Staff Reports
This year’s Independence Day cookouts are set to burn a hole in the wallets of American families, thanks to the dazzling economic policies coming out of Washington, D.C. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Fourth of July market basket survey, it now costs an average of $71.22 to feed a group of ten. Not too shabby if cheering for higher prices is your thing. Compared to last year, that’s a 5 percent increase, and a staggering 30 percent hike from five years ago. Let’s hear it for progress!
Chicken and potato salad have somehow managed to escape the inflation dragnet, being the only two items to see a slight decrease in price. A victory for fans of bird meat and spuds, but a cold comfort when one glances at the rest of the cookout essentials. With everything else going up, one might think it’s the 4th of July, not April Fools’.
A quick reminder that Joe Biden has made this year's 4th of July celebrations the most expensive in history.
The costs of basic ingredients to a great 4th of July cookout reached a record high thanks to #Bidenomics pic.twitter.com/XDIiwB5ycs
— Rep. Diana Harshbarger (@RepHarshbarger) July 1, 2024
The survey gets into the nitty-gritty, calculating prices for a complete, homemade cookout. Cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, potato chips, pork and beans, fresh strawberries, homemade potato salad, fresh-squeezed lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream. For the first time in history, it’s costing over $7 per person, with the total meal tallying at $7.12 per head. Thanks, Joe Biden. Just another reason for families to be thanking Uncle Sam this holiday – or maybe not.
The dizzying rise in prices can be attributed to a variety of factors like general inflation, which has skewered the economy leaving many Americans behind, as well as rising supply costs and global uncertainties knotting up the food supply chain. Although food price hikes slowed in 2023 after skyrocketing in 2022, cookout costs still rose 30 percent in just five years. Consumers across the country grapple with persistent inflation and high food prices, adjustments notwithstanding. Inflation may have reduced the average purchasing power this 4th of July, but let’s face it – consumers and producers alike are left nursing the wounds.
And let’s not forget, Joe Biden has truly outdone himself this year, making this year’s Independence Day celebrations the priciest in history. While families gather around for traditional barbecues, they can thank #Bidenomics for the record-high costs of their 4th of July feasts. There you go, America – the price of patriotism just went up, courtesy of the current administration.
