Tomorrow, Americans will celebrate their independence from an over-taxing tyrant by eating and drinking to excess - and rightly so. However, what many will find as they pile into their friendly local grocer (Costco), is that the price of the July 4th smorgasbord has never (ever) been higher (as perhaps, just perhaps, another tyrannical entity - the Fed - has taxed them in a much more pernicious manner). Ground beef burgers have never been more expensive (+16.5% from last year)... and nor has white bread, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, ice cream, and chips...

Your July 4th Burger has never been more expensive... (up 16.5% from last year!!)

(wondering what the asterisks are - at significant inflection points in the price? Blue is Greenspan unleashing his dot-com bubble rescue plan and Red is Bernanke beginning his save-the-rich printing press plan to rescue Main Street from the banking crisis)

But it's not just Burgers... Bloomberg has compiled an index of the seven staples of July 4th...The barbecue index tracks ground beef, white bread, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, ice cream and potato chips... and that has never been higher...

Happy 4th!