As millionaires, they might not care much, but the first family is getting nicked by rising inflation in their weekly grocery bill just like the rest of us, from the Sasha and Malia's peanut butter sandwiches to the lean sirloin burgers their parents eat.
It's a little known fact, but every first family has to pay their personal grocery bills and today's announcement that core inflation increased spreads the pain even to the personal quarters of the White House.
Now a lot of local farmers help supply food to the White Houses, but we're told that for most goods, his kitchen staff favors Whole Foods Market, the closest healthy-food grocery to the White House.
So Whispers, armed with the official Bureau of Labor Statistics average grocery prices for the Mid-Atlantic area, went to Whole Foods to compare prices and what we found in many areas was the kind of sticker shock President Obama and first lady Michele Obama have been seeing. Some examples:
—Lean beef. The average is $3.85 a pound. Obama's price: $6.49.
—Whole chicken. The average price is $1.35 a pound. Obama's price: $2.29.
—Coffee. The average price is $5.13 a pound. Obama's price: $12.
—Peanut butter. The average price is $2.03 a pound. Obama's price: $2.65.
—Large eggs. The average price is $1.69 a dozen. Obama's price: $2.99.
Even gas is more expensive around the White House, with the closest Exxon charging $4.59 while the average prices are about $3.90 a gallon, though here taxpayers are picking up the tab.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (1)
lessthantolerant of SC 5:20AM July 19, 2011