Fair food isn’t cheap. A large lemonade is $9, a corn dog is $8 and the new funnel cake burger is a whopping $20 .
Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver believes it doesn’t have to be this way. Inflation is a “hidden tax” that takes away the value of the dollar, he told his audience at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, and the government’s deficit spending is to blame.
“Pork chop on a stick is a little more expensive than it was, say, five or six years ago. That’s nothing against the pork producers,” he said.
Oliver, 38, ran a failed campaign to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate in 2022. In his push for the presidency, Oliver secured his party’s nomination at the Libertarian National Convention where attendees booed former President Donald Trump .
He told the crowd at the fair that, as president, he would veto any budget that is not balanced. He also wouldn’t contribute to any new spending.
“Right now, every single day, $8.9 billion is being added to the deficit, and that is going to affect our kids, our grandkids and the cost of living from here on out,” he said. “So if we really want to fight for people chasing their dreams and achieving their goals in life, the first thing we have to do is make sure we quit robbing them with inflation.”