Thanksgiving Dinner Costs Less and Other Reasons to Be Thankful

Chelsea FollettWatching the news or discussing it with your family at Thanksgiving dinner, it is not hard to fall into the trap of thinking that the entire world is moving in a negative direction. It may be a challenge to find reasons for optimism, let alone thankfulness. But as the Thanksgiving holiday draws near, know that the data clearly show that a great many things are improving.Please don ’t just take my word for it. To see the evidence for yourself, just spend some time poking around thedata on HumanProgress.org. Our database documents progress in areas as diverse asair travel safety (welcome news for those traveling for the holiday) and declining rates ofhunger andpoverty.One thing that has improved over time is the cost of Thanksgiving dinner itself. After declining in recent years, in 2019 the nominal cost of Thanksgiving has increased by just a single cent, according to the latestnumbers from the American Farm Bureau Federation, an industry group representing the country ’s farms.The AFBF sent a total of 250 volunteer shoppers to check prices at grocery stores in 38 different U.S. states for this year ’s survey. The volunteers were instructed not to take advantage of any special promotional coupons or purchase deals. So the AFBF survey may actually overestimate the cost of Thanksgiving dinner.Adjusting for inflation reveals even better news, showing that the cost of Thanksgiving dinnerdeclined slightly from last year, decreasing by nearly 2 percent to reach ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs