That is the world system, Babylon. Remember all the rebelluous pride, false religions, forms of idolatry, mysticism, astrology, humanism, hedonism and the occults came out of that city and spread throughout the world. And the world fornicated with this harlot, a symbolic description used.
"Babylon is to be better understood as sort of the archetypical head of all worldly resistance to God. It is a trans-historical Babylon. It is the Babylon of idolatry. It is the eschatological symbol of worldwide satanic deception and power. It is a divine mystery that can never be wholly reducible to empirical earthly institutions. Babylon represents, in this chapter, the religious culture of the world dominated by Satan the deceiver.
Now its comprehensiveness can be seen further by noting that it is Babylon the Great, it is mega-Babylon, something massive and far-reaching. Further it is described as ‘The mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.’ That is to say that all of the harlots in the earth and all of the abominations in the world are spawned out of this Babylon." JOHN MacArthur
I have wrestled with Rev. 17 & 18 for many years, examining the different viewpoints. Certainly during John's writing of Revelation, ( 95AD) Rome was referred to as Babylon ( symbolically) yet the city Babylon still existed. Even Jerusalem was considered Babylon by some. But John's prophecy was about the far off future tome in the world. The present world would not react to a destruction of Rome as described in Rev. 18. They would if NYC was destroyed. Recently NYC has been going down, people are leaving on droves to escape the high costs, crime and crazy life of decadence.
All people have sinned and have been seduced in same way or form by Satan and His system. Christ had a solution, many are saved and many are lost. He will destroy Babylon, but it won't be just one city, it will be the whole world system.
If Babylon is really a modern city, representing many languages, nations, religions uniting, and building wealth beyond what the world has ever seen, and worshipping money with all sorts of idolatry and sin, it would NYC. Even with the Statue of Liberty, one might regard her as a symbol of the Harlot? It is a mystery.
You are right in much of the above, please allow me though to perhaps enlighten you a little regarding prophetic imagery that will hopefully add to your understanding.
“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. ”
Revelation 18:3 KJV
In prophecy, a woman is a metaphor for the church. We see a pure woman in Revelation 12, clearly an allusion to God's people in both old and new testaments... in the old in expectation of the coming messiah, in the new fleeing into the wilderness ahead of persecution. I could write pages on the above alone.
ln Revelation 18 the woman is a harlot. The church a harlot? How could that be? Because she has left her first love, her Bridegroom, in favour of another, the kings of the earth.
“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. ”
Revelation 18:3 KJV
By the time of the 6th century, the church in Rome had embarked on a road of adopting pagan imagery, practises, and traditions and "baptised" them into use as Christian rituals and practise. You know some of these. I could go into great detail... perhaps another time. This was a slow process. The result was a weakening of the relationship between the church and the Lord. This weakening was reflected in the loss of power of the gospel she preached.
In order then to grow her influence, which was becoming political more than spiritual, she accepted authority and power from the Roman pagan emperor Justinian, which in 538ad, with the withdrawal and defeat of the Goths from Rome, gave the Roman bishop sole civil authority. Over the ensuing centuries, this power grew to such an extent, power by the way bereft of the blessing of heaven (My kingdom is not of this world), that the Pope claimed the title of king of earth, the underworld, and heaven. A triple crown represents this pretended authority. Note also she is described as the mother of harlots. This represents those churches that grew out from her in the Reformation, that once were faithful as she was to the true faith, but like her accepted the union with the state, and became harlots like their mother.
Christians would do well to take careful note of this when adopting politics as a means by which to "Christianise" the nation.
“25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. ”
Luke 22:25-26 KJV
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. ”
John 18:36 KJV
"... Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. ”
Matthew 22:21 KJV
Babylon is indeed a global institution, but it may be remembered she is a global religious institution above all else. She rides the political beast and uses the beast (the state) for her own agenda. Power.