I'm frequently in California, including earlier this month, and let me tell you, Ralphs/Vons/Walmart, hell, even certain items at CVS and Whole Foods are substantially cheaper than here, and the salaries are nowhere near as low. It was shocking just how cheap things were, even eating out was cheaper, and this was California, not known for being cheap in the US.
1 small example: I bought caesar dressing at Ralphs, $1.99 a bottle, can't come close to that at Dia, even for similar basic condiments such as ketchup. It made me depressed thinking about how much money I was going to have to spend when I came back home to BsAs to go grocery shopping, and I have a good job, forget the average Argentines who are barely earning $500 a month.
The Mileification of the economy is turning us in to Ireland alright, just in terms of food prices, nothing else. It's truly the worst of both worlds, we have sky high prices, limited selections, shortages of goods, and the things we do get are often of poor quality compared to the US and Europe.
But hey, he's owning the libs so I guess that's the price of freedom...