The point of the email is to give an idea of how France could be out of the budget for people who previously could afford it. Now, I'm sure that $120 for breakfast for two is not the best you can do in Paris. First of all it is room service, second it is likely a classy hotel. I'm not sure if your interest is that you want to go to Paris - or economics.
If the former:
A better measure would be to look at hotel prices - and they are far higher than NYC's from what I can see on the web. If you are set on going to France - check the hotel prices and the cost of going to things you want.
As to eating - there is a real easy way to keep it cheaper. Years and years ago, my husband and I followed the advise someone gave me on Usenet (the early internet) about travleing with kids. Whichever grown up woke of first when out with at least one kid and bought pastry/bread at a bakery and then fruit, milk, coffee and cheese at a small grogery store - we also bought stuff for lunch and packed it immediately, putting the cold stuff in a foldable insulated bag that (at his advice we brought with us) - as he had said there are places everywhere in Paris, not far out of the way to have picnics. Our concern was more successfully traveling with a 4, 6, and 9 year old - but it did make the food cost MUCH lower than otherwise.
If the latter:
It is true that it is much more expensive for Americans in Europe now than say 5 years ago. You can prove this by comparing how much in dollars a given price in euros is. Lets say that something cost 100 euros. On July 9, 2003, this would cost $113.11, now it would be $157.44. Back on July 8, 2000, it would have been $94.84. (Note - this is just due to the relative value in currency and has nothing to do with inflation) This is a HUGE shift and it has made Europe a very expensive vacation.
http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html - nice calculator that lets you put in date and two currencies to get the convergion.
What that email is doing is attempting to interest people in locations they might never have thought of before because they might be cheaper when everything is totalled.