Biden blames Putin for the cost of Thanksgiving, but he's working on the solution

“We’re going to control ‘exorbitant’ bank charges for bad checks.”

WASHINGTON — President Biden said Wednesday that the world is in “disarray” because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and that he was trying to address the fact that Thanksgiving costs “a lot of money.”

“One of the things that I think frustrates the American people is that they know the world is in a bit of disarray,” the president said at the end of an event announcing new efforts to curb two types of banking “junk fees” by restricting charges on people who deposit bad checks and on customers who overdraw their accounts due to slow bank processing.

“They know that Putin’s war has imposed an awful lot of strains on Europe and the rest of the world and the United States — everything from him blocking grain shipments to oil,” the president added. “And they want to know what are we doing.”

And he added this, although I don’t think even he understood what he was saying; certainly, I don’t.

There’s a lot going on that we’re doing — and it adds up,” Biden went on.

“And what I’m going to be coming back to you with, as an example, I don’t know if I’m going to do it from the podium or a release, but take an average family who’s gonna go visit their mother or father for Thanksgiving. What’s the charge? Are they gonna come home from school, I mean, there’s a lot of money, these are billions of dollars.”

“Cranberry sauce”? Well, never mind, point taken

Americans are expected to spend 50 percent more on turkey this year due to inflation and an outbreak of bird flu, as the cost of the average Thanksgiving meal rises 12 percent.

Last year, Americans earned an average of $53.31 on a holiday dinner for ten, but rampant inflation has put this year’s estimated cost at $67.78.

The peak of more than $14 mimics the rise in previous years, as the price for the average meal in 2020 was just $46.90.

The main jump in costs was the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, with a typical chicken fetching about $31.84, according to the latest USDA retail report that prices the poultry at $1.99 per pound.

That’s up from $1.15 a pound last year as the price is compounded not only by inflation, but a spate of bird flu and supply chain shortages.