July is not only National Picnic Month, but it is also National Hot Dog Month! As the temps soar and we get ready to toast some wieners for our nation’s Independence Day, it’s only getting harder and harder to have a proper BBQ and keep to a nice budget. Granted it’s been that way for a while.
Back in 2021, President Biden took to Twitter to try and tout changes to the economy as a good thing for hot dog prices and for the American people on the 4th. “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.”
That “down” he talked about? A whopping 16 cents. Yes, that is the tweet worthy for a sitting president to brag with **Insert eye roll**. During Trump’s last 4th of July in office, hot dogs were $3.54 a pack on average. In 2021 that price suddenly jumped to $4.01. Yet in 2022 that price reached an unfathomable $5.09 per pack. As of early June the price had reached $5.22, and many are predicting $6.00 per pack will be likely in many areas of the country.
Pricing for hot dogs has been a source of great controversy for years. With so much of their contents not only being up for debate, but the pricing model had previously been volatile with the mixture of ingredients in certain blends. With the American people sticking primarily to all beef hot dogs these days, this concern about pricing has been eliminated.
These days the price wars are being dictated stronger than ever by external influences like the shutdown of farms or processing plants due to “natural disasters,” getting busted with child labor, or an infrastructure problem. As the pricing model shows, having Biden in office has resulted in frequently higher prices. He has failed to keep problems in check and instead has allowed issues to flourish and snowball.
What makes all of this more interesting, is it was a problem with crafting a sales promotion that spurned the name hot dogs.
According to the story, sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan was sitting in the press box, and covering a game being played at the Polo Grounds in NYC. Below the vendors would bellow out “Get your dachshund sausages while they’re red hot!” Trying to paint the scene for his readers, Dorgan sketched a cartoon of the attraction but wasn’t sure how to spell “dachshund” with 100% certainty. He instead made the editorial decision to call them “hot dogs.”
The name was an instant hit, and the summertime dinner and ballgame treat market was never the same. With the surge of the treat spreading across the nation over 20 years before Mickey Mouse spoke his first words in a cartoon, it was only fitting that “hot dogs” were the choice in the short “The Carnival Kid” back in 1928.
In the near century since that fateful clip, the world has changed significantly. What hasn’t changed is how much people love their hotdogs. Now various meats, blends of herbs & spices, and non-meat alternatives dot the shelves. From all beef to chicken or tofu, there is something for everyone when it comes to hot dogs. Even the wilderness junkies have elk, deer, bear, and bison hot dogs if you look carefully enough.
Biden has made the economy nothing worth celebrating. As National Hot Dog Month rolls in, slap your meat across the grill, and make this a tasty summer. The economy can’t fix itself, and by keeping our traditions rolling along, we can keep American jobs running full steam ahead. After all, nothing’s more American than the good old-fashioned hot dog.
