<p><strong>Before the pandemic, eating out was an affordable luxury. Now it has become expensive, and a lot of Americans are feeling the strain.</strong></p> <p>Please indulge me in some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01friedman.html" rel="noreferrer noopener">taxi-driver reporting</a> (or, in this case, ride-share driver reporting): A few months ago, traveling in a city cheaper than New York, my driver told me that he and his wife had a weekly date night. It was nothing fancy – a sit-down restaurant for a burger and a beer – but it now cost about $80, after tax and tip, twice what it was pre-pandemic. Yes, he told me, he earns more, but not that much more, and date night was becoming a financial strain.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-04/does-interest-rate-pain-explain-the-consumer-sentiment-gap?srnd=undefined&sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">theorizing</a> about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-09-15/why-are-american-consumers-still-so-gloomy-blame-covid?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">why</a> so many Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-11-13/anger-is-what-s-driving-the-us-economy?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">feel worse off</a> economically. True, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-01-04/world-economy-latest-us-income-growth-gets-real-as-inflation-wanes?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">real wages</a> are now finally increasing, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024-02-02/el-erian-jobs-data-confirms-exceptional-labor-market-video?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">labor market</a> is great, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-02-19/stock-markets-are-driving-a-new-american-century?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">stock market</a> is up, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-25/us-gdp-accelerated-with-help-of-big-spending-consumers?sref=EP6bV7CS" rel="noreferrer noopener">consumers are spending</a>. But none of this amounts to a complete picture of Americans' quality of life. And people will tend to think it has declined if things they value feel like a stretch.</p>
<p>According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=76967" rel="noreferrer noopener">US Department of Agriculture</a>, spending on food took up more than 11% of income in 2022, the latest year for which data is available – the highest in 30 years. It is a stunning turn.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-11/restaurant-inflation-what-the-us-economy-needs-is-a-cheap-date"><em><strong>Continue reading the entire piece here at </strong></em><strong><em>Bloomberg Opinion</em></strong> <strong><em>(paywall)</em></strong></a></p>
<p><em>___________________</em></p>
<p><em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.city-journal.org/contributor/allison-schrager_1488" rel="noreferrer noopener">Allison Schrager</a> is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of </em>City Journal<em>.</em> </p>]