(Daily Caller News Foundation) — The average price American families will have to pay to celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner will be the most expensive in history after years of sky-high inflation that experts attribute partially to President Joe Biden’s policies, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The price of all goods has risen dramatically under Biden following a period of sustained high inflation, which peaked at 9.1% in March 2022 and has since remained elevated, measuring at 3.2% in October, while the index for food rose 3.3% year-over-year for the month. The total increase in costs for a Thanksgiving dinner is about 26% since the beginning of Biden’s term, culminating in the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in history, E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“After two and a half years of abnormally high price increases, Americans are left with the most expensive Thanksgiving ever,” Antoni told the DCNF. “As the White House’s mouthpieces like to say, ‘That’s Bidenomics in action!’ Today’s higher prices are the direct result of the federal government spending, borrowing, and printing trillions of dollars, all urged on by the Biden administration and made possible by their big-spender allies in Congress (from both parties) and a complicit Federal Reserve.”
The price of turkey, the centerpiece of any Thanksgiving dinner, can be measured by the index for uncooked poultry excluding chicken, which increased by 31.2% in price from January 2021 to October 2023, according to data compiled by the DCNF from the BLS. Sauces and gravies to go on that Turkey took a smaller hit, rising 14.6% in that same time period.
Overall, prices have risen by an astonishing 17.1% since Biden took office in January 2021, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In that same time, real wages have declined by 2.1%.
Bread, used for classic side dishes like stuffing and rolls, has had its price increase by 26.1% from the beginning of Biden’s term to October, according to the BLS. Potatoes, another item used for side dishes like mashed potatoes, rose by 14.6% in that same time period.
Desserts were hit hard under the president, with frozen and refrigerated bakery products like pies, tarts and turnovers jumping 31.8% since January 2021, according to the BLS. Similarly, cakes, cupcakes and cookies increased in price over the same period by 23.8%.
Vegetables, including the Thanksgiving classic green beans, were spared from the brunt of inflation, only rising 8.9%, according to the BLS.
“What is a family to do at this time of year when they’re already drowning in credit card debt and faced with such sharp price increases? I suspect some will cut back, either inviting fewer guests or serving less food, perhaps less expensive food,” Antoni told the DCNF. “Others may go further into credit card debt. It is heartbreaking that during this time of year when we’re supposed to be giving thanks for our abundance in the wealthiest country on earth, families are instead forced to cut back.”
Credit card debt reached another all-time high in the third quarter of 2023, rising to $1.08 trillion, or a 4.7% increase from the previous quarter, as more Americans are needing to go into debt to pay for their everyday expenses. Following the high levels of debt, delinquency transitions have increased, rising 8% for credit cards.
Many economists have pointed at the president’s economic agenda, dubbed “Bidenomics,” as a key contributor to the rise in inflation due to its high-spending policies. Some of Biden’s big-ticket expenditures include the American Rescue Plan, which added $1.9 trillion in new spending, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which added another $750 billion.
“This is the cost of runaway government spending: the family budget must shrink as the federal budget grows,” Antoni told the DCNF. “And to be clear, it doesn’t matter who the president is; it matters what his policies are. The leftist agenda of the last two and a half years has been an utter failure, and families are paying the price.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the DCNF.
