It seems that in the brief era of Pax Americanus in the period between the Cold War and the War on Terror life was unequivocally best somewhere in either Silicon Valley, the Northeastern Megalopolis, London, Hong Kong or Tokyo. These places were the engines of the globalized economy enabled by the brief and worldwide peace. You could do practically anything and make money and live in liberty. But we don't live in this world anymore. So now you have national arbitrage. You make some money in the Engine Cities while you're young, maybe do 100 hour weeks at a YC startup or at JP Morgan or whatever, and then when you crash and burn at 30 you go to Milan and start wearing sandals and smoking cigarettes.

This is the new social contract that has replaced the old social contract, which was dad works a completely ordinary job, mom stays at home, and you can afford a house, a couple of cars and as many children as you please. The new contract is perhaps more glamorous, but personally I'd rather stop renting.