4 ms·

> Almost all middle class families can afford a $130 meal once or twice a year. It might be different in other countries I guess, but I live in France and Belg

> Almost all middle class families can afford a $130 meal once or twice a year. It might be different in other countries I guess, but I live in France and Belgium, and nobody I know around here (family, friends, spanning from lower to upper middle class) would even consider eating at a restaurant with that kind of prices. Nobody I know owns Harley motorcycles either, anyway, but it doesn't seem very relevant.

notahacker 9y ago
There's a difference between a family that wouldn't consider spending $130 each on a meal for two because they'd rather spend that money on a weekend break for two or a meal for five and a family that couldn't afford to spend $260 on a leisure pursuit though
avar 9y ago
How many people do you know who smoke? A lot of middle and lower-class people smoke. Some searching reveals that the smoking rate is north of 25% in both France and Belgium, and a pack of cigarettes in France is 7 EUR, let's round that down to 5. So for a 110 EUR (~$130) meal we're talking about the equivalent of 26 days of 1 pack a day smoking, or just under 2 weeks of 2 pack a day. Which I believe eloquently makes the point that you're out of touch with just how much $130 of disposable income over a year is. We're talking about saving 30 cents/day, hardly out of reach of even the poorest of people who'd like to treat themselves to something like an expensive restaurant on a yearly basis.
- seszett 9y ago
  > you're out of touch with just how much $130 of disposable income over a year is. I'm not actually saying it's much or it's out of reach. I'm saying few people are willing to spend that at a restaurant, not because they're poor (I'm talking about doctors, for example) but mostly because there are so many cheaper and very good restaurants that those expensive ones look like they are just meant for other occasions or other people. The aforementionned doctors sometimes get invited there by pharmaceutical compagnies trying to sell them things, for example. Around my homeplace I know quite a few restaurants with Michelin stars (two-star Coutanceau in La Rochelle for example, from where I came back just this week) and honestly most often the people there seem to be foreign tourists.
  - avar 9y ago
    The context of this thread is whether dropping $130 at a restaurant is a "middle-class hobby", you were replying to a comment saying that was perfectly reasonable for someone of even limited means. I'm not defending spending $130 at a restaurant, I can afford it and I don't, I think it's a dumb waste of money, but I think the same of a lot of other people's hobbies. Whether those hobbies are affordable to them if they're in the middle class is another question, and clearly dropping $130 at a restaurant every once in a while is.
watt 9y ago
I think one of the points that is worth making, is that middle class is not what it used to be. It should be OK to consider a $130 meal if you are middle class. The economy has been booming (for the rich). But the middle class is no more...

notahacker 9y ago

There's a difference between a family that wouldn't consider spending $130 each on a meal for two because they'd rather spend that money on a weekend break for two or a meal for five and a family that couldn't afford to spend $260 on a leisure pursuit though

avar 9y ago

How many people do you know who smoke? A lot of middle and lower-class people smoke. Some searching reveals that the smoking rate is north of 25% in both France and Belgium, and a pack of cigarettes in France is 7 EUR, let's round that down to 5. So for a 110 EUR (~$130) meal we're talking about the equivalent of 26 days of 1 pack a day smoking, or just under 2 weeks of 2 pack a day. Which I believe eloquently makes the point that you're out of touch with just how much $130 of disposable income over a year is. We're talking about saving 30 cents/day, hardly out of reach of even the poorest of people who'd like to treat themselves to something like an expensive restaurant on a yearly basis.

seszett 9y ago
> you're out of touch with just how much $130 of disposable income over a year is. I'm not actually saying it's much or it's out of reach. I'm saying few people are willing to spend that at a restaurant, not because they're poor (I'm talking about doctors, for example) but mostly because there are so many cheaper and very good restaurants that those expensive ones look like they are just meant for other occasions or other people. The aforementionned doctors sometimes get invited there by pharmaceutical compagnies trying to sell them things, for example. Around my homeplace I know quite a few restaurants with Michelin stars (two-star Coutanceau in La Rochelle for example, from where I came back just this week) and honestly most often the people there seem to be foreign tourists.
- avar 9y ago
  The context of this thread is whether dropping $130 at a restaurant is a "middle-class hobby", you were replying to a comment saying that was perfectly reasonable for someone of even limited means. I'm not defending spending $130 at a restaurant, I can afford it and I don't, I think it's a dumb waste of money, but I think the same of a lot of other people's hobbies. Whether those hobbies are affordable to them if they're in the middle class is another question, and clearly dropping $130 at a restaurant every once in a while is.

watt 9y ago

I think one of the points that is worth making, is that middle class is not what it used to be. It should be OK to consider a $130 meal if you are middle class. The economy has been booming (for the rich). But the middle class is no more...