New York Values #53: The 2020's and Personal v. Institutional Responsibility

Happy 2020! There’s a lot going on right now, much of it concerning and part of a greater pattern. As our narcissistic president risks nuclear war in an attempt to distract from his crimes, fires spanning nearly the size of the continental US ravage Australia, showing us what could happen in California as early as next year. And the US government decided to spent $2 trillion it doesn’t have on more guns, pumping money into companies like Lockheed Martin rather than into its own struggling citizens. All this after yet another round of tax breaks that failed to stimulate the economy and simply made billionaires more billions while putting the country ever-further into debt. But people are finally catching onto these patterns and saying, “enough with the bullshit. Stop lying to us and stealing our futures. Do better.” This is the decade that, hopefully, we do what we would have done in 2000 if Jeb hadn’t handed his brother the presidency.

And if reading this makes you roll your eyes and go “what a liberal,” I’m actually in good (conservative) company with this outlook. I read Merrill Lynch’s 2020’s predictions because I care about global economic trends even if I think a lot of the minutia is uninteresting. There’s a lot in there, but here are the two paragraphs that stuck with me, as they are such a departure from the way financial institutions were talking a few years ago.

“That still leaves hundreds of millions of people facing problems such as hunger, poverty, inadequate housing, and lack of access to clean water and health care. And the entire world is grappling with climate change and other environmental issues requiring concerted action. “If the 2010s was when fears over climate change peaked, this has got to be the decade of climate change solutions,” says Michael Hartnett, Chief Investment Strategist for BofA Global Research. “Fortunately, whatever combination of renewable energies, new technology and political will that takes, history tells us that people are good at finding solutions to the biggest problems.” 

One force helping drive those solutions is a broad rethinking of capitalism. A new “moral capitalism” calls on companies to expand their missions beyond profits and shareholder interest to include supporting their communities, addressing climate change and the environment, and making their workplaces more inclusive, among other changes.”

The 2010’s were all about personal accountability. Don’t worry, guys, there’s still upward mobility! (There isn’t). You should definitely go to college and take out all those loans because you’ll totally get a job after! (You shouldn’t necessarily, and the jobs weren’t there). Climate change is fake; don’t tell me how to run my business! (It isn’t) Reduce, reuse, recycle! It’s on YOU to save the earth! (We can’t make a dent when companies/industries won’t change their ways) Would you like to add $3 to your CVS purchase to help families in need? (YOU fucking donate it, CVS! I’m buying off-brand Advil because I can’t afford health insurance. Don’t ask me to donate.)

Because the world used to be different, people believed (and many boomers/isolated people still think) that if you were without housing/income/healthcare it was due to your making poor choices, being addicted to drugs, etc. Leaving aside that addiction is a disease and pharmaceutical companies intentionally got people addicted to opiates, this just isn’t the world we live in anymore. The zip code where you were born is the biggest predictor of your lifetime income; there is no job security; there are no pensions or healthcare. And oh, by the way, many millennials will also need to support their parents whose finances were decimated by the ’08 financial crisis and never recovered. Parents who will live longer than any prior generation, with more chronic health problems. And entire cities are drowning, burning, or becoming less and less livable 

Unchecked capitalism is really good at solving the problems it has created by finding new ways to make money off the new problems. It’s often really bad at actually solving the problems (this is where I kind of disagree with the ML report, but only by degrees). And now these problems aren’t just superficial; we are facing possible extinction. Which is a strong word, but it’s true. 

So are you feeling inspired to enter this new decade? Because, honestly, I am. For the first time I’m seeing religious 70 year olds and activist 20 year olds on the same team. I’m seeing a reaction to Trump’s bullshit that shows people are becoming savvier at seeing what is going on through the spin. 

Happy 2020, guys. Welcome to a decade where empathy and social contract theory combine with capitalism to create something truly American that actually helps all of us. And libertarians can go fuck themselves. 

xo

Anna

New York Values #1 - Elizabeth Jennings

Because I thrive on content creation, especially about the city I’ve grown to love so intensely, I’m beginning a weekly column of sorts called New York Values, a play on the insult lobbed at us metropolitan folks by those who want to paint urban dwellers as Godless and out-for-themselves. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, and I’ve seen at least as much behavior that would make Jesus (or whomever) proud here as in my time spent living in rural Virginia or traveling through devout lands.

Because I do real estate now, it’s going to also include another “value”: a listing, tip, or fact about renting/buying/selling that I’ve learned on the other side of the looking glass. Who doesn’t like learning or looking at pictures of gorgeous apartments? Weirdos, that’s who.

And, because it’s me, this first post is about a strong woman standing up to some bigotry.

Portrait of Elizabeth Jennings in 1895, courtesy of Listverse

Inspired by NY Times New York Today, Feb 22, 2018:

One summer morning in 1854, Elizabeth Jennings, a young black schoolteacher, was headed to play the organ at her church. She hailed a horse-drawn streetcar; the conductor didn’t want to let her in because of her race, but she prevailed by jumping in and hanging onto the window frame when he tried to forcibly remove her.

He got the police involved and an officer pushed her out of the streetcar. But she was able to find a lawyer, future president Chester A. Arthur, to help her sue the streetcar’s operator, winning her $225 in damages and creating a precedent that allowed African-Americans to take any public transportation provided they were “sober, well behaved, and free from disease.”

This led to the city’s public transportation becoming largely desegregated within five years. And now, over a century later, the subway boasts an impressive diversity, with its passengers uniformly opposing the intoxicated, poorly behaved, and/or diseased (looking at you, person who gave me the flu on the A train).

Corner of Pearl & Chatham St. where Jennings hailed the streetcar, courtesy of NYHS

Obviously this was a long time ago and doesn’t speak to the current character of the city, but a few things do.

1. This was spotlighted by the New York Times in 2018; they do a daily NY news blast and it’s often focused around a personal interest story about a community activist. It’s probably where a fair amount of these little articles will originate, and it’s a nice way to start your day before you cram onto a crowded train to smell someone’s breath for 30 minutes #doweneedtobetouching.

2. In 2007 the city put up a sign reading Elizabeth Jennings Place on a street corner blocks from where she made her stand. There are spots like this all over NY, with roughly 1,600 honorific street names immortalizing people like musicians, activists, and religious leaders. Who’s Godless now?

3. The reason this street was honorifically named? A group of third and fourth graders at nearby P.S. 361 were so moved by her story that they asked the city. It took them a year, but through petitions, meetings, and a campaign of pressuring local officials, they made it happen. If I had learned this valuable civics lesson at 9 years old I would be way more excited about government.

Elizabeth Jennings Place, courtesy of Narrative Network

And now for the real estate part: fun mortgage info!

Did you know that nationwide people are speculating about how the impending mortgage rate hike will affect the RE market? Did you know that some agents are very stressed about how this will affect their business? Did you know that I am zero percent concerned because people will always buy homes and I do not yet have a consistent income I’m afraid to lose?

However, as my senior broker Joe Quiros likes to say, “You don’t live in in the PRICE; you live in the PAYMENT.” So, for every percent the rates increase, your monthly mortgage payments on a 30 year loan increase 12%. Essentially what this means is that while people will not stop buying, their dollar will not go as far, because the same priced apartment will now cost them 12% more per month than if they had locked in earlier.

For example, for every $100,000 borrowed at 5% interest, you owe $59.40 per month MORE than you would at a 4% rate. That's not a huge difference on a small loan, but NY loans are often sizable, meaning this scales to more like $500/month additional.

If you have any questions about this, send me a message and we can talk numbers. And if this inspires you to GO BUY IMMEDIATELY, then I am clearly an incredible salesperson and we can work together.

There you go, it’s your first NEW YORK VALUE!!! I’ll see you back here next week with another little essay about how awesome NY is and how we are not all giant assholes; we just walk quickly and don’t like things in our way.

<3

Anna