The last time Miami was relevant, the city didn’t matter. In the 1980s, all she had to offer was drugs, clubs, pastel blazers, jai alai gambling and me Miami Vice especially a very successful television series about all these things. But now Miami is the most important city in America. Not because it has stopped being a frivolous, rule-free tax haven, firmly in the hands of hot internet celebrities and sinking to the sea because of climate change. It became America’s most important city because the United States has become a frivolous, rule-free tax haven, ruled by micro-celebrities and capitulated to climate change.
(This text is in May 2022, Merkur # 876 published.)
The last time Miami was relevant, the city didn’t matter. In the 1980s, all she had to offer was drugs, clubs, pastel blazers, jai alai gambling and me Miami Vice especially a very successful television series about all these things. But now Miami is the most important city in America. Not because it has stopped being a frivolous, rule-free tax haven, firmly in the hands of hot internet celebrities and sinking to the sea because of climate change. It became America’s most important city because the United States has become a frivolous, rule-free tax haven, ruled by micro-celebrities and capitulated to climate change.
Every few months, Miami opens the Overton window a little wider, giving the Opinion Corridor a glimpse of the open sea. As recently as March 2021, the city was being mocked when the American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA-Basketballmannschaft Miami Heat, in FTX Arena was renamed after a cryptocurrency exchange that was only two years old. But as early as December, the Staples Center of the Los Angeles Lakers was also named Crypto.com– Arena baptized. When Miami responded to its massive climate problems by appointing a “Chief Heat Officer,” it seemed like a dystopian hoax. Then Phoenix and Los Angeles also hired heat officers. It was somewhat ridiculous when Miami launched a cryptocurrency called MiamiCoin, but shortly thereafter New York City and Austin announced their own. After Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that he would be taking his salary in bitcoin from now on, New York Mayor Eric Adams tweeted, “I will have my first three paychecks in bitcoin.”
The Miami Movement — Suarez wants me to write “Miami Movement” because he’s worried I might demean the movement to a “Miami Moment” — had been hinting at it for some time, but with the onset of the pandemic, it really took off . People were working from home and it was cold at home. And bumped up. And the restaurants were all closed. Miami seemed like a good place to get away from it all for a few days. And to extend the vacation. And never return.
If you look at the map of the past in the past USA shook, sooner or later all the loose ends arrived on the Florida Peninsula: the newly divorced, the defaulters, the long-term unemployed, the con artists, the ex-offenders and the future offenders. But during the pandemic, even the average Joe became a loose part, cut off from his office, his family, his friends, his surroundings. In the 12 months since July 1, 2020, far more Americans have moved to Florida than to any other state—220,890 people, to be exact. And migratory movements can change places, as was shown in California after the Dust Bowl or in the Midwest after the great African-American migration. But it’s not just people who are drawn to Miami. It is also a migration of money. Billionaire Carl Icahn moved his hedge fund office here from New York. As early as 2020, Jills Zeder Group sold more than $1.2 billion worth of homes, more than any other major real estate agency. As of 2021, the company has signed contracts worth more than $2 billion.
Every few months, Miami opens the Overton window a little wider, giving the Opinion Corridor a glimpse of the open sea. As recently as March 2021, the city was being mocked when the American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA-Basketballmannschaft Miami Heat, in FTX Arena was renamed after a cryptocurrency exchange that was only two years old. But as early as December, the Staples Center of the Los Angeles Lakers was also named Crypto.com– Arena baptized. When Miami responded to its massive climate problems by appointing a “Chief Heat Officer,” it seemed like a dystopian hoax. Then Phoenix and Los Angeles also hired heat officers. It was somewhat ridiculous when Miami launched a cryptocurrency called MiamiCoin, but shortly thereafter New York City and Austin announced their own. After Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that he would be taking his salary in bitcoin from now on, New York Mayor Eric Adams tweeted, “I will have my first three paychecks in bitcoin.”
The Miami Movement — Suarez wants me to write “Miami Movement” because he’s worried I might demean the movement to a “Miami Moment” — had been hinting at it for some time, but with the onset of the pandemic, it really took off . People were working from home and it was cold at home. And bumped up. And the restaurants were all closed. Miami seemed like a good place to get away from it all for a few days. And to extend the vacation. And never return.
If you look at the map of the past in the past USA shook, sooner or later all the loose ends arrived on the Florida Peninsula: the newly divorced, the defaulters, the long-term unemployed, the con artists, the ex-offenders and the future offenders. But during the pandemic, even the average Joe became a loose part, cut off from his office, his family, his friends, his surroundings. In the 12 months since July 1, 2020, far more Americans have moved to Florida than to any other state—220,890 people, to be exact. And migratory movements can change places, as was shown in California after the Dust Bowl or in the Midwest after the great African-American migration. But it’s not just people who are drawn to Miami. It is also a migration of money. Billionaire Carl Icahn moved his hedge fund office here from New York. As early as 2020, Jills Zeder Group sold more than $1.2 billion worth of homes, more than any other major real estate agency. As of 2021, the company has signed contracts worth more than $2 billion.
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