A truly remarkable and historic global event is occurring: New York is about to overtake London as the world's leading financial center.

Yet, with America's press convinced that the United States' reputation has plummeted along with its dollar since George W. Bush was elected, it seems quite unlikely such revelations will see the light of day on this side of the Pond.

Fortunately, the Financial Times, one of the finest daily publications on the planet, isn't constrained by such thinking, and reported Friday (emphasis added):

London is losing its status as the world’s leading financial centre and being overtaken by New York, according to a global survey of finance professionals.

The collapse of Northern Rock and the proposed tax crackdown on non-domiciled residents are making the UK less attractive to overseas businesses, according to the City of London Corporation, which commissioned the survey.

[...]

The Global Financial Services Index, compiled from questionnaires completed by 1,200 financial services workers around the world, said London was still the leading financial centre.

The index rates cities on factors such as property costs, regulation, taxation, the supply of skilled staff, the responsiveness of government to business needs and the quality of life.

However, its lead over New York had halved over the last six months – and questionnaires returned since the second index was published in September showed New York outstripping Londonn[sic].London was rated top based on all returns since the survey began 18 months ago, with 795 points to New York’s 786. However, the 411 responses since the September index showed New York’s score as 46 points higher.

One would imagine this should be cheered by American press, correct? Well, although this was published in England Thursday evening, a Google news search identified only one American media outlet, Bloomberg, covering this story.

It will be very interesting to see whether more U.S. press members recognize this achievement in the next 24 hours.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.