Over the past few weeks, as a meat crisis has seemed more and more likely, fast food restaurants have begun increasing their prices. McDonald's is reconsidering the items on its dollar menu, Hardee's has changed the options in its 2-for-$3 promotion from burgers to hot dogs, and even upscale Chipotle's is planning a price increase.

In the meantime, New York's famous Gray's Papaya is poised to raise the price on its famous "Recession Special." A New York institution since its debut in the 1990's, the special originally cost $1.95, but rose to its current price of $3.50 a few years ago. Consisting of a medium tropical beverage and two hot dogs, the combination of two perfectly prepared hot dogs and a medium fruit drink has long been one of the city's best food bargains.

Now Iceland is newly one of Europe's poorest countries. As one newspaper put it, Iceland is now "banging on the doors of Russia." A year ago, the American dollar bought only 60 krona. Today, it buys nearly twice as much, or 111. Costs have been halved. Now, after years of staying away because of scalding Scandinavian prices, Americans can tour Iceland for prices that are more in line with many of our own cities.

British tourists, who are just a couple of hours from the North Atlantic nation, are pouncing on the deals, which are already cost a third less than they did before the crash. Icelandair, which takes five or six hours to reach its country from several American cities (Orlando, Minneapolis, Boston, New York), is selling round-trip flights to Reykjavik, its clubby capital, for just $400 all winter, and another $150 buys a Hilton hotel stay for three nights while you're there (the booking deadline is Oct. 21, but I'd expect more deals to come).

It's still too early to know how deep the room rate cuts will be, but we already know they'll be significant, and they're happening in a city where average folks could most use the price break. Last month, the average hotel room rate in Manhattan stood at a staggering $350, up $50 from just 16 months earlier. That price level is unheard of in most parts of America, but in New York's tight room market, the cost was buoyed by big-spending businessmen hitting town to schmooze with the likes of Lehman Brothers. Some estimates say Wall Street accounts for a fifth of Manhattan's economy.

The occupancy rate before the meltdown was a healthy 90%. Hoteliers know that's in the past. Not only are there fewer titans to feed that kind of traffic, but there's also the fact that surviving companies, particularly ones in the financial sector that feeds the city's hotel industry, are seeing the light and are seriously tightening their belts. Last month, hotels were projecting a six percent increase in rates next year, which was already about half as vigorous as usual. Now, they are already predicting that for 2009, room rates will largely hold at 2008 rates, if not drop a bit.

As many WalletPop users have already demonstrated, while there's a lot of fun in coming up with great ways to save money, the real fun is in passing the ideas around. With that in mind, I was very impressed by New York State's "Stretching Your Dollars Effort" (SYDE).

Basically a bare-bones clearinghouse of thrifty ideas, SYDE allows New Yorkers to post their tips for saving on gas and groceries, as well as ideas for cutting the costs of home food prep and household expenses. It features text-based suggestions, as well as video and audio clips, some of which are a lot of fun to watch.

While a few of the ideas are specific to New York, most of them can be widely adapted to any setting, be it urban, suburban, or rural. More to the point, as good old-fashioned thrift has become a thing of the past, it's nice to be reminded of all the neat tricks and clever shortcuts that can add up to serious savings!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. SYDE reminds him of the wise, thrifty, and nurturing grandma that he never had.

I don't drive, preferring instead to ride my bike, and get my fair share of rather nasty comments (all the worse when I'm toting my three boys around town), even though I'm probably about the safest, most law-abiding rider on the planet. I'm always struggling to put appropriate words to my anger and sense of unfairness when I'm faced with a many-ton vehicle driven by someone who clearly misunderstands our relative rights to use the roadways. (In other words: We both have them, and I'm pretty sure I have a right to not be run over by you.) Now I have them.

No-Impact Man, Colin Beavan, is famous for trying to live his life without any impact on our carbon footprint. As part of this commitment, he rides his bike to work in New York City. Yesterday, while riding his bike and wearing a purple helmet, he got in an altercation with New York state senator Jeff Klein -- who almost hit him with his large black Mercedes, and then called him a "f-cking a--hole" for knocking on his window to alert him of his presence.

Beavan wrote an amazingly calm and eloquent letter to Jeff Klein, posting it on his blog and promising to hand-deliver it to Klein's office.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should begin by pointing out that I live in New York City, where I am a regular and enthusiastic patron of the city's amazing public transportation system. I approach the train in much the same way that a cocker spaniel approaches car rides. If I could open the window, put my hands on the sill and let my tongue loll out of my mouth, I definitely would.

Right now, one of my biggest worries involves funding of the city's subway system. A little over ten years ago, the city and the state slashed funding. It would be prohibitively expensive to have an entirely rider-funded system, so the MTA began borrowing money. Lo and behold, a few years later, the subway is still underfunded, is seriously in debt, and is looking at massively raising fares while scaling back on service.

New York is only one of many cities currently experiencing problems with their public transportation systems. At the same time, these systems also offer one of the best solutions to the country's current gas crisis. America's subways, trams and buses conserve 4.2 billion gallons of gas per year. They reduce wear and tear on public roads, keep cars out of city centers, and allow citizens to cheaply move from place to place. In terms of pollution, each person who rides public transportation reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 20 pounds per day. In New York, that works out to over 3 billion pounds per year.

However, unless a consistent, reliable funding source emerges, the sort of feast-or-famine situation that is plaguing New York and other cities will continue. With that in mind, it was particularly satisfying to discover HR 6052, the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008. This bill would provide federal subsidies both to cities and to "non-urban areas" for the development and improvement of public transportation systems. It is designed to improve the public transportation grid while lowering fares for travelers. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and is currently working its way through Senate committees.

Between cheap public transit, fewer drivers clogging the highways, lowered petroleum dependency and reduced carbon emissions, HR 6052 seems like a great idea for pretty much everyone. Now if we can just get it passed...

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He even has favorite subway beggars: the current winner is the magician on the four line.

Did you think it would take long? Broadway theaters, which collectively are Manhattan's top tourist attraction, have figured out a new way to wring a little more out of showgoers: Charge 'em more to sit on the aisle. Hey, it's working for Northwest.

Aisle seats are always the first seats to be sold. They have more legroom, which is in low supply in New York's century-old houses. Although it's considered bad form to dash out to the bathroom in the middle of a live performance, having a spot on the aisle makes emergencies a cinch. Celebs, too, like to sit there since it enables a quick getaway once the curtain comes down.

And the kicker probably won't surprise you: These aisle seats can only be purchased in pairs, one next to the other. Only one of the seats will actually be on the aisle. You'll still pay the extra charge on both, though.

Last Friday, after asking reporters to turn off their cameras, President Bush offered his take on the country's current financial crisis. Amid appreciative giggles from his fellow diners, Bush announced that "Wall Street got drunk [...] and now it's got a hangover." He then went on to ask "How long will it [take to] sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?" Finally, he noted that "We got a housing issue...not in Houston, and evidently not in Dallas, because Laura's over there trying to buy a house."

Here's the video (and some commentary from The Young Turks):




In addition to the President's apparent callousness regarding the country's subprime housing disaster, his seeming ignorance of the long-term implications of his policies is absolutely stunning. No wonder he wanted the cameras off!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He's done some silly, stupid things while under the influence, but he's never tanked the economy!

One aspect of any really big decision is the degree to which it changes one's identity. The little decisions are things that can be reversed, replaced, or otherwise ignored, while the big ones leave their mark.

For example, my college majors determined a large part of the path that my life has followed. They have influenced my perspective, my group of friends, and all the other decisions that I subsequently made. The same goes for marriage and parenthood, as well as a few other biggies.

Shortly after moving to New York, I realized that this decision would have a monumental effect on my identity. Using Facebook, I reconnected with my buddy Aubin. Once he learned that I had moved to the city, he began referring to me as "Yankee." Having spent all my life in the south, this was a pretty big shift. Still, given that my relatives fought for the north (or, as I always put it, the winners), this made some sense.

Once a symbol of urban decay, graffiti has grown up a lot. Nowadays, it exists somewhere between art and vice, beauty and blight. In the Bronx, where I live, business owners regularly pay graffiti artists thousands of dollars to paint graffiti on the sides of their buildings, and it's common to see graffitied murals commemorating dead husbands and wives, lovers and children.

On the other hand, it is still officially illegal to create graffiti in many areas. In New York, for example, writing, painting, or drawing on a wall without the owner's consent is illegal, as is carrying graffiti supplies into a public facility, or selling graffiti supplies to minors. In fact, it's even illegal to display graffiti supplies in stores; retailers are permitted to display empty containers or pictures of supplies, but the real things have to stay off the shelves.

In this context, it's particularly interesting to look at the fight over Alphabeta. The Brooklyn-based retailer is one of the world's first stores to openly specialize in supplying the graffiti trade. In addition to carrying a full selection of paints, markers, etching acid, and other supplies, Alphabeta has an in-house gallery space, where the proprietor, Leif McIlwaine, allows graffiti artists to showcase their work.

It's interesting to think about how cities compete for tourists. Apart from spending billions of dollars on advertising, fighting to host World's Fairs and the Olympics, and desperately organizing major events, almost every aspect of a city's infrastructure could be seen as part of a bid for the tourist buck. Police? Handy for keeping the tourists safe. Public transportation? Offers a cheap way for the tourists to get around. Sports teams? Keeps the tourists happy while they're here and gives them handy souvenirs to take home!

I thought about this recently when I read about the town of Zheleznovodsk, Russia. Home to the Mashuk-Akva Term spa, the town seems to have long been casting about for a sense of identity. On the one hand, it is noted for the healing powers of its mineral springs; then again, so are many other towns in the Caucasus Mountains region, where it is located. Not long ago, it hit on the idea of using the iconic enema, the delivery system for many of its healing mineral treatments, as a sign of its civic pride. The first step was posters that stated "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas!" The signs hung in the local spa and garnered a fair bit of attention.

Buoyed by the success of their enema poster campaign, the spa commissioned a sculpture. Costing $42,000, Mashuk-Akva's enema statue shows an 800-pound bronze bulb-style enema being carried by three Botticelli-esque angels. While the sculptor admits to a certain irony in her finished work, the director of the spa considers it to be an utterly non-ironic symbol of the region. It remains to be seen if Zheleznovodsk's new sculpture will become a cultural icon or will end up being a washout. Regardless, the next time I take a trip, I'm going to give a long, hard look at Russia, the land of the golden enema!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. The more he thinks about it, the more he's impressed with Zheleznovodsk. Come to think of it, maybe New York needs an enema!

What are the most important considerations when one is choosing a place to live? Obviously, recreation is a consideration, as is safety, but what else goes into the list? Does your ideal area have museums and libraries? Parks and bodies of water? How about diverse ethnic populations and a wide selection of restaurants?

While considerations like a country's level of happiness or its willingness to support slackers certainly have an impact upon its overall desirability, other factors definitely come into play. With this in mind, Mercer Consulting has developed an index that rates the safety and liveability of 215 cities across the world. According to them, the top-ranked city in the world is Zurich, followed by Vienna, Geneva, Vancouver, and Auckland, and the top five safest cities are Luxembourg, Bern, Geneva, Helsinki, and Zurich. The top-ranked city in the United States is Honolulu, which came in at number 28, while New York City came in at 49, behind San Francisco, Boston, Washington, Chicago, and Portland, Ore.

Having been to -- yawn -- Zurich and -- double yawn -- Geneva, as well as several of the other cities that are ranked far ahead of Honolulu, I began to wonder what, exactly, the folks at Mercer were smoking. Not that there's anything wrong with Oslo (24), Stockholm (20), or Copenhagen (11), but putting these cities ahead of every U.S. city seems a little odd. And Zurich! Don't even get me started on the famed "Valium of the Alps!"*

When I read the fine print, I began to understand. Mercer's focus is on how much "hardship pay" the average executive should have to get when he or she gets sent to work in a city. Their primary considerations are internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement, and relationships with other countries. In that context, it seems pretty clear why the United States is ranking comparatively low in the world and Switzerland is at the top of the heap. It also explains why Nairobi (212), Karachi (213), Kinshasa (214), and Baghdad (215) round out the bottom of the list. Hopefully, with a little more political stability and some improved relationships with other countries, the United States will be able to reclaim its rightful place, directly below Switzerland!


*Actually, nobody calls Zurich "The Valium of the Alps." But they should.

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. Having dragged his butt through some of the seedier parts of Amsterdam (13), he still has to wonder if the Mercer people are on crack.

I normally live on Cape Cod but I've been staying in Manhattan for the past week. I'm having a great time and loving the city but I have a question for any Manhattanites reading this post: why is everything at the grocery store at least 30% more expensive than it is on Cape Cod, or pretty much everywhere else I've been with the exception of Nantucket?

I just saw a box of shredded wheat -- $5.69, which is especially bad when you consider the fact that cereal boxes have been shrinking over the past year because of rising commodity costs.

Now I don't really consider myself a miser. But let me be clear: I refuse to pay $5.69 for a box of cereal. I would rather head over to Central Park on my hands and knees armed with a bottle of blue cheese dressing and forage. Part of the problem may be that Wal-Mart has not yet been able to colonize New York in the face of opposition from union leaders and socially-conscious types. I'm all for principles and whatnot -- but not if it means paying $5.69 for a box of cereal!

If you live in New York, it may actually be cheaper to buy some groceries on Amazon.com: you can get Post shredded wheat, 12.2 ounces, for $3 per box in packs of 6. Shipping is free if you spend more than $25.

Late last week, I wrote a post about Craigslist's recent emergence as a prostitution clearinghouse. I thought that one post should do it; after all, how much can be said about the online purchasing site and its forays into the sex trade?

Apparently, more than I thought.

According to the New York Daily News, Craigslist has begun featuring posts that halve the distance between rental listings and prostitution solicitations.

Generally, the advertisements offer rental spaces in highly-desirable, pricey areas like the Upper West Side and the Financial district. The prices are ridiculously low, sometimes even free, as long as the roommate is willing to model, bestow "benefits" at least once a week, or otherwise barter for the rent. My favorite listing was offered by an amateur photographer who "would be willing to let the right girl live there for FREE in exchange for her being "...at my call to be my model. [She] must be attractive and sexy, like a 9 out of 10 [and] very thin, size 0 or 2." Excuse me while I have a flashback to Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Anyway...given our increasing reliance on the internet as a means of buying, selling, marketing, and socializing, I guess this shouldn't be surprising. After all, we're talking about a city where women are willing to date in return for a free meal; can rent really be all that far behind? While the whole thing strikes me as a little skeevy, the same could easily be said of most of the New York real estate market!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He acknowledges that some of his irritation may be sour grapes; after all, it's been years since he could fit into a size 2!

As gas prices have continued to rise, it's been interesting to see how people cope. In my neighborhood, it seems like people aren't driving nearly as much, but they are still spending an amazing amount of time working on their cars. I guess it's a good idea to keep the resale value up...

In the meantime, I've seen ever-increasing numbers of people standing on the subway platform, waiting for buses, and generally taking advantage of New York's amazing public transportation grid. For those who don't like to rely on the vagaries of a sometimes undependable subway line, one other choice is available: riding a bike. Of course, bike riding in the city can be a little dangerous, as New York drivers tend to be a little aggressive under the best of circumstances. Under the present circumstances...well, let's just say that when you can feel the meter running every time you hit the gas pedal, you may be a little disinclined to hit the brake!

Luckily, just as a fresh influx of people are discovering the joys of two-wheeled transportation, a website has come along that will help them find the best path through the city. Ridethecity.com offers precise directions for cyclists. It focuses on areas with bike lanes and tends to choose routes that go through parks and tree-rich areas, as they are easier on the lungs. It also integrates user comments, to give visitors a cyclist-eye view of the benefits and pitfalls of any given route.

Unfortunately, Ridethecity is only available in New York City right now, but as more and more people hang up their keys and dust off their Schwinns, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before other cities develop similar websites. In fact, if you're interested in developing a wonderful little site to generate some ad revenue, there are a lot of cyclists out there...

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He doesn't bike, but that's just because he can't rock the helmet.

Other WalletPop cycle stories:

Bike commuting video

The downside to bike commuting