> You could easily make the same comparison between the midwest and some non-developed nation. The difference is, nobody is shocked about how prices are higher

> You could easily make the same comparison between the midwest and some non-developed nation. The difference is, nobody is shocked about how prices are higher in the USA midwest compared to an arbitrary less-developed country. Why is that exactly? Because there's no freedom of movement, legal or cultural, between the midwest and the large coastal US cities.