Why do tourists and salty locals in Nordic countries constantly complain about “we are expensive”?

It is funny to observe that tourists (and also locals) often say things like “we are so expensive. Oh my gosh. It is so expensive to live in Norway/Sweden/Norway/Iceland”<br><br>This is something you will hear from both tourists and locals. Whenever someone asks a question about costs or prices, they are guaranteed to get the answer “yes it is very expensive here”. <br><br>I don’t really understand why it is so important for tourists to point out that their country is expensive. I don’t see people in the US, Canada, UK etc doing it. <br><br>It is also so weird that tourists here complain about prices and costs for food and drinks. If you come here and want to go on a budget holiday, why do you drink 3-4 beers? Eat at a restaurant 3 times per day every single day? <br><br>I am Swedish, and I hate when Swedes complaint about how expensive it is. Swedes have one of the highest purchasing power in the world. And yes of course it can be expensive here, just like anywhere else in Europe. But why do we constantly have to complain about it?<br><br>It feels almost like an inferiority complex or something. Maybe it is because Swedes don’t like to brag and talk about themselves, so then it is better to be humble and talk about how expensive Norway is instead. <br><br>I understand that some countries have a huge discrepancy between rich and poor, but that is not really the case in the Nordic countries, it is a welfare states where everyone are given support in one way or another. <br><br>I lived in Spain and Portugal for a couple of years, and I never hear anyone complain about prices like Swedes do. But it is probably because that Spain and Portugal are actually cheap, and not only in comparison to Sweden.