What NYers think about NYC safety, America’s greatness & tipping? | SPEAK UP NEW YORK #17

Coming up, find out what happens when we hit the streets of New York and ask... How satisfied are you with your life? Very satisfied? Somewhat satisfied? Not satisfied? Loaded question. Is America the greatest country? Well, should there be a legal limit on how much personal wealth someone has? That's tricky. How satisfied are you with your life? Very satisfied? Somewhat satisfied? Not satisfied? Loaded question. That's deep. I'd probably say somewhat to very satisfied. Like an in-between. Still exploring. I would say I'm very satisfied. I'm out of college now. Well, like a couple years out of college, which helps. But yeah, I'm very satisfied. That's a good one. I'd say I'm very satisfied right now, right? I'm very satisfied because I've learned to follow my dreams. Parts of my life, I'm very satisfied with. And when I lived over here, my children were young and I was very ambitious, artistic. Had an MFA from Yale University. I was going to go very far, but didn't. But I'm satisfied with the way things are now. I feel like I live in a nice apartment. I'm 92 years old and I can still get around. That's pretty damn good. I would say very satisfied. Yeah, I agree. For you? I like my job. I like where I live. I like my friends and family. I would definitely say somewhat satisfied because I don't have a job and I live at home. But I've been enjoying the summer of freedom and graduated school. So I feel happy about that. What's the biggest hurdle today for young people trying to make it? Oh, finding a job. That's going to be obvious, but finding a job in this market and really finding your niche. I think that's one of the biggest problems now that we have a lot of big currents and a lot of people like it. It's quite dense these days and finding your niche, finding a new way to do something. It's rather difficult these days. Yeah, I would say it's definitely just trying to find yourself in the job market. I think housing. I mean, you probably have very high housing prices in New York surroundings. Job market is probably changing very fast. It's very difficult to understand what's required in the future. So those two I would rank. The hurdle, I can't imagine what it would feel like to inherit, to be 25 or 26 right now and inherit the situation in this country. The biggest hurdle is realizing the system is rigged and that the whole idea of getting somewhere or getting that thing is not really true. It's almost impossible. So you have to think of another system, another sort of ways, another means of making it. And not engage in that system. Financially speaking, are you getting by or getting ahead? I mean, getting by. I would say, I mean, I'm a film composer and I just did the music for this game that released yesterday and it might do really well because game music is sort of where it's at for composers. So I could make millions or make nothing. We'll see. So I'm from Texas. It's a little bit different. Cost of living is a lot less. I would definitely say I'm getting ahead. I have plans for my financial future and I'm constantly working towards those. Like all the decisions I have are kind of wrapped around my financial future and investments and things that I'm working on. So I definitely would say I'm getting ahead. I could totally understand people around here in New York saying, oh, the cost of living is really hard. We're all getting by. I was going to say, I could see a lot more people saying getting by here just because I've been here for a short time. It's been so expensive. But yeah, I would say for me personally, I'm probably getting ahead. I'm getting by. Also getting by. For sure. Not much to elaborate on. We're both, I've been out of college for like a year and a few months. She just graduated. I support myself, but I'm not flowing into cash. I'm definitely not supporting myself right now. So living at home. In between. You know, it's definitely rough out here in this economy that we have. But I'd say we all have our ups and downs. I have my ups and downs and I think I'm in a decent place. Could be better though. I'd love for it to be better. I don't know. Living in New York. I feel like I'm getting by. I will recognize the things that I'm doing well and where I'm getting ahead. But there's so much more growth to be had to live comfortably in this city. A new study says New York and New Jersey rank in the bottom for tipping. Do you agree or disagree? I disagree and I grew up in New Jersey and I think people are really good tippers there. So I don't know. I disagree. I think people are good tippers in the Northeast. I would probably agree with that. Just because I feel like the cost of living here is so high. That's true. That I feel that people have become more reluctant to tip higher. At least in conversations I've had with people. Yeah, like if I'm paying $20 for a drink then do I want to add on to that? Maybe not. I mean, I tip 20%. I don't know about others. I can't speak for New Jersey. I mean, New York City, I feel like most people are probably good tippers. So I'm going to say disagree. But I know there definitely are people that are bad tippers. Everywhere that are bad tippers. We've got more questions and more views coming up. First, let's travel around the city and NYC it. My name is Jake Dell. I'm the fifth generation owner here at Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side of New York City. We've been here 138 years. We do everything the old-fashioned way. The pastrami, the corned beef, matzo ball soup, lock good. You slice by hand. Little by little you start learning right against the grain. I just started looking at the other guys how they did it and then I learned. This recipe has been going on for more than 100 years. So it's very special. We go through about 70,000 times a week every week. Most popular is pastrami. 40,000 times a week we have pastrami. You guys should try the most juicier, tender pastrami sandwich ever I've ever had. I got the pastrami Reuben on rice. I had the pastrami sandwich and I think the mustard addition was really delicious. Pastrami. Pastrami, of course. Yes. I like the pastrami. That's the best here. It's very juicy, it's tender, it melts in your mouth. Best sandwich I ever had. There's nothing else. Just the pastrami. The pastrami is a smoked meat and the corned beef is pickles. It's the process that is different. These sandwiches are around three quarters of a pound of meat. We've been doing this so long that you can weigh them and most of the time they are always the same size. You eat one of these sandwiches, it's gonna hold you up for all day. Most of the cutters here have been here a long time. I came here right out of high school. 31 years. Everybody's been here 10, 15, 20, 25 years. Only 22 years. These guys here, all these guys here have been here 20 years plus. It's a special place here, so here we make us feel like family. When you work for Katz, it's a good job security. You know you're gonna work. People come from all over the world. I get an idea where I'm going next depending on how nice the people are. People from China, Asia, Europe, everywhere, the Caribbean, United States. I live in L.A. D.C. I'm from Korea. Albany, Georgia. Greenville, North Carolina. Winter Park, Florida. You can see all the photos of presidents and insanely famous people, so there's definitely history within these walls. Last time we counted, we had about 800 pictures on the wall. Different celebrities, actors, musicians, politicians, kind of whatever your flavor is, it's on this wall. At the end of the day, they're all just here for a sandwich. This is Speak Up New York. The hot topic show where your views come first. So is America the greatest country? Why or why not? So I would say you probably were, but today I don't think so. I think you go down a bad route, but you have a chance to fix it. I think we could be a great country. I don't feel a competitive nature like we have to be the greatest, but I think we could be a great country if things turn around, and that's my deep, deep hope and prayer. I think there's a possibility. We have such possibility here, and it might just carry on through the whole country. Should there be a legal limit on how much personal wealth someone can have? That's tricky. I'm going to say no, only because I'm afraid of what that might open in terms of limiting certain groups and certain growth that people can obtain. Yes, sometimes it can get a little over the top, but putting an actual hard number, I feel like there's going to be a trickle-down effect somewhere down the line. I feel like I'm of the same mindset. It gets really difficult when you start giving the government permission to tell people what they can or can't do, and I feel like as citizens, we have a responsibility to say, you know, we have to take a step back from, you know, putting legality on it and look at ethics a lot of the time with how people are making this money. And the answer is yes, right? Because you have to contribute back to society, unlike some of the trillionaires and billionaires today who hoard all the money, and they don't use it to build parks or, you know, or recreational or educational things for the community. Okay, NYPD reported the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders in the recorded history for the first half of the year. Do you feel safe in New York City? I do. Yeah, no, I do too. I 100% do. Yeah, I've never had, like, yeah, I've never been, like, nervous or scared in New York. So yeah. Yeah, I feel like people are always like, when I tell them I live in New York, they're like, oh my god, how is that? And I'm like, genuinely so fine. Like, very, very fine. There's always so many people around that nothing happened. Yeah, yeah, 100%. No, I mean, not particularly. I don't feel any different than, you know, I mean, in the village, and I haven't been out of the village in a while. Seems pretty damn safe to me. I do feel quite safe here. I expected it to be much worse, to be honest. So I'm from Prague, and I feel much less safe over there, despite it being one of the safest countries in the world, apparently. So I do feel safe here, very much so. It feels lovely, really. When you were growing up, were you closer to your mom or dad? My dad. My dad would take me out on walks, you know, go to barbershops. He taught me how to drive. He basically taught me everything I know, you know, to be a man and a young man. It's tough to, I don't want to like choose favorites, but I think growing up, probably my dad. My dad actually wrote a book on parenting, so he deserves some credit for it. He did some stuff right. It's called The Self-Driven Child. Yeah, so I picked up a lot from my dad. I just wanted to have a lot of like mannerisms, even that, that were the same as my dad. Yeah, I think growing up for me, my mom, probably. I think I was probably closer with my mom just because my dad was working a whole bunch, and my mom stayed at the house and took care of me and my sisters. I just remember as a kid going to like the store all the time, and even though it was like these common things, we just had a ton of fun, like doing them. So yeah, I think I'd probably say my mom. We want your view. Get ready to share your opinion when Speak Up New York hits the streets again real soon.