Once again, the native americans exploit the white man.

[jesseb]

In 1626, the Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan from its native residents for $24 worth of glass beads, or so the story goes

Comments

[overbo]

Not to mention that much of the appreciation of NYC has been due to further investments in infrastructure and cultural capital. If manhattan were still just a barren island in the middle of the wilderness without so much as a starbucks on it how much of that 800 billion value would be left?

[arturis]

In a not-so-ridiculous comparison, I wonder how much those particular beads would be worth, if they could be found today.

[djl522]

That's a hell of a lot of beads, though I suppose if a similarly populated, capital-rich urban environment showed its skyscrapers enough at Mardi Gras it might come close...