you’re being droll? It’s not coming off as humor, because it sounds so much like what some people actually believe.</p>
<p>enderkin - unfortunately it was a woman, and she made the comment over the phone - but yes, it would have been tempting!</p>
<p>Eh, a lot of characterizations of New Yorkers are quite off. Although, I will say this: While the majority of people are decent, albeit gritty, as a native New Yorker, I’ve found that the most pretentious people are the the ones with fresh college degrees who move into neighborhoods with a lot of history (village, soho, and chelsea come to mind). From experience, these people usually feel so self-entitled and love name-dropping where they live.</p>
<p>/rant</p>
<p>We’ve lived in NYC twice, and continue to spend a lot of time there. We know many people in the financial and legal communities there and I have to say that the linked article is amusing. Do people like that exist? Probably, but they are definitely a very small minority of even the wealthiest New Yorkers. To judge any group of New Yorkers by this article is silly. To judge an entire city? Ridiculous.</p>
<p>No, I’m quite serious in a grand generalizng way. I have met too many who fit the general mold to think it’s that over the top. For every one nice person there were 10 who pretty much are difficult. I can still remember the nice note I got from the AA to a NY big law partner who said it was so nice to deal with someone that treated her like a real person. Obviously that was very unusual in her work day.</p>
<p>I take real joy in seeing how our LA based firm is creaming my old NY based firm in our business.</p>
<p>But when will the real estate market begin to reflect the impact of all this loss of wealth. The growth is slowing down in NYC, but it still doesn’t look like the rest of the country.</p>
<p>NYC real estate market will never look like the rest of the country, not even close. If prices drop the super wealthy (which there are tons of in NYC) will scoop up the real estate and wait for prices to rise again and make $.</p>
<p>Even the super rich looses money too, they can’t hide this time. The NYT just recently had an article about a real estate billionaire that had to give up a lot of his buildings worth near $9 billion. His son had to ask him to resign and now the family networth is down to $500 million. I just can’t recall his name.</p>
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<p>This generalization by anecdote, about a City with 8 million people in it, is getting as silly as it is offensive. But if we must deal in anecdote, I’ve been a lawyer in New York City for 29 years now, including the first 16 at one of the largest firms in the City. So I think it’s safe to say that I’ve met at least as many New York lawyers (and businesspeople) as you have; probably far more. And many out of town lawyers as well. And, yes, there are lawyers at big firms in New York who are basically a**holes with anger management problems, and treat the people who work for them like utter garbage. But I think it’s safe to say that there aren’t as many as there were 20 or 25 years ago. And there are far more who simply aren’t like that at all. Plus, there’s a whole world of people outside the upper echelons of “biglaw” (a term I hate – it’s so pretentious) and big finance. Including me, for the last 13 years! And you may think we don’t matter in setting the “tone” for the City, but I don’t happen to think the people you’re talking about are very important in the grand scheme of things, outside their own circles.</p>
<p>Perhaps I am too defensive about New York City, but I’ve spent too much of my life hearing people say nasty things about New York and its population to take it too lightly. Especially since, so often – and I’m not saying it’s true of you, Barron – there’s a strong undertone of implication that a certain ethnic group I happen to belong to is responsible for whatever the speaker complains is wrong with New Yorkers in general. You know. Pushy. Arrogant. Abrasive. Interested only in money. That kind of thing.</p>
<p>Donna</p>
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<p>And how could he make that money back? Well buying up NYC real estate would be a great way. It may go down for a year or two but real estate always goes up in the long run, especially in NYC.</p>
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<p>Ah. Gotcha. It’s personal.</p>
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Donna, strange comment on your part. I don’t see any strong tone referring to any ethnic group in the article. Being rich is not an ethnic group. There must be hundreds of ethnic groups in NYC.</p>
<p>I don’t mean that the article has that implication; it certainly doesn’t. I meant that many of the nasty remarks about New York and New Yorkers that I’ve heard in my life have had that implication, and that that explains, perhaps, why I get defensive when people start making generalized criticisms about New York.</p>
<p>It’s not personal. I just think many people in finance, etc. in NYC suck as people.</p>