Extra! Extra! Eating Out is Now a Privilege to be Enjoyed by Rich People Only!

 That’s it, it’s official, eating at a restaurant is now a privilege to be enjoyed exclusively by the rich. Since my last meal out at a pub style restaurant cost more than seventy-five dollars for dreary, mediocre food, I have nixed the habit of going out to eat from my standard routine. Goodbye, going out to eat.

It’s a shame for at least two reasons. First, I tip well and never complain, so the restaurant industry will miss my patronage. Second, I’m a terrible cook, and I regard cooking as a chore. Maybe it means I’m spoiled rotten, but I enjoyed the occasional break.

It is important to note that restaurants are not raising prices to absurd levels because they must, they are doing it because they can. Though I’m not an economist (because if I were I’d be able to afford eating-out still), the record profits of the industry seem to support this point.  If restaurants are merely raising prices because of “food and labor costs”, why the increase in profits? It can’t be entirely due to industry growth. It seems to me that a large chunk of my seventy-five-dollar meal went into the pockets of wealthy people. Call me greedy, but I’m not fond of giving hand-outs to the rich.   

This record increase in profits has been lauded as a good thing, since it so generously created working-class jobs. However, these reports say nothing about quality of life. What about all the working-class people who enjoyed going out to eat occasionally and can no longer?  Furthermore, restaurant employees are now servants to the aristocracy. That seems un-American to me.

The record profits also say something else: either there are so many rich people around that this is enough to prop up the restaurant industry, or people are suckers. If the former is the case, then I guess a good portion of America, despite the claims of some, is doing great. If the latter is the case, then the wide-spread passivity seems disappointing. Aren’t Americans rugged individualists who don’t get taken advantage of?  Of course it could be a bit of both, but either way our willingness to participate in this blatant price-gouging is simply enabling bad behavior. A little tough love might do the trick!

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, this citizen will be pulling up the proverbial bootstraps. For example, on nights when I used to go out, I’ll just refuse to cook. Instead, I’ll eat a can of beans. Or perhaps I’ll find a nice stone, put it in a pot, and invite my neighbors to bring a vegetable. We’ll make stone soup.