Cigarettes cost about $7 a pack in Pennsylvania. This guy smokes two packs a day when he has the money. Fourteen bucks a day can buy plenty of nutrition.
The inverse relationship between wealth and smoking can be seen every day. Cheap bars and restaurants inevitably have "smoking porches" where patrons can duck out and take a drag. More expensive places tend not to have them, and don't need them.
Right.
A quick calculation: $7/pack x 2 packs/day = roughly $420 per month or $5000 per year.
The 2013 Poverty Guidelines average is $11,490 for 1 person. The guy in the article receives $2,000 under the poverty level, so his income is about $9,490.
Maybe where you are, but not where I am. The establishment we frequent is considered high end and they have always accommodated both smoking and non-smoking clientele. The main dining room was always non-smoking, private rooms up to whoever is utilizing it. The screened in dining porch off the main dining room always permitted smoking as does the bar area, which also has a large sun room.
Now that the government decided to stick its nose where it didn't belong, the private dining rooms must be all non smoking. The tables in the sun room are full nearly every night, and there is a wait for them on the weekends.
It's a beach town, and at the height of the season, not a day goes by where someone from out of state doesn't express appreciation for the accommodation of all.
As an aside, most bar and wait staff will tell you that smoker who are accommodated are better tippers than the non-smokers who pushed for the stupid government bans or whine that smokers are accomodated.