LOL, survive? You have no idea how well ramen joints are doing across the country, obviously. Ramen mecca in the US is LA and the competition is stiff there with new places opening all the time. Just yesterday, Johnny King Noodles in Detroit (ramen in Detroit!) opened and I think they would do well against LA competition. Possibly top 10 for their first attempt. Meanwhile, NYC is starting to catch up as well with Ippudo, Sanshiro, Takashi, etc.
Survive, LOL. Your reasoning is like saying that people won't pay more than $2 for a burger because that's how much it costs at McD's.