New York is Losing its Prominence

Apparently, this is the conclusion of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer in a new CFR article, "The Shifting Capital of Capital". Too many reports are showing London as the World's financial capital. If you ask me, this probably has more to do with the fact that one British pound is now worth two US dollars than anything having to do with US vs UK regulatory practices. Don't tell that to Mike and Chuck though - they are blaming it on Sarbanes-Oxley and are proposing ways to lessen some of the regulations put on corporate America after the Enron scandal. While I agree that some of these regulations are cumbersome and could use reform, this is not hitting the nail on the head. The US dollar is in big trouble and we need to balance the federal budget in order to ensure that all US cities remain competitive in the next 20-30 years.

Potomac Angst and the Reviewing of the City-State Relationship

Monday's TIME Magazine cover story, "Who Needs Washington?", featuring Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-NYC), and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) reminded me of a recent Globalization and Word Cities (GaWC) Research Bulletin by P.J. Taylor entitled, "Cities and States: An Elemental Reinterpretation of their Origins and Relations". The piece does not go so far as to say that cities are gaining power at the expense of nation-states, but he argues that a fundamental reanalysis of how scholars approach city-state relationships is in order. The article gives a great overview of how this relationship has changed over time. If it is the mission of the two mavericks featured on TIME's cover to restructure this relationship it seems that there is ample historical precedent for it.