I'm finding it much easier to get reservations at some of the most popular and expensive eateries such as Le Bernandin which is few blocks from my apartment.
Exactly, Port proves once again that he is a grade A moron. Dives are steady in all times and will do just fine. NYC is feeling the pain, first go the overpriced restaurants/loungers & boutique stores. These are shutting down one after another everyday. Next come the bigger retailers, some have already folded. Then abandonded condo buildings & rentals. Not the walkups, the newly built ones which are expensive to maintain. Around the same time the commericial office space will crumble. Anyone with their eyes on that market knows it is coming. I live in NYC, have for years, and walk with my eyes open instead of glazed over with illussions. It's happening, slower than other problem areas, but NYC is speeding up its decline. If you keep your tabs on the rental markets, you will see prices drop literally overnight.
Great post. At the very least, investment into hard & vital assets is what needs to be done. But from my conversations, 90%+ people are clueless. If they have cash, they are looking at stocks or real estate. More opportunities for people like me then.
NYC is doing great. The homeless shelters are packed on weekends AND weekdays. The soup kitchens are booming, never seen so many people waiting in line to try the latest soup kitchen. Port's got it right, NYC is doing just fine. People are even going "city camping". Instead of sleeping in their luxury apt's they are setting up sleeping bags in the parks, subways and sidewalks. It's like a vacation for these people, they are loving it. Times are great in the concrete jungle.
It's hard to get in a restaurant here in the southeast without a long wait. And every time I go by the mall it has a lot of cars in the parking lot. To me, it does not look like the recession the media is telling us we are in.