Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick on Wednesday released its Casey Inflation Calculator, a website known as bobflation.com that charts price increases for popular Pennsylvania purchases and everyday necessities.
“Pennsylvania’s iconic food and experiences are becoming increasingly unaffordable because of Kamala Harris and Bob Casey’s reckless spending,” said McCormick in a statement. “See for yourself just how much prices have increased with our Casey Cost Calculator.”
His campaign said bobflation.com “provides Pennsylvanians with a tool to calculate how much Bob Casey and Kamala Harris drove up the prices of their favorite food and experiences.”
The bobflation.com website includes price increases for six “iconic Pennsylvania products,” first revealing the price for a six-inch Shorti Hoagie from Wawa increased by over 72 percent from 2019, when a sandwich cost just $4, to the $6.91 that Pennsylvanians can reportedly expect to pay in 2024.
Data presented by McCormick’s campaign suggests similar cost inflation hit the Philly Pretzel Factory. It reported that the purchase price of five pretzels rose from $3 in 2019 to $4.50 in 2024, representing a 50 percent increase.
According to the McCormick campaign, rising prices did not severely impact cheesesteaks. A plain cheesesteak from John’s Roast Pork cost $9.75 in 2019.
Five years later, the campaign said voters can expect a 23 percent price increase, ultimately paying $12 for the same sandwich they received before.
The greatest price increase charted by the McCormick campaign appears to be the cost of a One-Day Pass at the Allegheny Forest, which saw a 100 percent increase from 2019 to 2024. Visitors previously paid just $5 for a day pass, but now they must pay over $10.
McCormick’s release of the Casey Cost Calculator comes after the Democrat decried “greedflation” during his brief speech before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where his claims would suggest the “iconic” Pennsylvania brands referenced by McCormick are exploiting their consumers in the Keystone State.
“The corporations say your prices are up only because their costs are up. They’re selling you a lie,” said Casey. He claimed, “Prices are up because these corporations are scheming to drive them up.”
Casey’s comments were almost immediately fact-checked by CNN, which noted that the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco determined that “price gouging was not necessarily a primary catalyst of the inflation surge” hitting Americans in their pocketbooks.
McCormick responded to Casey’s “greedflation” speech by noting the Democrat’s voting record, which aligns 98 percent with the policies pushed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Weak career politician Bob Casey voted for every bill that is driving higher prices, enabling open borders and the flood of fentanyl, crushing Pennsylvania’s energy sector, and encouraging violent crime,” said McCormick.
McCormick has since released an advertisement broadcasting previous claims by Casey and Harris, who incorrectly predicted inflation would be transitory or that prices would decrease.
Bob Casey and Kamala Harris can't avoid the truth: they recklessly spent trillions of dollars, and now hard working Americans are being crushed by the high cost of living. pic.twitter.com/af7tCudBAJ
— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) August 19, 2024
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bob Casey” by Bob Casey.
