Many cities have semi autonomous status from the state they are in. Mexico City, Cairo, Singapore are all cities which are either a city-state or have a semi-autonomous status from the rest of the country they are in.
Your comments are laughable and show a certain ignorance about the world, history, the polis and in particular the nature of NYC.
NYC has a population greater than most countries. Even if London is still considered the world's most important banking city, NYC is a close second and a great financial trading capital. NYC has an economy greater than most countries. Court cases brought into courts in NYC affect the whole of the US and also the economy of the world.
NYC, like London before it, and Rome long before, are cities which have certain aspects of being states of their own.
The way the US is set up politically, having individual states has certain benefits politically. Read some Machiavelli and Sun Tsu. A country with weak internal states and a strong central government tends to be repressive. It tends to be hard to conquer but easy to rule once conquered.
As far as your comment that it is laughable from a non-american standpoint how a single city can have it's own regulatory system, since you speak for all non-US citizens, I will merely point out, Singapore, Macao, Mexico City, Vatican City, The Hague, as examples of the stupidity of your comment.
Peace!
It's laughable from a non-american standpoint how a single city can have it's own regulatory system. The whole states thing in America is probably the issue, needs merging.
