Monday, January 18, 2016

on the big mac economic indicator, statue of liberty and stuffing the terrorists

View from our hotel room
Upon waking up, we had a quick, standard American breakfast of Egg McMuffins from the corner McDonald’s. I used to have a measure to tell how expensive a city was, which I called the Big Mac Economic Indicator (BMEI). In Tbilisi, the local economic school ISET uses a similar measure which they call the Khachapuri Index, to judge the relative economic changes in the various regions of Georgia. The cost of basic, cheap foodstuffs are usually fairly good ways to measure what you’re going to spend. By my international BMEI system, you can see about how much of your wallet will go missing by the end of your trip by the price of a Big Mac meal deal. This proved accurate in New York, given that the Big Mac meal deal came in above 10 dollars - en par with a city like Copenhagen.

While we were stuffing down our McDonald’s Egg McMuffin’s, which indeed are the only things of value to eat at McDonald’s and are now available 24 hours a day in the US – and in Georgia they don’t even have McDonald’s breakfast! – my wife noticed something profound:

“Why are there only black people working at McDonald’s? And, everywhere we look in service, it’s always black people.”

“Because there is a fairly large, entrenched racial divide here,” I said. “It’s funny that a lot of people from the US don’t even notice it, and you pick it up immediately. But the reasons are longer and more complex than I can mention over a meal in a fast food restaurant.” We always keep are conversations light over meals.


The Statue of Liberty and the Jersey skyline

After our nourishing grease soaked breakfast, we were off to see the Statue of Liberty. There are roughly two ways to see our vigilant maiden, and that’s from a crazy expensive tour agency which will take you straight to the island and let you see up her skirt – there’s no entry into the Statue herself, she is a maiden after all – or via the free Staten Island Ferry, which takes you on a path right alongside the Statue and then on to Staten Island.

When we emerged from the metro station, we were immediately accosted by touts. “Did you reserve your place?”

“Do you need a place to sit?” The flow of people suddenly ebbed to a stop, being blockaded by all the rip-off “information helpers” that abounded along the port, skimming up lost tourists as the pool man skims up lost frogs and spiders. “No man, thanks.”

“Don’t worry, I’m an official guide,” the man said, showing his “official” badge. Of course, all scamming tourist touts are “official guides”.

“So you have reservations already?” the man blocking us asked.

“No, we don’t. Reservations?” I asked.
    
“You need reservations to ride. They’re 60 dollars, straight to the island and you can walk around.”

“I can do that for free.”

“No you can’t,” he said.

“Yes, I can, it’s always been free. Last time I was here it was free.”

“Oh, wait, where are you going?”

“Staten Island,” I said.

“Oh, that’s that way.”

View from the State Island ferry
From the metro, you take an immediate right and avoid the hustlers. Then through the big doors labeled Staten Island and wait a few minutes for the next ferry (generally every 30 minutes and 24 hours a day). We got on, immediately got to the starboard deck to get a good and long view of the Statue. Then for inexplicable reasons, we had to get off the boat. I figured that that was because otherwise you could find a place to sleep there and use the place as a hotel, which many members of the homeless community seemed to be doing – though interrupted every thirty minutes to get off and back on. Life on a yacht, not bad.

Landing back on Manhattan, we immediately headed to the Bull statue, which was decked out in Christmas wreaths and lights. Who says stockbrokers can’t have a bit of Christmas spirit while they’re busy embezzling your money in offshore accounts? There’s a similar and smaller statue in Frankfurt, which is partly why Frankfurt is called the “New York of Europe”. Everywhere must have its somewhere of anywhere else.

From the Bull statue, it’s only two blocks to Wall Street, which is an incredibly short street and ends, with no irony, in a graveyard. Also on Wall Street is the site of the second City Hall of New York and first Capitol building of the United States, built in the 1700s, where Jefferson himself once helped pen the Constitution. It's now called the Federal Hall Memorial Museum, and is unfortunately not the original building, the latest building having been built in 1842. The interior is modeled after the Pantheon and serves as a memorial to the democracy of the Greeks - think, a vote for ever single white male! 

Inside St. Paul's Chapel
There is also the infamous New York Stock Exchange, which dictates the waning and waxing of economic power across the globe. If money is the root of all evil, then that building must be where the 7th seal is located, and when it cracks, there cometh the great beast, rearing its seven heads. From Wall Street, we made our way up to St. Paul’s Chapel, where George Washington regularly attended mass. It’s more recent claim to fame was as a headquarters for humanitarian workers helping the injured and maimed from the terrorist attack of 9/11. From there, it’s only a spit to Freedom Tower, which even after 14 years, it’s still impressively under construction, as if we’re telling the terrorists, “We will build freedom forever!” 

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