Expressions of Manticoran wealth

What about personal/private spacecraft(yachts), either interplanetary or interstellar? Are they more common in Manticore than elsewhere?

jchilds wrote:What about personal/private spacecraft(yachts), either interplanetary or interstellar? Are they more common in Manticore than elsewhere?

I doubt it. How many Saudis own 150+ foot yachts compared to Russians?

I'd think one marker of Manticoran wealth would be the availability of products. If a Manty wants to buy something they can probably get it and have a better chance of affording it.

Haven, in contrast, probably faced a much more limited selection. If in wasn't made in Haven, it would be impossible to get or extremely expensive.

noblehunter wrote:I'd think one marker of Manticoran wealth would be the availability of products. If a Manty wants to buy something they can probably get it and have a better chance of affording it.

Haven, in contrast, probably faced a much more limited selection. If in wasn't made in Haven, it would be impossible to get or extremely expensive.

As it is in some other countries for some items as trivial as a box of kids cereal. In the US, you have some grocery stores with an entire aisle of different cereals. In some other countries, your choice is either A, B, or sometimes C.

Take it or leave it.

cthia wrote:As it is in some other countries for some items as trivial as a box of kids cereal. In the US, you have some grocery stores with an entire aisle of different cereals. In some other countries, your choice is either A, B, or sometimes C.

Take it or leave it.

And in the poorest countries, kids have never seen a box of cereal, or had the cold glass of milk to go with it.

A few years ago, the airport near me had a cargo contract laughingly called the pork eggroll run - they shipped a 747 of freshly butchered pork to Hong Kong every night at midnight. That's roughly 1/2 way around the globe - for fresh pork!

Every day - Seafood is flown from the seacoasts into Detroit (and other Middle America cities) for distribution. We find can find pretty much any kind of fresh fruit, vegetable, or meat at any time of the year in a local store anywhere in America at "reasonable" prices. Backing that is billions upon billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure that allows that logistical planning to happen so I can eat fresh Argentinian grapes in February - I don't own any of that infrastructure - but almost every piece of food I eat takes advantage of it. And that's one sign of affluence in a civilization.

Theemile wrote:

cthia wrote:As it is in some other countries for some items as trivial as a box of kids cereal. In the US, you have some grocery stores with an entire aisle of different cereals. In some other countries, your choice is either A, B, or sometimes C.

Take it or leave it.

And in the poorest countries, kids have never seen a box of cereal, or had the cold glass of milk to go with it.

Yea.

Theemile wrote:Every day - Seafood is flown from the seacoasts into Detroit (and other Middle America cities) for distribution. We find can find pretty much any kind of fresh fruit, vegetable, or meat at any time of the year in a local store anywhere in America at "reasonable" prices. Backing that is billions upon billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure that allows that logistical planning to happen so I can eat fresh Argentinian grapes in February - I don't own any of that infrastructure - but almost every piece of food I eat takes advantage of it. And that's one sign of affluence in a civilization.

Flights aren't just moving seafood to the middle American cities, there are also daily flights shuttling seafood between coasts. So pretty much any US city has access to the local seafood of every coast; whether inland or located on one of those coasts themselves.

Jonathan_S wrote:

Theemile wrote:Every day - Seafood is flown from the seacoasts into Detroit (and other Middle America cities) for distribution. We find can find pretty much any kind of fresh fruit, vegetable, or meat at any time of the year in a local store anywhere in America at "reasonable" prices. Backing that is billions upon billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure that allows that logistical planning to happen so I can eat fresh Argentinian grapes in February - I don't own any of that infrastructure - but almost every piece of food I eat takes advantage of it. And that's one sign of affluence in a civilization.

Flights aren't just moving seafood to the middle American cities, there are also daily flights shuttling seafood between coasts. So pretty much any US city has access to the local seafood of every coast; whether inland or located on one of those coasts themselves.

Good point.

I was born on and grew up on the coast. And left my fast paced life in California to reanswer the call of the salt water.

One thing I learned fast is the huuuuuge difference between fresh and freshly frozen.

What the hell is freshly frozen anyways? I hope it was fresh when it was frozen. No one in my family puts seafood in a freezer. It makes everything smell like seafood. When you live on the coast, it doesn't make sense to freeze seafood -- or buy it frozen.

When I first left the coast, I noticed that my recipes were off. I couldn't get the taste quite right in my seafood dishes. My Aunt told me it was the difference between fresh and freshly frozen. She was right.

cthia" quote="Jonathan_S wrote:

Theemile wrote:Every day - Seafood is flown from the seacoasts into Detroit (and other Middle America cities) for distribution. We find can find pretty much any kind of fresh fruit, vegetable, or meat at any time of the year in a local store anywhere in America at "reasonable" prices. Backing that is billions upon billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure that allows that logistical planning to happen so I can eat fresh Argentinian grapes in February - I don't own any of that infrastructure - but almost every piece of food I eat takes advantage of it. And that's one sign of affluence in a civilization.

Flights aren't just moving seafood to the middle American cities, there are also daily flights shuttling seafood between coasts. So pretty much any US city has access to the local seafood of every coast; whether inland or located on one of those coasts themselves.

Good point.

I was born on and grew up on the coast. And left my fast paced life in California to reanswer the call of the salt water.

One thing I learned fast is the huuuuuge difference between fresh and freshly frozen.

What the hell is freshly frozen anyways? I hope it was fresh when it was frozen. No one in my family puts seafood in a freezer. It makes everything smell like seafood. When you live on the coast, it doesn't make sense to freeze seafood -- or buy it frozen.

When I first left the coast, I noticed that my recipes were off. I couldn't get the taste quite right in my seafood dishes. My Aunt told me it was the difference between fresh and freshly frozen. She was right.[/quote]


What fresh frozen is where a product is almost immediately frozen usually in under six hours after harvesting and sometimes in less than an hour. FYI the process was invented by Clarence Birdseye.

I suspect that things are generally nicer overall in the Star kingdom. Haven, Beowulf, Anderman Empire--people have aircars. But, they're just plain nicer in Manticore. In Old Earth terms, with groundcars, the euivalent of auro accessories like air conditioners and CD players are standard--go to Beowulf or Erwhon, or Terra, and air conditioner, automatic ride control, etc are not present on the cheaper cars. The money is there for fast, efficient public transportation where it's appropriate--where there is public transportation (political and philosophical decision, not just economic) it will have comfortable seats, good, reliable service, etc. There was reference somewhere to a planet on the Verge having public transport that routinely breaks or is delayed.

Likewise, if a family would be well served by having multiple cars, it will.

Visitors from even wealthy systems will be impressed by the transportation in most cases.

Fewer families will need to have kids share bedrooms. Likewise, there will be few cases of kids with insufficient equipment for learning...because the basics will be cheap in comparison to the cost of living overall.

Prosperity = few roads with potholes, assuming competence. Here on earth, some roads have potholes because the resources aren't there to fix them.

In short, a middle class family has a similar lifestyle to a middle class family elsewhere, but better stuff, or fewer working hours, and just generally more pleasant conditions.