Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration bragged on Tuesday about saving Americans $0.16 (no, that’s not a typo) on the cost of the total amount of food that they’ll consume on the Fourth of July.
The Biden administration tweeted out the cringeworthy boast from the official White House Twitter account along with widely mocked puns. “Planning a cookout this year? Ketchup on the news,” the White House tweeted. “According to the Farm Bureau, the cost of a 4th of July BBQ is down from last year. It’s a fact you must-hear(d). Hot dog, the Biden economic plan is working. And that’s something we can all relish.”
Planning a cookout this year? Ketchup on the news. According to the Farm Bureau, the cost of a 4th of July BBQ is down from last year. It’s a fact you must-hear(d). Hot dog, the Biden economic plan is working. And that’s something we can all relish. pic.twitter.com/7h9qLauIbC
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 1, 2021
The Biden administration’s claims and graphic included in the tweet are highly deceptive for a variety of reasons.
For starters, the administration got the information from American Farm Bureau, which only selected 12 items to use for its claim that food for July 4 celebrations would be less expensive than last year. Tons of common items were not included on the list, including steak, soda, alcohol, condiments, tea, hot dogs, corn on the cob, ribs, etc. The Farm Bureau did not respond to a request to release the average price of other foods across the country.
The graphic that the administration tweeted out did not include any of the items that Farm Bureau said increased in cost, including:
- 2 pints of strawberries, $5.30 (up 22%)
- 13-ounce bag of chocolate chip cookies, $4.02 (up 11%)
- 8 hamburger buns, $1.66 (up 6%)
- 2.5 pounds of homemade potato salad, $2.75 (up 3%)
- 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, $6.74 (up 1%)
The claim that saving Americans a total of $0.16 on a very narrow list of items is proof that “the Biden economic plan is working” is laughable. Inflation is skyrocketing, the economy has a record-high quit rate, millions of Americans could soon face evictions, and Biden has suffered numerous disastrous job report numbers. Gas prices are higher now than they were at any point under former President Donald Trump and are the highest they’ve been since 2014. AAA said this week that they expect “crude oil prices to likely continue climbing following the holiday and through the end of summer.” Top Democrat economists have warned that the economy is at serious risk of overheating and of inflation becoming much worse. Eighty-five percent of Americans are now worried about inflation. Top investors have also warned the Biden administration “just continues to pour more gasoline on [the housing market] fire,” which they said is “making inequality worse” because “you end up subsidizing the rich at the expense of the poor.”
Furthermore, Biden’s own administration has said that food prices are, in fact, increasing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement last week:
The food-away-from-home (restaurant purchases) CPI [Consumer Price Index] increased 0.6 percent in May 2021 and was 4.0 percent higher than May 2020; and the food-at-home (grocery store or supermarket food purchases) CPI increased 0.3 percent from April 2021 to May 2021 and was 0.7 percent higher than May 2020.
In 2021 thus far compared to 2020 (reported as “Year-to-date avg. 2020 to avg. 2021”), food-at-home prices have increased 1.4 percent and food-away-from-home prices have increased 2.5 percent.
Biden is doing so poorly that Reuters reported on Wednesday that Biden has seen “an erosion in support … mainly from fellow Democrats” with “a growing number of Americans [that] disapprove of Biden’s leadership on the economy.”