The New Frugality Folks Must Have Missed The World Series
You've seen the "New Frugality" articles haven't you? It's all over the press. People are reducing their spending and living more modestly - even (choke - sputter) saving their money.
So when I watched the recent World Series, rooting dutifully for the home team Yankees, I ran across an article that got under my skin. It described the field level "Legacy" seating installed in the spanking new stadium the Yankees inaugurated this season. The description left me cold.
I guess I kind of noticed the field level seats looked different on TV. And I certainly noticed how empty they were at lots of games during this inaugural season. I figured they must cost a bundle and with the recession and all, people just weren't springing for them. But this article got into details I wasn't aware of.
First of all, they're padded seats, designed something like business class seats on airplanes. You have your own entrance to the stadium. When you arrive, there's a "free" buffet with all sorts of gourmet food and expensive goodies (e.g., Godiva chocolates, etc.).
What happened to peanuts and cracker jacks? What happened to "ice cold beer here"? The Legacy seats just don't fit.
Anyway, something just didn't sit right, the more I thought about it. We're not a country with "classes" of people - at least we weren't. A ballpark is a big public place where people come together to root for the home team, isnt' it? Basically, the field level seats are for the rich - period. Tickets for the World Series in the prime seats of the Legacy section went for $50,000!
My son tried explaining that new stadiums aren't so much just ballparks as amusement parks. They're designed to be entertainment centers, not just a place to see a game. OK, I guess you pay our money and you get what you pay for and all that.
Still, these seats seem kind of made to show off. Since when did you show off at a ball park? It's not like we all didn't know that the field level seats were expensive before. If you could afford them, enjoy. Maybe your company gave you the seats to entertain a client or a prospect. Whatever. But this is different.
Maybe I'm just making a big deal about nothing. After all, I'm a big boy. If I don't want to spend my money on the Yankees, then I don't have to, right?
Maybe it's the "in your face" nature of the new seats that gets me. Why separate the fans into two "classes" with the private entrance, padded seats and fancy food and all that? It's just not "American." Is it just the way I was brought up? I mean all this fancy stuff just didn't have any place in my life then - or now. Maybe it's some of that.
But I'm thinking this little statistic may have something to do with it: In 1964 the ratio between CEO pay to an average worker was around 1/20 - 1/40. Now it ranges from 1/400 - 1/600. Unbelievable!
Is that why we've got these Legacy seats. Is it for those CEO's and their buddies in senior management who've been making gigantic salaries compared to the rest of us? Is it because of those bankers who've been taking huge bonuses?
Well, that sort of disparity between rich and the rest of us deserves a separate blog or two. We're not going to have the time or space to get into it now.
Meanwhile the rest of us will just have to pursue the "new" frugality." Of course, if you never stopped practicing the "old" frugality, you've got a leg up on the whole thing.
So when I watched the recent World Series, rooting dutifully for the home team Yankees, I ran across an article that got under my skin. It described the field level "Legacy" seating installed in the spanking new stadium the Yankees inaugurated this season. The description left me cold.
I guess I kind of noticed the field level seats looked different on TV. And I certainly noticed how empty they were at lots of games during this inaugural season. I figured they must cost a bundle and with the recession and all, people just weren't springing for them. But this article got into details I wasn't aware of.
First of all, they're padded seats, designed something like business class seats on airplanes. You have your own entrance to the stadium. When you arrive, there's a "free" buffet with all sorts of gourmet food and expensive goodies (e.g., Godiva chocolates, etc.).
What happened to peanuts and cracker jacks? What happened to "ice cold beer here"? The Legacy seats just don't fit.
Anyway, something just didn't sit right, the more I thought about it. We're not a country with "classes" of people - at least we weren't. A ballpark is a big public place where people come together to root for the home team, isnt' it? Basically, the field level seats are for the rich - period. Tickets for the World Series in the prime seats of the Legacy section went for $50,000!
My son tried explaining that new stadiums aren't so much just ballparks as amusement parks. They're designed to be entertainment centers, not just a place to see a game. OK, I guess you pay our money and you get what you pay for and all that.
Still, these seats seem kind of made to show off. Since when did you show off at a ball park? It's not like we all didn't know that the field level seats were expensive before. If you could afford them, enjoy. Maybe your company gave you the seats to entertain a client or a prospect. Whatever. But this is different.
Maybe I'm just making a big deal about nothing. After all, I'm a big boy. If I don't want to spend my money on the Yankees, then I don't have to, right?
Maybe it's the "in your face" nature of the new seats that gets me. Why separate the fans into two "classes" with the private entrance, padded seats and fancy food and all that? It's just not "American." Is it just the way I was brought up? I mean all this fancy stuff just didn't have any place in my life then - or now. Maybe it's some of that.
But I'm thinking this little statistic may have something to do with it: In 1964 the ratio between CEO pay to an average worker was around 1/20 - 1/40. Now it ranges from 1/400 - 1/600. Unbelievable!
Is that why we've got these Legacy seats. Is it for those CEO's and their buddies in senior management who've been making gigantic salaries compared to the rest of us? Is it because of those bankers who've been taking huge bonuses?
Well, that sort of disparity between rich and the rest of us deserves a separate blog or two. We're not going to have the time or space to get into it now.
Meanwhile the rest of us will just have to pursue the "new" frugality." Of course, if you never stopped practicing the "old" frugality, you've got a leg up on the whole thing.
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