“I don’t think we are ever going to see a return to the old New York,” says New York resident and entrepreneur James Altucher. “Sixth Avenue is empty. Something like 30-50 percent of the restaurants in New York City are probably already out of business and they’re not coming back. The offices in Midtown where most of the millions of workers go to work in New York City, why are they empty?”

James Altucher, author, podcaster, entrepreneur, and angel investor says that New York City is dead forever. Altucher discusses how the forced business closures have permanently altered how business is done making it unnecessary for employees to remain in this high cost and highly taxed city:

Manhattan Offices May Remain Empty Permanently

Sixth Avenue in Manhattan is empty. Something like 30-50 percent of the restaurants in New York City are probably already out of business and they’re not coming back. The offices in Midtown where most of the millions of workers go to work in New York City, why are they empty? They are allowed to be open but most companies now are encouraging workers to be remote. Citigroup, JPMorgan, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, they want employees to be remote for maybe years or even permanently.

This completely damages not only the economic ecosystem of New York City, the restaurants, transportation, office buildings, and commercial real estate but what happens to your tax base when all of your workers can now live anywhere they want in the country? And not even just in the suburbs either. They are going to go to all of the cities like Nashville, Miami, Austin, and Denver. They are leaving the city because they can work in places that have a cheaper cost of living and a lower tax basis.

What happens to the tax revenues of New York at the same time that deficits are soaring? All of these numbers and apocalyptic statistics what’s going to reverse that? It’s only going to get worse.

We Are Never Going To See A Return To The Old New York

I was born here and I’ve lived here for my whole adult life and I have five kids in New York City. But yes, I don’t think we are ever going to see a return to the old New York. The good news is that this means financial, creative, and artistic opportunities are going to be dispersed for the first time throughout the entire country now. It is not going to be isolated to just a few spots like New York, San Francisco, or L.A. Everybody is going to have opportunity.

What makes this different is bandwidth is ten times faster now than it was in 2008. People really can work remotely now and have an increase in productivity.