CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield quipped on Sunday that Americans will have to reduce their portion sizes on Thanksgiving because of high inflation.
“It seems like we’re all gonna be eating smaller portions if anything,” Whitfield said in response to reports of higher prices for Thanksigivng meals.
Prior to her joke, CNN Business consumer reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn detailed the extent to which inflation will impact consumers this holiday season.
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“All signs are pointing to a more expensive Thanksgiving meal this year,” Meyersohn said. “One estimate this week predicted that Thanksgiving meal prices will rise 13.5% from a year ago. Some of our favorite sides will be more expensive, potatoes, fruit and vegetables will be up 10%. Baking ingredients up double digits. And then when it comes to desert, pies are gonna be up 20%.”
“So there’s no escaping inflation this Thanksgiving,” he added.
Inflation is a top issue for voters ahead of Tuesday’s 2022 midterm elections. Republicans have overwhelmingly focused their campaigns on inflation and crime. While, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., criticized progressives and Democrats for focusing too much on abortion instead of the economy throughout the election.
The Biden administration and the U.S. Federal Reserve have been criticized for their dismissal of inflation. Both Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell incorrectly called inflation “transitory” last year.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Budget Model both concluded that the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in August, would have an impact on inflation that is “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”
