Rantz: Associated Press blames Trump for egg prices; they’ll be silent when they plunge

The Associated Press (AP) is blaming high egg prices on President Donald Trump. But even a cursory glance at the market reveals where this is really headed—and it’s not toward giving Trump any credit.

“In defiance of President Donald Trump’s predictions, U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record high of $6.23 despite a drop in wholesale prices and no egg farms having bird flu outbreaks,” the AP wrote—as if the egg itself decided to rise up and challenge the former president.

The AP’s lede is the journalistic equivalent of an egg white omelet: technically correct, but missing the yolk—the rich context that actually explains what’s going on.

Here’s why egg prices are still high, and here’s why they’ll come down

Here’s the missing context: wholesale prices on eggs didn’t decline until mid-March.

On Sky News, agricultural economist Jada Thompson from the University of Arkansas noted that that’s not enough time for an average price decline to be immediately felt the following month. She also noted that grocery stores may not have implemented lower prices yet.

And there will likely be a temporary egg price increase (or at least more time that eggs stay pricey) because of Easter. The American Egg Board (I’m not yolking, that’s a thing) has already been warning about the increased demand ahead of the holiday.

Egg prices, after the holiday, will likely start to go down. And that’s due to, in part, action by the Trump administration to invest $1 billion to combat bird flu in a way the Biden administration chose not to, and it’s investigating potential efforts by egg producers to conspire to raise prices.

When the egg prices go down, will the AP report it’s happening “in spite of” Trump efforts or “due to” them? Or, maybe they’ll ignore the news altogether.

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