The part I think Zed got right is that the cost of doing business in New York is not worth it for most startups.  More expensive than silicon valley with a fraction of available (ie. not working in finance for $250k) talent.<p>The part that is really wrong is that finance is New York's heroin.  No, finance is America's heroin.  All the super rich are tapped into it, and the government is bamboozled into supporting it because the bankers have the bureaucrats convinced that the obscene profits of the financial sector are the backbone of the economy.  Here we sit borrowing up to our eyeballs just to prop up the GDP so everyone can pretend everything is okay, while the smartest among us dream up new ways to create paper profits and China keeps a steady focus on actual real-world productivity and standard of living.<p>New York, much less the U.S. is not going to kick the heroin habit, the whole nation is going to keep shooting up until we actually lose our position as a financial superpower, the dollar loses its power, and the reality of that situation comes home to roost with the Fed's options finally exhausted.