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.”
“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.”
He added, “It doesn’t add up to billions for the individual, but it adds up to two, three, four hundred bucks for average families. And they want to know, what are we doing. And there’s a lot going on that we’re doing.”
Biden concluded, “It’s going to take some time and I appreciate the frustration of the American people.” He took no questions from reporters.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more information about Biden’s looming Thanksgiving announcement.
Last week, the US Department of Agriculture revealed that turkey prices were up almost 75% over last year due to an outbreak of avian flu. Prices of other holiday staples, including potatoes, butter and cranberries, were also up by double-digit percentages over last year.
Economic woes including the worst inflation in 41 years and surging interest rates are dragging on Democrats ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Republicans and some economists blame Biden’s policies, including elevated government spending, for fueling large jumps in the cost of food, housing and transportation.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will release third-quarter US economic growth data on Thursday — potentially confirming that the economy is in a recession.
The US economy shrank by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2022 and .6% in the second quarter. Although two quarters of contraction is the standard definition of a recession, the White House argues that one is not taking place this time due to low unemployment and the lack of widespread business upheaval.
Polls show pessimistic public opinion on the economy, with just 16% of voters saying the economy is either “excellent” or “good” in a CNBC poll released last week and 59% said they expected a recession.
That poll found just 40% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, though that figure was up 10 percentage points from an abysmal 30% in July.
Biden mentioned Thanksgiving on Wednesday after saying he was working to make oil companies pass along savings from lower costs to consumers and after mentioning efforts by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to rein in airline rebooking and seating charges.
Republicans are campaigning on slowing federal spending and potentially reclaiming unspent funds from bills passed during Biden’s first two years in office.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, told The Post last week that “the first way we start to strengthen the economy is rein in inflation by stopping the reckless spending bills” and that “we absolutely will use that power … to not only claw back this reckless spending, but also put a stop to Joe Biden’s spending proposals … and that will begin to lower the rate of inflation.”
