I don't think "awful public transportation and terrible housing market" is wonderfully romantic. I'm very critical of the city and the country, but I've travel

I don't think "awful public transportation and terrible housing market" is wonderfully romantic. I'm very critical of the city and the country, but I've traveled across the US and most of western Europe, and have yet to find a comparable example. I don't know what's the secret sauce, but I think it's somewhat correlated to Israel's disproportionate success in tech - only the currency in the high risk high reward equation is fun, and is fueled by the Israeli "chutzpa" culture.