Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address is still a hot topic of conversation on the left and the right. Democrats have hailed the speech as proving Biden has the ‘vigor’ to serve another four years despite already being 82 years of age, but many liberal talking heads have criticized the president for using the taboo term “illegal” in reference to the alleged killer of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. Biden subsequently apologized for using the word, while not mentioning Riley’s name once again.
On the right, conservative commentators have been pointing out the numerous half-truths and cherry-picked stats regarding such topics as inflation, jobs, and immigration. The speech, which appeared to be little more than a campaign event for Biden rather than an actual State of the Union, was rife with criticisms of former President Trump and mentions of abortion, January 6, and Ukraine, three issues that rank down the list of importance for voters leading up to the General Election.
In one of the more ridiculous moments of the night, Biden used the term “shrinkflation’ while accusing potato chip and snack companies of reducing size and quantity while keeping the price the same. Biden mentioned Snickers by name, and now the parent company of Snickers, Mars, is clapping back at Biden’s accusations. During the speech, Biden said, “Snack companies think you won’t notice when they charge you just as much for the same size bag — but with fewer chips in it. You get charged the same amount and you got about 10% fewer Snickers in it.”
CNN contributor Scott Jennings posted Mars/Snickers’ response on his X account. Mitchell said: “As I suspected. The president is literally slandering a candy bar. Official statement given to me by the Mars/Snickers people. Will literally slander anything and anyone. Total hack.”
Snickers official response read: “Like many industries, we continue to face high inflation and spikes in material costs; however, we work to absorb these extra costs wherever possible to provide affordable treats and the best value. Final prices are always at the discretion of the retailer, but we make every effort to minimize costs to provide a full range of delicious products.”
The New York Post wrote: “Though Mars claims the Snickers bar has remained unchanged in the face of elevated borrowing costs and stubbornly-high inflation — which has cooled from its June 2022 peak of 9.1% to 3.1%, but has struggled to fall to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.” Considering the increased cost of trucking as well as manufacturing due to higher fuel prices, who could blame Snickers for shrinking the size of their candy bars?
Critics like Biden want to blame corporations instead of taking responsibility for the situation. If a company like Mars is facing increased costs due to fuel prices, shipping costs, etc, are they supposed just to absorb the loss? When it costs more to make a product for whatever reason, naturally, the cost is going to be passed along to the consumer.
Biden’s disastrous economy has caused everything to be more expensive. Mars claims no reduction in size, but even if it did, it would be better than raising the price. If consumers are claiming smaller portion sizes and increased costs, no one is to blame but Joe Biden and his bad economic policy. Biden is seeking to push Senator Bob Casey’s “shrinkflation” bill, which, if passed, would force manufacturers to reduce prices if they reduce product size. If that happens, be prepared for candy bars and chips that are suddenly too expensive for many families.
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