401(k) was codified in the late 70s and became popular in the mid-80s. Roth IRA came into being in late 90s. (Personally, I think laws should discourage risky investments as tax-free retirement vehicles, and either guarantee a decent gov’t pension to everyone, or mandate investment in very safe areas. Retirement shouldn’t be a casino.)
I can’t speak to the 70s, but frankly, I liked many aspects of NYC in the 1980s and early 90s. Cheap, more economically diverse, and less rule-abiding.
I remember someone complaining about paying $500/mo for a big 2 bedroom place on the Lower East Side in the early 90s.
Personally, I hope that a slowdown in the financial industry would force a diversification of the city into things like tech firms and R&D. A lot of creative effort put towards the finance industry (shifting Monopoly money around) is actually wasted effort — imagine if more of our best and brightest went into engineering and hard science vs finance. We have the world-class universities and a lot of damn smart people.
Keep in mind that Bell Labs was founded in NYC, so this would not be unprecedented.
