Red, White, And Broke

This Independence Day, Prices For Cookouts, Travel, And Fireworks Are All Skyrocketing

AMERICANS GET LESS BANG FOR THEIR BUCK THIS FOURTH OF JULY

• Thanks to Bidenflation, Americans can expect to pay significantly more this Independence Day on cookouts, travel, and even fireworks.
• With inflation reaching a new 40-year high, Fourth of July barbeques will cost a whopping 17 percent more this year according to the American Farm Bureau.
  • Fourth of July staples are all up in price, with ground beef up 36 percent, chicken breasts up 33 percent, pork chops up 31 percent, pork and beans up 33 percent, lemonade up 22 percent, potato salad up 19 percent, and ice cream up 10 percent.
• After the Biden White House attempted to brag about the price of an Independence Day barbeque going down by $0.16 last year, the same meal will now cost $10.18 more this year.
• It’s not just cookouts that will cost more – Americans who plan to purchase fireworks this year must brace for higher prices as firework prices are set to increase by up to 30 percent.
  • Woonsocket, Rhode Island fireworks salesman Michael O’Neil: “A container of fireworks is typically around $8,500, this year the same shipment is around $60,000.”

GAS PRICES AND TRAVEL COSTS SKYROCKET UNDER BIDEN

• On top of rising food prices, experts warn “drivers will be facing the most expensive July 4th at the pump ever this year.”
• Average U.S. gas prices recently reached over $5.00 a gallon, more than doubling since Biden took office.
  • In just one year, gas prices under Biden have increased by nearly $2.00 per gallon while diesel has gone up by over $2.50 per gallon.
• Americans looking to get away this summer will face rising prices across the board, with airfare costs increasing by more than $130 and rental car prices nearly $150 more than when Biden took office.
  • Americans will also be facing rising hotel costs, with resort prices up 33 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
  • Biden’s price hike has led to the lowest share of people traveling by air in more than a decade. 
• According to AAA, prices for air travel, car rentals, cruises, hotels, and tours this holiday weekend have soared 60 percent since 2021.
• 53 percent of Americans expect Bidenflation to have a “significant or moderate” impact on their holiday plans.

INFLATION HIT A NEW 40-YEAR HIGH UNDER BIDEN

• It’s not just Independence Day weekend that will cost more this year - thanks to Biden, prices are up across the board.
  • May’s Consumer Price Index soared 8.6 percent compared to last year, exceeding economists’ expectations and reaching a new 40-year high.
  • Due to Bidenflation, the average U.S. family spent an extra $635 in May alone, which at an annualized rate would add up to an extra $7,620 over the next year.
  • With real wages declining 3.5 percent, after-tax income is projected to decline 5.6 percent compared to last year, marking the largest year-to-year decline since 1932. 
• With inflation ripping into family budgets, low-income Americans are struggling across the nation.
  • Nashville resident Matrice Moore-Carr: “Am I going to have to cut my meals back? Am I going to have to eat once a day as opposed to three? I don’t know. It’s just tough.”
  • Dallas resident Kat Johnson: “That savings is pretty much gone now. As things have gotten so expensive, it’s been almost a paycheck-to-paycheck life.”

BIDEN’S POLICIES ARE TO BLAME FOR INFLATION

• Biden’s radical tax-and-spend agenda is responsible for inflation.
  • A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus fueled inflation.
  • According to a June The Economist/YouGov Poll, 75 percent of Americans blame Biden for inflation, saying he bears “a lot” or “some” responsibility for higher prices. 
• Even liberal economists say Biden’s spending fueled inflation:
  • Former Obama economic advisor Steven Rattner: “The original sin” was passing the $1.9 trillion, which has “contributed materially to today’s inflation levels.”
  • Former Obama economist Jason Furman: Biden's spending is “too big ... don't know any economist” who supported that much.
  • Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen: Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus was one of the “factors that are involved in inflation.”
• Financial journalist Jacob Goldstein: “The problem is the economy overheated. In retrospect, the government should not have put so much money into the economy.”
• While former Obama economic adviser Larry Summers warns a recession is “almost inevitable,” other experts say the economy is currently in “recession-like” territory already.