It was more liek a reflection on general impression changes.
Back in the past the West was way more expensive, but in the last decade the prices got balanced out, some goods are more expensive in the West some are even cheaper, many just the same (eg. computer parts most notably; btw cost of living is still cheaper here overall). So we caught up in prices, but everything else, the scenery and the circumstances we live in are more... worn-out so to speak.
I was trying to put all this into the quote I taken from Serball, just by simplifying it into changing two names.