We Don't Have To Live Like This
Decline Is A Policy Choice
One of the latest viral video clips from New York's subways was that of a vagrant laying on his back on the seats while urinating. That video clip was the jumping off point for the excellent thread below by a new account on X.
It's easy to forget now, but in the 1970s and 1980s, American cities were even worse off than they are today.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
Nowhere was that more true than New York City. Things were so bad that the Big Apple was nicknamed "Fear City."
The murder rate was 5 times higher than it is today. pic.twitter.com/tV9r9VPrAx
In the 70s, the NYPD distributed pamphlets at the New York airport warning visitors to "stay away from New York City if you possibly can."
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
In 1975, the city almost declared bankruptcy.
The crack epidemic raged. Drug dealers executed cops in public.
A TV report from the time: pic.twitter.com/3qFmQyFIph
A minor clarification: the crack epidemic started in the 1980s. America 2100 didn't have space to note that there, due to to the character limit. Back to their excellent thread.
Giuliani's philosophy was simple: Have the courage to enforce the law — vigorously, energetically, and forcefully.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
Stop treating victims as criminals and criminals as victims.
Stand by your police officers unequivocally — let them know you have their backs, no matter what. pic.twitter.com/KECAjBZhdp
That meant that no crime was too low-level to prosecute. Cops had to start enforcing a basic quality of life again.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
Not just the mob bosses and drug dealers — the graffiti artists, the vagrants, and the public nuisances, too.
They had to restore order.
As @CityJournal noted: pic.twitter.com/ya9EhY4gtz
Broken windows holds that minor nuisances will turn into major nuisances, if left unchecked. Public disorder begins with broken windows; then graffiti and squatting; then drug use and prostitution and so on.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
Kelling and Wilson describe this in their famous essay on the topic: pic.twitter.com/Ss4Ioz19ns
It's actually the other way around: Public order — and a law enforcement that is willing and able to enforce it — is the price of a good society.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
What's more, ironically, complaints about police brutality plummeted under Giuliani. As communities got safer, policing did too. pic.twitter.com/e17q0gMDjg
🚨 Like this thread? Great! We're a new account on here.
— America 2100 (@America_2100) May 3, 2024
We'll be doing a lot more videos and threads like this one over the next few months.
Our philosophy is simple: America first. America forever. 🇺🇸
If you like our content, give us a follow: @America_2100
Let's hope New York and other afflicted cities can still summon the votes to elect mayors like Giuliani and Bloomberg.
In Case You Missed It
We posted this week's top ten names on our trading Substack last night.
As part of our core strategy, We bought two of those top names in our personal account on Friday, to replace two names we got stopped out of. We mentioned the two names we bought in the comments on that post.
We also posted the final, 6-month performance of our top ten names from November 2nd of last year. On average, they were up 34.67%, versus up 17.72% for SPY.
That was the 45th weekly top names cohort with a full 6-month track record since we started our Substack in December of 2022. On average, our top names cohorts have posted 6-month returns of 22.31% so far, versus 12.19% for SPY over the same time frame.
If you want to stay in touch.
You can scan for optimal hedges for individual securities, find our current top ten names, and create hedged portfolios on our website. You can also follow Portfolio Armor on X here, or become a free subscriber to our trading Substack using the link below (we're using that for our occasional emails now).
