Rents in New York definitely need to come down in order for the innovation / startup hub to continue it's upward move ... having banks and funds recover and sal

Rents in New York definitely need to come down in order for the innovation / startup hub to continue it's upward move ... having banks and funds recover and salary / bonus talk coming back will not help either. First of all, I think our financial crisis/recession is doomed to have a "W" shape. We're going to dip again; it's unclear when. This is because, despite the bailout, there hasn't been any material change in the workings of Wall Street; we've merely reduced the number of players. Wall Street salaries will always be high relative to other industries, but what will change post-crash (the upcoming one) is that the industry will employ fewer people. We'll have as many if not more billionares made by hedge funds, but the number of players is going to drop considerably, and Wall Street will no longer be able to singularly support the Manhattan economy (and no industries other than finance and "biglaw", whose clients are mostly Wall Street firms, pay sufficiently to support these prices). This will be good for New York's diversity and character; bad for real estate prices. But it could easily take 5-10 years before RE prices revert to a reasonable level. In that time, the talent will have moved elsewhere.