18:18and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What city is like the great city?'

and were CRYING OUT as they saw the SMOKE of her BURNING, saying,

The service sector side of the global economy also feels the pain of the collapse. The service sector feeds off of the goods produced in the manufacturing sector. Since the manufacturing sector has the same pain (weeping and mourning as verse 15 puts it), it follows that the service sector, too, CRIES OUT at the global economy's destruction.

The use of the phrase "SMOKE of her BURNING" implies that not only is the global wealth gone but also that the very principles of free trade have been scuttled (burned). Since this is the current model for global trade, apparently this model fails. Most likely it fails due to disparities in currency valuations.

The Revelation tells about two different kinds of SMOKE. The first is good SMOKE coming from the incense in the angel's hand and is mixed with the prayers of the saints Revelation 8:4). The second is the SMOKE from the bottomless pit when it is opened in the fifth trumpet judgment (Revelation 9:2). The SMOKE in this verse is like the latter SMOKE. How much greed, corruption, envy, and hatred has gone into building the global economies? Symbolically, what is the motivation behind what religious organizations do? Are they, as supposedly the true service organization, being built in similar manner? What kind of SMOKE is coming from your church and denomination?

'What city is like the GREAT CITY?'

While many commentaries insist that the GREAT CITY is Rome, it probably is more correct to consider the GREAT CITY to be generic of many metropolitan cities. Many cities could go back through their history and easily substitute their city's name for the GREAT CITY. For example, this would make sense for Tyre (Ezekiel 27:25-36), Chicago (after the great fire of 1871), any city after a devastating earthquake or other natural disaster, New York City after 9/11/2001, and so on.

As a side note, the reader probably has already caught how much this verse sounds like Revelation 13:3-4. While the "whole world's" CRY at that time was a prideful praise of the sea beast as he is coming into power, this CRY sounds like deep anguish.