The Empire State

My license reads: The Empire State.

A building so named: intended to be the world’s tallest.

The history of Venice: A History of an Empire.

The meaning of empire: to whence where wealth is imported.

Perhaps modesty or shame would have intervened in our state’s motto.

If it were named the Empire City building.

The absolutely non-self sustaining aspect of the city.

The strong call to join the Confederacy in the war, in deference to where the wealth was being imported at the time.

All value is labor: Marx. The answer the question: Why import the teeming masses?

New York as the textile center of the New World.

The few if any uses for labor in 2009.

Ten slaves to one citizen: The population of Rome.

Capital as the import of choice.

The self-selecting rich who can afford to purchase Manhattan property.

The Erie Canal was obsolete in 10 years.

Is Albany our new Brasilia? Buffalo our Naples?

The funny thought there is any connection of New York State to New York City. Beyond the suburban tracts silent upon the fertile fields of Long Island? The Hudson Valley.

The writer remarks on the poor agricultural quality of New England. Not called soil where I come from,

The westward movement explained in a time of agriculture.

Fond du Lac Wisconsin founded by a New York Capitalist. Among many towns.

The New York Stock Exchange.

Jew York City. And not in a derogatory way.

The Media Capital of the world. Exporting hegemonic ideas to the world.

The taxi driver who spoke no English. In Amman Jordan. Who nevertheless listened only to American Pop Music.

The world’s largest steel factory. South of 23rd St in Manhattan. c. 1840. With ore from Pennsylvania. Workers from Germany and Ireland. And Africa.

Thinking if we still lived in New Amsterdam. Except perhaps we do.

Brooklyn Naval Yard.

Domino Sugar. To capitalize on the trade from the Caribbean.

A folly: To choose Canada as a spoil of war over the Bahamas to settle the French and Indian War. As the Bahamas accounted for a third of all wealth in North America at that time.

London. Caribbean. New York. London. or Capital. Crop. Labor. Consumption.

Washington DC as the ultimate Empire City.

With a vote in Congress, will the District be forced to change the license from Taxation Without Representation?

Perhaps they can buy Empire City.