"A curb cut is authority granted to you by the owner of the road (often the state government) to make a physical change to your property and the road to allow customers access"
This development model is very specific to Illinois and should not be generalized across the country. In many places the road could be owned by a local development corp, the county, a non-profit, a pension fund, the bank itself or some combination of the above. Illinois has harsh winters, a 9-5 suburb/downtown traffic pattern, average traffic and lots of land which makes the drive through an important feature and curb cuts EXTREMELY valuable.
"Thus, in New York, the median employee in the stock market sector who earns $440,000, according to the State Auditor’s Office"
As someone who works in this sector, this does not look True. An investment Banking VP with 10+ years experience at a bulge bracket probably brings in this much in income however this is not the median worker. There is a huge workforce of admins, Ops, legal, IT that work in the sector and bring it down. Also there is a large amount of burnout/turnover/layoffs in these jobs so that in any given year someone is not getting their full bonus.
There was the free business class trips for everyone (not just higher management), the frenetic office building (at one point we had offices in over 100 countries), and hundreds of millions in WIP/inventory. Definitely not a well run but a blast to work for.
To me this is more a reflection of Chinese society. China has always been a highly centralized place (i.e. its name is "middle kingdom") where internal control is prioritized. The media/application space is a reflection of that. If you look at other countries like India or Brazil that are early in their internet adoption, you see a much more diverse writing ecosystem.
Anyone who thinks facebook (i.e. meta) is going to drop can buy put options. the $150 put 2 years out is selling for $5 so if you buy 100 for $50K - When the stock falls you will have enough money to buy a house
This development model is very specific to Illinois and should not be generalized across the country. In many places the road could be owned by a local development corp, the county, a non-profit, a pension fund, the bank itself or some combination of the above. Illinois has harsh winters, a 9-5 suburb/downtown traffic pattern, average traffic and lots of land which makes the drive through an important feature and curb cuts EXTREMELY valuable.