After the Oct 30, 2021 episode, prices for exactly the kinds of items Friedberg mentioned rose sharply. The American Farm Bureau’s 2021 Thanksgiving survey found the average cost of a classic dinner for 10 was $53.31, up about 14% from 2020 and described as the most expensive Thanksgiving yet; its 2022 survey then showed another jump to $64.05, about 20% higher than 2021. (boozman.senate.gov)

Gasoline followed a similar pattern: by early October 2021, the national average price for a gallon of gas had climbed to about $3.22, the highest since 2014, and AAA and local reports noted that 2021 gas prices were the highest in seven years and were expected to remain elevated well into 2022. (cnbc.com)

Opinion data from late 2021 and early 2022 show these price spikes translated into broad public unhappiness. A Gallup survey conducted in January 2022 reported that roughly half of Americans said recent price increases were causing at least moderate financial hardship (with similar figures already visible in November 2021), and Gallup found mentions of inflation as the nation’s most important problem rising to their highest level since the mid‑1980s. (news.gallup.com) Around the same period, Gallup-based reporting showed only about 17–23% of Americans satisfied with the state or direction of the country, with about half saying they were very dissatisfied, in coverage that explicitly connected this sour mood to high inflation, gas prices and supply issues. (townhall.com) In the following months, additional polls found more than half of households reporting financial hardship from inflation and about 80% of voters somewhat or very dissatisfied with the economy, reinforcing that persistent price increases had become a central source of discontent. (cbsnews.com)

Because consumer prices for holiday food and gasoline did rise substantially over the ensuing months and were accompanied by widespread financial hardship and low satisfaction with the economy and the country’s direction, Friedberg’s prediction that these price increases would lead to 'a lot of unhappiness out there' in the United States was borne out.