According to MyGovCost.org the U.S. federal government is borrowing over $12.6 million so that each of the 46 million U.S. households can each save 27.4 cents on their Thanksgiving dinner this year. Yup, the American Farm Bureau Federation reports that a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people will cost $49.04 on average.
The organization estimates that in giving the U.S.’ multi-billion earning corn, wheat and dairy producers so many billions of dollars, the U.S. government reduced “the direct cost to consumers of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by about 27.4 cents, with about twenty-six and a half cents of that to produce the corn that was used to feed the turkey.”
National Geographic estimates that 46 million American households will have turkey as part of their Thanksgiving meal. So the organization concludes that collectively “the U.S. government is paying over $12.6 million in subsidies to the corn, wheat and dairy industries just for this one meal.”
The question becomes, would the average American family have preferred to pay the extra 27.4 cents, or increase the amount of debt their children and grandchildren will owe the Chinese government?
The Government Cost Calculator is a unique service from The Independent Institute that enables any American to clearly understand three aspects of federal government spending. They suggest that if “the federal government were really serious about making food more affordable for the people who live in U.S. households, they should perhaps look at eliminating the mandates that require ethanol produced from corn be included in ever increasing quantities in the nation’s fuel supplies. That one change in the U.S. government’s policies has the potential to reduce the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by as much as $15 because it would dramatically reduce the cost of producing turkeys in the U.S.”
They conclude that if “the federal government’s elected officials and bureaucrats really cared about people, not to mention the environment, they wouldn’t be out to pay farmers so much money to grow food that is never intended to be eaten, but is instead intended to be burned as fuel in cars.”
To learn more visit MyGovCost.com