Well it’s because these same “rich” morons who live on the Upper sides of Manhattan are overwhelmingly liberal and constantly vote for the politicians who will most likely tax the living sh*t out of them. How many times did Obama attend fund raisers on the upper west side of Manhattan when he was campaigning? Something like every single week. EVERY week, because I remember he would always come in on a Friday right at rush hour. I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever. Shoot yourself in the foot don’t go crying to the masses.
Geez.....this former WAPO now NYT puff-piece writer (Princeton Grad) has just found out that if you buy groceries instead of eating out, it costs less?
She’s somehow rationalized to herself that ‘living’ is a better deal there for the rich than for the poor? Do rich people carry a discount card or something? Maybe they buy groceries, apparently something you just found out about.
Maybe if you were better looking, you could cut your eating costs by luring unsuspecting males into buying you dinner every night like that other self-absorbed NY honey that wrote about it.
Ummmmmm... I thought I did well to score a couple of pairs of my favorite "classic" sneakers from Shoebuy.com on sale at 25% off. ($41.16 per pair, Amazon wants $65.)
Fortunately, I'm not "rich" enough to spend $480 on a "pair of sensible, unstylish walking flats from Harry’s Shoes".
This reminds me of the Douglas Adams quote: “The last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sense snuck in at number 79.”
In a previous life I worked in Tokyo’s famous Ginza district, reported to be the most expensive place in the world. And, yet, I could walk out with my business colleagues to any number of decent quality food establishments for a decent lunch of 1,000 yen or less (about US $10). The same thing when I went on business to New York couldn’t be had for less than about $30. Go figure.
Interesting article but the tone is insufferably smug.
Most NYC residents live in tiny apartments, don’t own cars, don’t have children and have fairly high paying jobs. They spend most of their money save little. I doubt the author owns a car or has a family.
Enjoy your $4 cookies.
You learn so much reading the New York Times.
But places like Houston are cheap — and staying cheap, even as they grow — because the local governments have realized their comparative advantage is in deregulation, not in fancy cookies.
Having lived in Houston for awhile in the 60s, I can tell the author that that is not something they realized--it's been that way for a hell of a long time. It was a bit chaotic insofar as zoning, but it was gangbusters for the economy.
Look at the ranch houses that $100K income families occupy in Texas ... and the studio apartments that $100K income households occupy in NY ... and tell me that’s a bargain.
I could fit a NY apartment in my master bedroom.
SnakeDoc
I hit NYC regularly and have become accustomed to “sticker shock”.In fact,during the red hot real estate market I considered buying an investment property on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.A 700 sq ft condo/coop went for at *least* $700K back then.Yikes!
I know where the lady is coming from. A decent pair of irrigation boots cost me upwards of twenty bucks at the feed store. I wonder if she’s considered buying her sensible walking flats at Big5 or WalMart?
The article is too drole to get through,
I’ll just ad a widely known stat,
A double income no kids (DINK) married couple in Manhattan can make $158,000 a year in gross income and still qualify for housing subsidies.
and some Co-Ops in east Harlem now cost over $600/sqft , and they don’t accept potential buyers who makes less than $350k/yr.
It’s possible to get pretty much all the luxury goods available in NYC in other large cities in the US. Furthermore, with online shopping, many of these goods are available anywhere in the country without the cost of developing networks of distributors.