Independence Day is a time for food, friends, and fireworks. Unfortunately, due to 40-year-high inflation, prices are exploding on the items we use to celebrate our nation’s birthday.

Due to inflation, American families will spend 17% more on their July 4th cookout according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s market-basket analysis. Items such as beef, hotdogs, potato salad, and ice cream are significantly more costly this year than last.

Food isn’t the only expense that families will have to shell out more for. Transportation costs and even fireworks cost more.

One year ago, President Biden and his administration dismissed rising prices as a “transitory” issue. Twelve months later, runaway inflation stubbornly batters American households and the Biden administration has no answers.

By the numbers

The costs to celebrate this July 4th are up as inflation is running 8.6% faster than this time one year ago. The average cost of a cookout for 10 people rose $10 from a year ago to $69.68, or just under $7 per person.

Prices for food made at home are rising even faster at nearly 12% compared to May 2021.

Here’s how much prices are rising on summer cookout staples:

Ground beef +13.6%

Chips + 13.6% 

Hot dogs + 10.4%

Ice cream + 9.6%

Buns + 8.7%

Fruit + 7.6%

Beer + 5%

Getting to that cookout or traveling over the long weekend–as July 4th falls on a Monday– is much costlier as well.

Gasoline + 48.7% 

Hotel room + 22.2%

Prices on fireworks have exploded over the past year across the fireworks industry, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association (APA). 

Fireworks + 35%

Companies across industries point to supply chain disruptions, skyrocketing energy prices, and increased costs on raw materials and shipping.

Federal policies have exacerbated these issues. The nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan injected massive federal stimulus into the economy, driving demand for goods and services higher than suppliers and businesses could meet.

At the same time, the hostility to domestic oil and natural gas production by President Biden and his administration has contributed to the short-term and long-term reduction in domestic supply.

Bullying oil and gas companies to produce more or scapegoating them and sending the Federal Trade Commission after them will not reverse the damage. We need Washington to abandon the radical climate change agenda that aims to destroy these industries. Until then, the pain at the pump and at the grocery store will continue.

Bottom Line

As we celebrate the birth of American independence, our national leaders must ensure that the blessings of liberty continue. Runaway inflation is eating away at the prosperity that has marked our nation. Americans demand better.