1776-2025: NYC, End of an Era

What does 1776 have to do with anything? Jews in New York didn’t get full civil rights for at least another ten years, and the city didn’t become the leading economic center until the the Erie Canal opened. For frum Jews, economic freedom didn’t come until the mid-20th century when the New Deal brought in the five day week (previously most people were required to work a Monday-Saturday schedule, leaving few alternatives from Shomerei Shabbos), and the Great Society made it difficult to legally discriminate against religious minorities.

New York City and New York State have been steadily declining since the mid-20th century. The fact that New York City is probably (there is still much that could happen) going to elect a socialist anti-Semite as mayor is more a symptom than a disease. Unless you own real estate (including housing) or have bought local bonds, there isn’t too much to worry about (though for Jews the biggest concern is that he will order the police to stop protecting Jews from violent attacks, though in the case the state or federal government is likely to intervene). For frum Yidden, the “blue” cities and states are increasingly hostile, and have been becoming so for some time. Note that almost no frum Jews invest in municipal bonds, and relatively little is invested in real estate (note that in New York City many if not most frum Jews rent rather than own their housing).

It remains to be seen how the national Democratic party will react to having someone in such a prominent role who self-identifies as a Democrat have views that will discredit the party elsewhere in the country. One option is they could switch to supporting the current mayor who is already on the November ballot, and already has more credibility than a typical third party candidate since he is the incumbent. The most important factor may be the 2026 elections since if WOKE loses nationally, and New York goes purple and elects non-Democrats statewide, the threats will largely go away (so it might be a good idea to wait a bit before moving to Tel Aviv or Texas – though it would be prudent not to buy New York real estate or New York bonds).

NYC has been on the decline since the 1960s. There were some bumps and better times but the trajectory started then. Once the government focuses on social issues rather than the quality of life hard times are ahead. NYC is an exception to most big cities in that (1)it sometimes elected level headed officials and (2)it needs state permission to do a lot of things. Which prevented it from doing many stupid ones. But the way things are now NYC will soon be another Philadelphia, just bigger