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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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Take housing out of it for instance. How many people do you think have ever actually tried to build a new business in NYC? Not that I have, but there’s a good body of literature people can read on this and it’s clear that from the people that have, the problem of the business side of things looks very similar to the problem ordinary citizens have of it.

I'm not an economist, but assuming that NYC is hostile to new businesses, it seems to me that this would help ameliorate the housing issue I mentioned. Because it means that more people will start businesses in Stamford, Morristown, White Plains, Garden City, and so on. All cities which are far more easily accessible from distant suburbs.

So I would argue that the problem is not so much that NYC is a bad place to start a business, but actually the opposite -- that it's too great a place to start a business. That notwithstanding the extra taxes, the regulatory hurdles, the crime, and so on, NYC offers a huge array of advantages.