If you are like me, you may have just come off the annual Fourth of July celebration grill-outs feeling gobsmacked.
I paid close to $7 per pound of ground beef — the staple of almost any cookout — or about 50% more than post-pandemic prices, and almost an all-time high. That causes sticker shock at the check-out line. While the total cost of this year’s cookout cost Michiganders only about 2% to 3% over last year, the psychological impact of higher prices in other areas, from energy to gasoline, has most of us feeling more anxious and looking for relief.
Today’s message is for Washington lawmakers, Michigan gubernatorial candidates, senators, congressmen and those seeking statewide offices. Listen to what your constituents are saying and develop a plan to help them in the absence of federal policies that can seem more punitive than helpful.
What I wouldn’t give today to hear candidate President William Jefferson Clinton’s raspy Southern drawl: “I feel your pain, I feel your pain,” in regard what Michiganders and Americans are facing in their wallets. Clinton, who was campaigning for president in New York in 1992, was admonishing AIDS activists for heckling and interrupting his speech. But those four words, “I feel your pain,” became a popular culture expression of empathy. Funny how that works.
Some thoughts on the affordability:
Federal housing reform: The other day, lawmakers passed the most comprehensive federal housing reform in decades, which seeks to make housing more affordable, making manufactured housing easier to build, streamlining permitting and discouraging institutional investors from buying single-family homes. Eventually, this will help Michiganders, but economists generally agree the benefits will take years, not months, to reach families because homes still have to be built, and mortgage rates pose unknown challenges.
Big Beautiful Bill Act: The verdict on the Big Beautiful Bill Act passed July 1, 2025 is mixed. The current administration’s signature bill extended tax cuts, saving the average family $1,700, it said. However, it also placed onerous burdens on the poor with changes in Medicaid and food assistance programs. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said the plan “will make Michiganders pay in every part of their lives” when the bill was passed. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called the bill’s directives “cruel and extreme.”
Tariffs: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in her final State of the State address that the current administration’s tariffs are expected to cost the average Michigan family $1,000, and that was before the “Strait of Hormuz War” with Iran began, which has tacked on even more in fuel costs for the average Michigander. How? Because our economy is manufacturing-heavy, citizens are paying more for automobiles, durable goods, construction materials and consumer goods. Michigan businesses have largely passed tariff costs on to consumers through higher pricing, slower hiring or reduced investment. Michigan’s auto industry has been particularly affected. State officials cite analyses estimated tariffs cost U.S automakers about $35 million in 2025, with companies including Ford and General Motors reporting billions in tariff-related expenses.
The war with Iran: The most obvious impact the war is having on Michiganders is higher prices at the pump. Michigan drivers, especially those in rural communities, where 30- to 60-mile daily communities are common, are likely to feel those increases more acutely than anyone else. And because shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are blocked, the Michigan auto industry’s global supply chain is disrupted, causing major headaches and cost uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the debate in Lansing and Washington is often about percentages, inflation rates and economic forecasts. But affordability is not measured in charts. It is measured in moments.
A Michigan worker earning $14 an hour goes to buy hamburger meat for a weekend cookout. To purchase enough hamburger, buns, cheese, chips and drinks to feed a family of four can consume an entire day’s wages before taxes.
Somewhere along the way, we started accepting this as normal.
It isn’t.
Michigan has made meaningful progress in recent years. Unemployment has remained relatively low. Manufacturing jobs have rebounded in important sectors. Wages have risen for many workers, and the state has invested billions in roads, education, housing and economic development.
Yet ask parents around the dinner table or seniors on fixed incomes whether life feels more affordable, and many will tell you “no.”
Housing costs continue to climb. Insurance premiums consume larger portions of family budgets. Michigan’s brutal winters cause spikes in utility bills. Childcare is out of reach for many young families.
Society should not expect people working full time to wonder whether they can afford hamburgers for their children or fresh fruit for the week ahead. Young adults should not have to delay the purchase of their first home until their 40s when their predecessors were able to do the same before their 30th birthday.
Michigan has always been a state built by workers who believe honest labor could provide stability, opportunity and hope for the next generation. That promise feels increasingly fragile.
We should never grow comfortable with the idea that a day’s work barely pays for a family cookout.
Instead, we should demand that every policy, from taxes to tariffs to housing to wages and health care, be judged by whether it improves the lives of Michiganders and makes Michigan a place where others want to call home.
Byron McCauley is the regional columnist for USA Today Co. in Michigan. Email: bmccauley@usatodayco.com; call: (513) 504-8915.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Michigan wallets tighten with higher prices and harsh policies | Opinion
Reporting by Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
