Thanksgiving Day is a time of reflection, so just ahead of the holiday, we asked readers to think about the year past and the season.
Our questions probed both their thoughts about their personal, household economics, and their outlook on our national future.
We discovered an apparent disconnect between respondents’ general attitude toward their own economic situation, which was overall positive, and how they expected economic conditions to impact their holiday spending.
On that score, their assessment was more subdued.
In assessing the state of the nation, readers were overall optimistic—with one exception.
Household Economy
This year began with inflation at 3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That fell to 2.3 percent by April but had returned to 3 percent by September….