Again, you force me to repeat myself. My point is that it's all about scale.
There are surely big differences between NY and Idaho, but these are smaller than those between Norway and Greece (as an example). Greece and Norway have very little in common in ANYTHING, not only "buying preferences, business opportunities, cost of living, potential market and such". They are totally different countries. The huge difference between these countries was visible more than a 1000 years ago, when Varagians guards were employed by eastern roman empire / Bizamtium. In fact, part of the reason why the differences are bigger in europe is exactly because of the longer history of the countries, but that is a whole different subject. The point is, YES, there are differences between such states in the USA. NO, they are not as huge as those between countries in Europe. (Probably, but arguably, the fact that in Europe these countries exist for way longer than the USA, is a reason why the diversity between them is so strong)
