Look at America's cities today.
How many are really successful in the sense of the private sector being economically healthy enough to keep the city vibrant without government money?
How many would survive if federal tax dollars stop flowing into them tomorrow?
How many would even be livable if welfare was cut off tomorrow?
It is precisely because of their economic weight that the cities attract the poor and dependent. The Welfare Class is the result of massive immigration from the South followed by the “Great Society”.
In case you are not aware it is the Blue states led by their big cities which provide the majority of the tax revenue for the states and the fed. This irony implies that should the Red states obtain enough power to actually downsize the fedgov, it will be them which suffers most since they receive more taxes than they pay. The other end of this is that the areas which pay the highest taxes are those least opposed to increased taxes. Of course, this is because of the Welfare Class attracted from the South has been organized by the Democrats.
Civilization means cities, that is where the word came from.
They are still the economic powerhouses that enrich their surrounding areas and states. Without Chicago Illinois would be destitute. You can see from the traffic patterns at rush hour where the economic power is coming from.
Cities have always been violent and uncontrollable to some extent that is part of the enormous energies they unleash. It is there that new ideas and industries come from. But no one denies that they have the Best and the Worst. Or that it is not very difficult to live in them.