highway robbery

i'm always so amazed at how prices differ from one place to another for the same service or product. i really don't understand why one company could produce a service or product for a certain cost, and then it costs the next guy twice as much to manufacture the same thing.

last year the kids discovered ice skating. we spent some time trying to see some 'local' seasonal things since we knew our time in this part of the country was drawing short. we spent a day in manhattan and went ice skating in bryant park. they had a blast. free admission, $10 for skate rental. if you have your own skates, then FREE for you completely! we then spent a week in utah visiting family about a month after that. found an indoor ice rink and the kids wanted to skate of course. i can't remember how much for admission and skates exactly, but for all 6 of us we paid less than $17 to get in and skate for a couple hours. we were blown away. cheaper than a meal for all of us. so now the kids continue to bother me to take them skating. only i just can't bring myself to do it. here in jersey they want your right finger in payment it seems! i've checked into at least 3 rinks, and they're all so darned expensive! $7-9 just to get in! and that's per person! (so multiply that times 6 for all of us!) and then another $3 at least for skate rental (again times 6). i'm just having a hard time seeing how it should cost that much. does water in jersey cost more to freeze than in utah or manhattan? i didn't really see that many people on the rink in utah, so i can't believe that it's a supply and demand issue.

i also have frustration with whoever decides how much our food should cost. it really baffles me how all these health freaks preach that our society is obese and lazy, and counsel that we should all eat better and exercise so that we can be healthier and live longer. but if you try to buy food that is actually healthy for you, it costs 3 times what the crap food costs that supposedly will kill you sooner. i mean, really...how hard is it to make some pasta that doesn't have any fake phoney blah additives in it? i guess twice as hard as it is to make the kind with all the EXTRA garbage in it. since plain old walmart pasta costs about half what decent preservative-free pasta costs from whole foods. isn't it a little backwards that the healthy food is harder to find and more expensive, if we as a society are being preached to about eating those foods?

it's highway robbery i tell you!