Sticker shock

Yes, it's expensive to live in NYC. Yes, this is the land of the $800 haircut and, now, the $44 million apartment. But why does one of today's NYT editorials have to begin, "For anyone looking for an easy way to measure the distance between the big city and the American heartland, there is the new highest-end price for a New York apartment: $44 million." How is this an issue of "big city" versus "heartland"? It's not as if most people living in big cities have any more access to these extremes than do those in the rest of the country. Living in the city is a struggle for most who choose to do so--that $44 million exceeds the city budget of Muncie, Indiana, is hardly relevant.