Espresso

Cup of fine Espresso in Rome : 1 Euro (coffee imported and blended)

Cup of fine Espresso in Nairobi: 1.25 Euro (coffee produced locally and blended)

Nice third degree price discrimination at work. i.e. the average person drinking fine espresso in Italy is poorer than the average person drinking fine espresso in Nairobi – same product, different audience segments.

From poor and thin to poor but fat

I am away in the US with Mugithi.

I rented a Hyundai at the airport. The gas prices must be hitting home, the woman with heavy makeup at the rental agency (she had an ugly little pekingese crawling inside a child basket) told me Hyundais have been particularly popular.

Drove three hours, and then took an exit off the interstate, through some really downbeat townships. Mugithi noticed: “All the poor people are fat”. In the richer localities, where there are houses instead of trailer parks, and lawns instead of potted fungus and cacti, the people are fitter, some jog, some take their dogs walking and are generally thinner.