It is striking that the New York City metropolitan area has been hit harder than any other metropolitan area in the country. It's not that they are/were doing anything "wrong," it's just that in a city that is so densely populated, the spread of a communicable disease is much more difficult to control than in "Flyover Country."
But New York has a history - you might almost say a "culture" - of exploiting major phenomena to their own benefit. The costs of 9-11 (demolition, rebuilding, etc.) were orders of magnitude greater than they should have been, or would have been had the attacks taken place in any other city in the country. The taxpayer-funded settlements paid to NY's 9-11 victims were outrageous and again, orders of magnitude more than they would have been anywhere else in the country. It has been noted that building new subway lines in the so-called "Tri-State Area" is not more than what it costs elsewhere, it is multiples of what it costs elsewhere, even in high COL areas like London. The Port Authority is easily the largest, most bloated government instrumentality in the Americas. It is so big and so unaccountable that doesn't even need to be corrupt to be eating the public's lunch on a daily basis. It has been estimated that fully one-fourth of the voters in metropolitan New York either work for the government, work for a company that exclusively serves the government, or are supported by someone who does. Is it any wonder that feeding at the trough of government is the figurative "national sport" of the region?
So when the dust settles on the Corona Virus Pandemic, and when the investigative reporters start looking into the financial aspects of New York's mini-catastrophe, there will be tales of grotesque fraud, profiteering, waste, mis-use of funds and resources, public servants enjoying full pay and extensive overtime for doing basically nothing (their offices and functions closed due to the dangers).
And the New York delegation in Congress will be crying crocodile tears in Congress because New York was hit so much harder than anyplace else, and DESERVES billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to recover from its trials and tribulations. And we in Flyover Country will be ignored as we plead with our own Congress-people to tell the New Yawkers to "go fuck themselves."
It is as inevitable as night following day.
But New York has a history - you might almost say a "culture" - of exploiting major phenomena to their own benefit. The costs of 9-11 (demolition, rebuilding, etc.) were orders of magnitude greater than they should have been, or would have been had the attacks taken place in any other city in the country. The taxpayer-funded settlements paid to NY's 9-11 victims were outrageous and again, orders of magnitude more than they would have been anywhere else in the country. It has been noted that building new subway lines in the so-called "Tri-State Area" is not more than what it costs elsewhere, it is multiples of what it costs elsewhere, even in high COL areas like London. The Port Authority is easily the largest, most bloated government instrumentality in the Americas. It is so big and so unaccountable that doesn't even need to be corrupt to be eating the public's lunch on a daily basis. It has been estimated that fully one-fourth of the voters in metropolitan New York either work for the government, work for a company that exclusively serves the government, or are supported by someone who does. Is it any wonder that feeding at the trough of government is the figurative "national sport" of the region?
So when the dust settles on the Corona Virus Pandemic, and when the investigative reporters start looking into the financial aspects of New York's mini-catastrophe, there will be tales of grotesque fraud, profiteering, waste, mis-use of funds and resources, public servants enjoying full pay and extensive overtime for doing basically nothing (their offices and functions closed due to the dangers).
And the New York delegation in Congress will be crying crocodile tears in Congress because New York was hit so much harder than anyplace else, and DESERVES billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to recover from its trials and tribulations. And we in Flyover Country will be ignored as we plead with our own Congress-people to tell the New Yawkers to "go fuck themselves."
It is as inevitable as night following day.
