I should address the whole conspiracy theory aspect of this. I don't seriously think there's some cackling cabal of coastal elites having secret meetings about

I should address the whole conspiracy theory aspect of this. I don't seriously think there's some cackling cabal of coastal elites having secret meetings about how to keep flyover country poor. I think it's various companies using lifestyle-based reasoning. That is, instead of numerical salary offers, the company thinks it's better to offer a specific lifestyle level in a geographically neutral way, which translates into different salaries for different locations. Unfortunately the policy such reasoning leads to is exactly the same one that the conspiracy of coastal elites would implement (if it actually existed): Based solely on their location, pay people who live in Middle America less than you pay BigTechCity residents for the same work. I'm trying to explain that you have to look at lifestyle-based reasoning from one particular perspective for it to make sense. There are other reasonable perspectives which reveal it to be a stupid, absurd policy.