I knew the West coast in the US was much higher in pricing (much of the East, too), but I hadn't realized it was that bad. Many states have increased their minimum wage so high that companies there had to raise their prices accordingly (seems to me it defeats the purpose of a "living wage" when the prices have to go up, too). Also, the states with the higher taxes have higher prices so the businesses can pay those high taxes.
The past few years, Texas has seen a lot of people move from the West coast since we are much more affordable. Our wages may be slightly lower on average, but we have no individual income tax and corporate taxes are very low. This gives us more disposable income than most other states.
It's a viscious circle, you increase the wages but the extra costs will have to be passed onto consumers. The only lever authorities can be pull would be tax and seems like Texas has done a pretty good job at that. I bet many other Americans envy you guys.
Yes, they do, but they don't quite understand why we don't have all the "hand outs" that the high tax states have. We would rather keep our money and use it the way we want than have the government take it in taxes and give us some of it back (you never get it all back).