CNN Investigates Inflation, Interviews Family Who Buys 12 Gallons Of Milk A Week

As Twitter users woke up this morning, many were greeted by a CNN clip talking about how inflation is affecting the average American consumer. Journalist Evan McMorris-Santano went grocery shopping with the Stotler family in Texas to get their take.

Based on this setup, you can probably guess how the segment goes: regular items costing more than they once did proves to be a struggle for this average American family. However, one quote caught Twitter's eye: "A gallon of milk was $1.99. Now it's $2.79. When you buy 12 gallons a week times four weeks, that's a lot of money."

"A gallon of milk was $1.99. Now it's $2.79. When you buy 12 gallons a week times four weeks, that's a lot of money."@EvanMcS goes grocery shopping with the Stotlers and shows us how badly inflation is hitting the middle class. pic.twitter.com/39hPPRHLja

— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) November 4, 2021

With a little bit of math, it seems the Stotler family goes through 1.7 gallons of milk per day. Suffice to say, that is quite a lot of milk. Granted, there are 11 people in the Stotler family (two parents, nine kids), which would make the average family member's milk consumption … 1.4 pints daily. That's still a lot of milk for one person, which was not lost on Twitter users.

WHO IS BUYING TWELVE GALLONS OF MILK A WEEK THO??? https://t.co/aQejvxf1cd

— nate bowling (local elections matter) (@nate_bowling) November 4, 2021

Hey , @cnn WTF is wrong with you? No one NO ONE uses 12 GALLONS of milk a week! Unless they live in a Starbucks. But let’s add it up .78 X 12 is 9.36 a week. But what family drinks 12 GALLONS milk a week? I’ll bet the laundry bills are in the thousands. https://t.co/AlKpRmZbrh

— Titus (@TitusNation) November 4, 2021

I’m a savage when it comes to chocolate milk and that’s a lot of fucking milk for a week https://t.co/eklrqIu7VZ

— Dom (@Dominic7296) November 4, 2021

Others found further flaws with CNN's story on the supposedly skyrocketing milk prices. For starters, a gallon of milk hasn't cost $1.99 since 1995, which CNN did not note in their piece. Furthermore, the story omits the fact that American families are receiving between $250-$300 per child a month as part of the White House's Child Tax Credit.

Beyond everything else going on here, why didn't this report note that this family is currently receiving an additional $300 a month per child? https://t.co/CoubeRayEE

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 4, 2021

These omissions led many to believe that the whole thing seem like a hit job designed to make Americans panic about inflation in Biden's America, and many weren't buying it.

This white family is not middle class. This is a propaganda hit piece. This is what the white house should be calling OUT. It's absurd Also, there is no mention of the child tax credit and its benefits. https://t.co/AFqFt8Kl4a

— Jason (Moderna. One Piece stan) (@EscaflowneClown) November 4, 2021

Republicans and Fox News wail about inflation and so CNN dutifully takes the bait and presents a scenario where a family that buys enough milk to feed a school and is somehow paying prices from the late 80s is certainly getting hit hard. https://t.co/qsbx0QBWlM

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) November 4, 2021

At the very least, we may have discovered the cousin of Spiders Georg, Udders Georg.

“average family drinks 12 gallons of milk a week” factoid actualy just statistical error. average family drinks 1 gallon per week. Udders Georg, who lives in cave & drinks over 10,000 each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted

— Gen. U.S. Grant's Boywife, president of Lesbians (@confederatiode2) November 4, 2021