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TaftIsUnderrated t1_iu1ci04 wrote

Where do urbanites think their wealth comes from? It's not art galleries or hip coffee shop; it's banks, insurance, and financial managers. Look at the skyline of any major city, all the skyscrapers have are named after finance companies.

These finance companies take money from the surrounding area, concentrating it in a city, then act charitable when they give a pittance back. This is just modern day mercantilism.

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685327593 t1_iu1h3gx wrote

Depends on the city. There's a good argument to be made that a city like NYC which gets wealthy off the financial industry is a "taker", but it's a lot harder to make that argument about a city like Houston which produces energy or a city like San Francisco that produces technology.

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imakenosensetopeople t1_iu1j1o6 wrote

I would argue that San Francisco is the tech equivalent of those finance companies in the original comment - it’s just concentrating the wealth from the surrounding areas (or now, worldwide) into a few square miles of SoCal.

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EthanBeast t1_iu3etfp wrote

Financial institutions aren’t nothing though. They do provide things. Just because you can’t touch it doesn’t mean it’s not integral to a functioning developed economy.

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