Let's do the numbers on Thanksgiving 

The “Make Me Smart” team is taking some time to rest over the holiday, so our newsletter is a bit shorter than normal. We hope you enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends. Here are some numbers to kick off the weekend.

1621 
Although many U.S. history books recognize this as the year of the first Thanksgiving, when Native Americans shared food with English settlers known as the Pilgrims, the Wampanoag Nation had a long tradition of redistributing a portion of their harvests and hunts to those in need. And contrary to the Thanksgiving myth, the Wampanoag people did not help the starving Pilgrims out of generosity. It was a political move intended to fend off rival Native tribes and other Europeans who had enslaved members of the Wampanoag. Many Native Americans observe the fourth Thursday of November as a day of mourning for the genocide and seizure of their lands that occurred in the decades after the Pilgrims arrived.

35
That’s the number of big retail companies who say their stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day this year, according to a survey conducted by Good Housekeeping. It’s a trend that’s persisted beyond the first year of the pandemic, when few people wanted to risk COVID-19 infection by going to stores in person. About 3 out of 5 people believe that retail locations should be closed on Thanksgiving. 

50% 
The increase in the price of turkey over the last two years. In last week’s “Make Me Smart” newsletter, we wrote about how the costs for almost all the typical dishes served on Thanksgiving have gone up. Our friends at NPR have a guide on substitutions that can make your meal (comparatively) inflation-proof.

54.6 million
The estimated number of people in the U.S. who will travel more than 50 miles from home this week, according to AAA. Expect full flights and pain in the pocket.

68%
That’s the percentage of years in which the S&P 500 stock index rose during Thanksgiving week. It’s likely that this year will also see gains as investors expect inflation to ease and the Federal Reserve to move to a less hawkish stance on interest rates. 

This week on the podcast

None of us is as smart as all of us

Tell us what’s making you smarter at smarter@marketplace.org. We'd love to include your recommendation in a future newsletter.

•••

Avoid family feuds at the dinner table

Newsletter writer Ellen Rolfes (hi!) recommends this Washington Post story about how to not fight with family members on Thanksgiving by steering away from certain topics. (It’s not just about avoiding politics.) 

•••

On upward mobility

Producer Dylan Miettinen recommends this Pudding interactive that will show you how the neighborhood you grew up in impacts your future economic success.

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No more noxious fumes!

Producer Courtney Bergsieker is reading this Bloomberg article about one of the less discussed challenges of recycling plastic waste: the release of hydrocarbons that can damage the lungs, nervous system and kidneys.

This newsletter was written by Ellen Rolfes.

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