The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving

Now if, like me, you're having Thanksgiving with a bunch of economists, boredom is not an issue.

Yes, I can easily imagine how fascinating the discussion might be:

Bryan: “Arnold, were you aware that 265 million is the preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2006? Salt and pepper, please…”

Arnold: “Wow, that’s up 3 percent from last year! The turkeys produced in 2005 together weighed 7.2 billion pounds and were valued at $3.2 billion.”

Brad: “What I find disconcerting is that we actually ran a $900,000 trade deficit with Canada in live turkeys in the first half of this year!”

Jane: “Yeah, but that deficit was more than offset by surpluses of $4.9 million in cranberries and $16.5 million in sweet potatoes. Giblet gravy, anyone?”