For the past decade I have been stationed here in the Midwest. Here, life is economical, traffic is manageable, even groceries are cheaper. But the locals are so dumb that they don't know that they are dumb.
I can't wait to relocate to the BigApple. The rents are truly astronomical, and traffic is impossible to navigate, but it's all worth it. High traffic is not such an issue since you don't even need a car there. There are more opportunities to walk and, in so doing, you can keep fit. Of course, I can walk here in the Midwest too, but there is no place to walk to, unless you want to be bored to death within a short time. When I moved here I drove everywhere I went; this was the main cause of my Peripheral Artery Disease and subsequent bi-pass surgery.Add the cost of this terrible surgery to the "economical" price of living in the peaceful, bucolic Midwest.
As for the cultural milieu of Manhattan,I don't have time or space here to extol it, but it is considerable; you just have to experience it to understand. There's a good reason rents are hight there.

Finger pointing ignores the issues. This is a case of disingenuous negotiation. The producers are simply hoping Americans will continue divisible on labor issues, and will continue to act against their own best interests. If you want reality TV vs. issue orientation, back the producers. If you want ever lower wages and benefits back the B'way producers. If you want the rush to the bottom unrestrained capitalism is your answer. The Reaganistas continue to try to destroy organized labor while reaping insane profits from theft through deregulation and monitization.

New York City is one of the few American cities with a heart and a soul, almost like a person. Anytime I walk around in Manhattan it feels like I am in a museum of architecture. Can imagine it is too costly to live there but the place is nice. Only city in the US on the same level like London, Rome or Paris.

In America my #2 would be San Francisco, followed by Chicago and Boston. In Germany we have no city comparable to New York. Most of them were destroyed in the war. Berlin tries to be a capital but fails. Too long too isolated in the middle of nowhere. Ugly architecture and no positive vibes. ( Close your eyes and you can imagine the Nazi troops coming round the corner )

From Cologne there is a direct Continental flight every day to New York City. When time and money available, always worth a trip.

NY and LA may be "foreign" to anyone who does not live there or visit there often.
But so is just about everywhere in the country.
I have lived in So Cal for 45 years. I have felt more in step and at-home in other countries than I have felt when visiting some states in the U.S.
Everytime I've been to the South I have felt like I was on a different planet. It's not that one is bad and one is good, it's just very different.
If your hometown economy is driven by the entertainment industry, then this strike and the solidarity of the workers is a big deal. Just as the entire town of (*insert name*) would support their auto workers or dairy farmers or anything else.

So?Like 99.5% percent of this country,I never have seen and never will see a Broadway show.This is nothing more than local news that the media conflates into something it's not,like car chases in LA.

I know they don't believe it but there exists more of a world outside of New York and we could really care less