ABC Exaggerates Thanksgiving Costs to Show Traditional Feast Will Gobble Wallets
This one will really tug at your heartstrings – grandmothers might have to cut corners to be able to afford the family feast this year for Thanksgiving.
“[G]randmother Judy Inman is feeling the pinch as she plans Thanksgiving dinner for eight,” “Good Morning America” Consumer Correspondent Elizabeth Leamy said on the November 20 show.
“[O]ne of the last parts of our travel survival guide, our Thanksgiving survival guide, of course, is the rising cost of the Thanksgiving dinner,” said host Diane Sawyer. “As we said, the average price of a Thanksgiving dinner is up 11 percent from last year. So are there some ways to stretch the dollars and have no one know?”
According to Leamy, “the American Farm Bureau says it will cost $42.26 to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for 10 this year.”
It’s still a bargain according to some.
“That’s less than a value meal at almost any fast food restaurant,” Jim Sartwelle, an American Farm Bureau Federation economist, told ABC. “It remains a tremendous value.”
However, Sartwelle also told The Grand Isle (Neb.) Independent the inflation-adjusted cost of a Thanksgiving dinner has remained around $20 for the past 17 years.
“The AFBF survey was first conducted in 1986. This year’s average cost of $42.26 is equivalent to $20.46 in inflation-adjusted dollars. The real dollar cost of the Thanksgiving dinner has declined 9 percent in the last 20 years, according to Sartwelle,” Robert Pore of The Independent wrote.
However, somewhere the inflation-adjusted price decline was lost in translation because if you watched the ABC segment, you’d think the Inman family was priced out of some Thanksgiving festivities.
“This year, Judy is baking peanut butter pie instead of pecan, and she scoped out turkey prices for days,” Leamy added.
But don’t worry – Inman insisted she will make it work.
“It isn't going to be macaroni and cheese, but we’re real close on some things,” Inman added.
