Some chooses to live an expensive life, others have it forced on them.

As frustrating as our new media environment is, forcing you work harder to find out anything approaching the truth, it is also kind of entertaining on occasion, particularly as it unleashes the knowledge and obsessiveness of the often marginalized.

The present instance is a tweet from the overweening David Brooks who is gifted with glibness more than knowledge or wisdom.  

This meal just cost me $78 at Newark Airport. This is why Americans think the economy is terrible. pic.twitter.com/1qeV9qOBL3

— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) September 21, 2023

To be fair, perhaps this is an example of Poe's Law.

Poe's law is an adage of internet culture saying that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, any parodic or sarcastic expression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views. The law is frequently exploited by individuals who share genuine extremist views and, when faced with overwhelming criticism, deflect by insisting they were merely being satirical.

Was Brooks being absolutely clueless or was this intended as sarcasm?  So far, the evidence seems heavily tilted towards clueless but we'll have to see whether the satire defense comes up.

I am quite familiar with Newark Airport.  I once spent five years flying in and out of there 40 or fifty times a year.   There is a certain appreciation of it that only comes from deep familiarity.  To say that it is not without its charms does not contradict the basic condition that it is not a particularly charming airport.

And it is no doubt expensive as always comes from the corruption attendant to government granting concessions to food vendors for limited space.  Airport food is expensive everywhere the world over.  

In the case of Newark, if you want to get by with the equivalent of a McDonalds, you'll probably pay 2-3 times more than anywhere outside of the airport.  Perhaps $15-20 for what is more usually $5-$10.

What Brooks is consuming is clearly not McDonalds.  It is clearly what falls into the category of higher end of airport food.  What passes as a restaurant.  Brooks just introduced his class blinders.  Everyone eats at McDonalds.  Only some people eat at higher end restaurants.  Ever; much less at the airport.

Only 20% of Americans dine at an upscale restaurant with any regularity.  Brooks is one of them.  

40% of Americans drink no alcohol, in contrast to David Brooks. 

Very crudely, just over 10% of Americans both dine in upscale restaurants and also drink alcohol.  

David Brooks is one of them.  

This is beginning to feel like Charles Murray's bubble quizz. 

Brooks was willing (or his employer) to pay $78 for an unscale restaurant burger and alcoholic drink.  Wish there were reporters who could sort out how one man spends nearly $80 on a burger, fries and a drink.

Well, not reporters per se.  Possibly citizen reporters.  There are people interested in the facts.  

I think we all sense that Mr. Brooks claiming he paid $78 for a burger and fries meal at Newark Airport is quite misleading, but how can we prove it? I had the time this early Thursday morning and decided to investigate.

Here's what I found.

(thread) https://t.co/q5A6xejWtR

— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) September 21, 2023

Follow the chain.

Based on Clymer's research,  2/3rds of the tab was for the drink.  The food was only 1/3rd of the cost.  Alcohol was 2/3rd of the $80 bill.

David Brooks could have eaten for $20 at the airport and received a perfectly adequate meal.  Instead he chose to eat high end and with a stiff quality alcoholic drink.  He lives as the 10% and wants to be shocked by how much it costs to live as the 10%.  Living high on the hog is a choice not empirical evidence.

It is one thing to choose to live an expensive life (David Brooks), it is another thing entirely to have it enforced on you through inflation (everyone else.)

I'll wait for Brooks' next blockbuster revelation - Alcohol on airplanes and in hotel minibars is exorbitant!