re: Morgan Stanley CEO to bankers: If you want NYC salary, you need to be in NYC

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he mentioned that they were going to move employees back into offices because the mayor and governor wouldn't be happy if these employees were able to live elsewhere (thus bringing tax revenue elsewhere). That's a horseshite reason, IMO.

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I've heard one of the main reasons that the mayors of big cities want workers back in the buildings is because otherwise there are $750 million high rises that are 85% empty. If companies that own/lease these spaces can't sell them off because no other companies are working in-person, there are massive drains on their city's revenue.

Companies will certainly save money by switching the WFH full-time, but they'll also be losing money with everything they shelled out for office space that they can't get rid of. For the governments and companies based out of NYC, LA, Chicago, etc., the easiest solution is to just try to get their employees back.

I'm not one who cares about the health of big urban centers, but anyone who has lived in "up-and-coming" cities like me (particularly in the south) have seen swaths of NYC, DC, and Boston transplants who are nothing more than glorified data entry clerks move down here and raise the cost of everything with their six-figure salaries that truly aren't commensurate with their skills. They're pricing the native residents out of the market all because they earn a pay that is reflective of our market before the pandemic.