America's Demographic Reckoning

[CAA Flagship]

Italy's CHEAP again too

I was blown away how little I spent in Rome and Orvieto back in April.

Maybe that was because Lagos is comparatively so expensive

I just got back from Italy for three weeks and FOOD IS CHEAP
But everything else is very high

Food is inexpensive because Italians believe it is a human right - as part of their historical culture
and because they think it's "offensive" to over charge for food
All Italians know what it costs to make food
and they think American (NYC) food prices should be a national embarrassment to us all

St. Louis restaurants will charge over $20 for a bowl of pasta. And it isn't even that good.
Pasta costs less than $1 for that same portion. Add some sort of sauce and the total material cost may get to $3. Labor and other incidentals might be another $3. That entree should cost between $9 and $13.

And don't get me started on pizza.

[GannonFan]

I just got back from Italy for three weeks and FOOD IS CHEAP
But everything else is very high

Food is inexpensive because Italians believe it is a human right - as part of their historical culture
and because they think it's "offensive" to over charge for food
All Italians know what it costs to make food
and they think American (NYC) food prices should be a national embarrassment to us all

St. Louis restaurants will charge over $20 for a bowl of pasta. And it isn't even that good.
Pasta costs less than $1 for that same portion. Add some sort of sauce and the total material cost may get to $3. Labor and other incidentals might be another $3. That entree should cost between $9 and $13.

And don't get me started on pizza.

Other than exercising my right not to eat at places I deem too expensive for the quality of food delivered, I tend not to get involved in whatever profit margin restaurants want to target. The free market for restaurants works when people don't overpay for crap.

[Skjellyfetti]

Good luck finding a decent restaurant that isn't too expensive for the quality of food provided.

It's kinda the name of the game. Restaurants are a terrible business. If they charge what they're worth... they 're not going to be in business.

[JohnStOnge]

This is the bottom line when it comes to immigration and demographics: our fastest-growing demographic groups are those that have the lowest educational attainment and job skills. When you look at the demographics of people born this decade, it doesn't bode well for America's future in the 21st century economy.

I posted about this sort of thing at some time in the past. Only what I was looking at was National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores. There's no question that if you are objective about it looking at the demographic projections and looking at test scores like that does not engender an optimistic outlook with respect to the future relative competitiveness of the United States.

But it is what it is. Nothing can be done about it.

[YoUDeeMan]

Wait, did someone post about getting whites back out into the agribusiness game as laborers?

Make cranking out babies more beneficial for those with the means (i.e. fix the tax code), and less beneficial for the leaches (limit the payout for welfare babies) and maybe the birth rate can turn around.

Excellent idea.






Oh, look at that...you better hide. Here they come to kick you off Team Brown.

[Gil Dobie]

Eventually the USA will become a nation of bronze skin people

[CAA Flagship]

Good luck finding a decent restaurant that isn't too expensive for the quality of food provided.

It's kinda the name of the game. Restaurants are a terrible business. If they charge what they're worth... they 're not going to be in business.

I don't disagree with you or GF.
My comment was referring to Chizzy's comment that food was cheap in Italy. I was just pointing out that Italian food should be cheap because the ingredients are inexpensive (as opposed to an American steakhouse or seafood restaurant) Add strong competition and the food should be cheap.

[SDHornet]

Wait, did someone post about getting whites back out into the agribusiness game as laborers?

Make cranking out babies more beneficial for those with the means (i.e. fix the tax code), and less beneficial for the leaches (limit the payout for welfare babies) and maybe the birth rate can turn around.

Excellent idea.






Oh, look at that...you better hide. Here they come to kick you off Team Brown.

Naw I'm vested.

[kalm]

Good luck finding a decent restaurant that isn't too expensive for the quality of food provided.

It's kinda the name of the game. Restaurants are a terrible business. If they charge what they're worth... they 're not going to be in business.

I don't disagree with you or GF.
My comment was referring to Chizzy's comment that food was cheap in Italy. I was just pointing out that Italian food should be cheap because the ingredients are inexpensive (as opposed to an American steakhouse or seafood restaurant) Add strong competition and the food should be cheap.

What if it's hand made pasta using non-gmo wheat, heirloom tomato sauce, imported cheese and prosciutto, etc?

[GannonFan]

Good luck finding a decent restaurant that isn't too expensive for the quality of food provided.

It's kinda the name of the game. Restaurants are a terrible business. If they charge what they're worth... they 're not going to be in business.

Eh, when I go out, I don't mind paying a little extra to make sure I get something fantastic. I'm a foodie, I'm good with paying for quality.

[CAA Flagship]

I don't disagree with you or GF.
My comment was referring to Chizzy's comment that food was cheap in Italy. I was just pointing out that Italian food should be cheap because the ingredients are inexpensive (as opposed to an American steakhouse or seafood restaurant) Add strong competition and the food should be cheap.

What if it's hand made pasta using non-gmo wheat, heirloom tomato sauce, imported cheese and prosciutto, etc?

Fine. But it ain't.

Oh, and show me one Italian that cares about that.

[SDHornet]

Good luck finding a decent restaurant that isn't too expensive for the quality of food provided.

It's kinda the name of the game. Restaurants are a terrible business. If they charge what they're worth... they 're not going to be in business.

Eh, when I go out, I don't mind paying a little extra to make sure I get something fantastic. I'm a foodie, I'm good with paying for quality.

Isn't that the point of going out?

Heard the typical profit margin on a plate is about 6%. Doesn't seem worth it going into the restaurant game for that.

[GannonFan]

Eh, when I go out, I don't mind paying a little extra to make sure I get something fantastic. I'm a foodie, I'm good with paying for quality.

Isn't that the point of going out?

Heard the typical profit margin on a plate is about 6%. Doesn't seem worth it going into the restaurant game for that.

Not as much as you think, I mean, how is Applebee's or the Olive Garden even still in business if people are really that concerned about the quality of the food? People like not to have to make their own food or clean up afterwards, so there will always be a good swath of restaurants that exist even though the food is not fantastic.

Yes, restaurant people are a tough crowd - horrible hours, the profit margin is barely worth it, but they tend to love to cook so it's a labor of love.

[Skjellyfetti]

Not as much as you think, I mean, how is Applebee's or the Olive Garden even still in business if people are really that concerned about the quality of the food?

Yeah, those restaurants understand their target audience.

Most 'Muricans don't care about cost to quality ratio... but, cost to quantity.

See: Olive Garden's $100 Pasta Pass. All-you-can-eat pasta for unlimited visits over 7 weeks for $100.

[Pwns]

Not as much as you think, I mean, how is Applebee's or the Olive Garden even still in business if people are really that concerned about the quality of the food? People like not to have to make their own food or clean up afterwards, so there will always be a good swath of restaurants that exist even though the food is not fantastic.

Yes, restaurant people are a tough crowd - horrible hours, the profit margin is barely worth it, but they tend to love to cook so it's a labor of love.

I happen to like Applebee's and Olive Garden, but of course I'm immune to the placeco effect of "fine" dining and local eating. There's plenty of experimental evidence showing it is psychological.

Buffet gets better reviews by people who paid more.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... nsive.html
Fine dining Connoisseurs praise McDonalds' food
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mcdo ... raser.html

If you pay a lot of money for small or expensive entre's you are a sucker.

[CID1990]

Italy's CHEAP again too

I was blown away how little I spent in Rome and Orvieto back in April.

Maybe that was because Lagos is comparatively so expensive

I just got back from Italy for three weeks and FOOD IS CHEAP
But everything else is very high

Food is inexpensive because Italians believe it is a human right - as part of their historical culture
and because they think it's "offensive" to over charge for food
All Italians know what it costs to make food
and they think American (NYC) food prices should be a national embarrassment to us all

When I was there all I did was eat- thats all I cared about - coming from a country that has no real cuisine outside of cassava and low quality goat or chicken beaten to a pulp and slathered with gritty scotch bonnet powder.

Comparatively speaking- food prices in Nigeria are significantly higher than in DC or NYC, so going to Italy from Lagos made it seem like I had stepped back into the days of the Lira


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[SeattleGriz]

Yep. The small farmer isn't coming back- he's ALREADY back.

Plus with volatile fuel prices and the "farm to table" fad in the restaurants it is becoming more profitable to not be one of those mega farmers

the big guys are pretty much employees of Monsanto for practical purposes, and it takes a few years off letting your ground go fallow to break the cycle of glyphosphate-ready seeds.

We rent our farmland to family and I keep asking what they are doing on the land and get funny looks. Fuckers, if you're spraying tons of shit and tilling the land, I want to know.

I have plans for that land and wrecklessly farming doesn't help.

[CID1990]

the big guys are pretty much employees of Monsanto for practical purposes, and it takes a few years off letting your ground go fallow to break the cycle of glyphosphate-ready seeds.

We rent our farmland to family and I keep asking what they are doing on the land and get funny looks. ****, if you're spraying tons of **** and tilling the land, I want to know.

I have plans for that land and wrecklessly farming doesn't help.

Our land was previously tobacco for about 150 or so years, and then went over to subsistence farming after the civil war. Then back to tobacco around the turn of the century until the 1950s when another farmer started growing the tobacco allotment in his own farm and we let ours go back to forest. There's older growth pine forest that is slowly going back over to hardwood which is good to see. You can still see the old tobacco rows on the forest floor. We're sick with turkeys and deer but I still maintain access to equipment that would allow me to put in corn, beans and squash if I have to when the big EMP or solar flare sends us all back to 1840.

When I was a kid we had a local pig farmer putting in soybeans and corn. The only thing he was allowed to put down was nitrogen and he had to rotate. It seems like the small farmer has always been more mindful of the land than the megafarmers.


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[kalm]

We rent our farmland to family and I keep asking what they are doing on the land and get funny looks. ****, if you're spraying tons of **** and tilling the land, I want to know.

I have plans for that land and wrecklessly farming doesn't help.

Our land was previously tobacco for about 150 or so years, and then went over to subsistence farming after the civil war. Then back to tobacco around the turn of the century until the 1950s when another farmer started growing the tobacco allotment in his own farm and we let ours go back to forest. There's older growth pine forest that is slowly going back over to hardwood which is good to see. You can still see the old tobacco rows on the forest floor. We're sick with turkeys and deer but I still maintain access to equipment that would allow me to put in corn, beans and squash if I have to when the big EMP or solar flare sends us all back to 1840.

When I was a kid we had a local pig farmer putting in soybeans and corn. The only thing he was allowed to put down was nitrogen and he had to rotate. It seems like the small farmer has always been more mindful of the land than the megafarmers.


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It's good to know this mindset still exists.

[houndawg]

OH NO!

The employers have to pay a little more for services that make them a fu*k pile of money! Oh no, now the big bad CEO only gets a 40 million dollar bonus instead of 60 million.

If they raise the price too much people wont buy it, business owners know that so they will be forced to make the decision to pay their workers more or lose more of their profit margin by not selling or providing services they provide. It just takes enough people to stand up and quit eating their lies like they are Krispy Kremes.

Its pretty simple economics, if you have more jobs than potential workers pay goes up.....look at ND and the Bakken Oil boom

AG1 knocking it out of the park here.

Proud of him for kicking the prescription opiod habit. Fvcker is nearly lucid sometimes.

[houndawg]

This is the bottom line when it comes to immigration and demographics: our fastest-growing demographic groups are those that have the lowest educational attainment and job skills. When you look at the demographics of people born this decade, it doesn't bode well for America's future in the 21st century economy.

I posted about this sort of thing at some time in the past. Only what I was looking at was National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores. There's no question that if you are objective about it looking at the demographic projections and looking at test scores like that does not engender an optimistic outlook with respect to the future relative competitiveness of the United States.

But it is what it is. Nothing can be done about it.

American workers are already the most productive on the planet.

The fruits of the competitiveness you're whining about benefit so very few that who really cares about this abstract thing called "competitiveness"?