The New York Stock Exchange’s likely sale to Frankfurt Stock Exchange is a sad event for the country, which is losing an icon of global finance to the Germans — including possibly the NYSE name, once one of the best-known brands in corporate America.
But the merger (slated to be announced on Tuesday, I’m told) is even sadder for New Yorkers. What little is left of our economic dominance as the “Empire State” has now been shattered by a deadly combination of global competition that is ruthless in picking winners and losers and the high taxes and vast spending of the New York nanny state.
Despite these burdens, the financial sector — the big banks and investment houses and the NYSE — managed to survive, providing plentiful jobs for blue-collar and back-office workers, as well as highly paid bankers and traders. But recent regulations, including those in the name of “financial reform,” have imposed so many fees and costs on investment houses that operating in the New York area, with its high taxes on business and individuals, has become increasingly difficult even for the biggest big banks that still call New York their home.