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Almost Everything in Life Has Gotten More Expensive Lately
Photo by Open Air Control Testing Ground via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
We're paying more--in some cases a helluva lot more--for just about everything we use these days, according to the OC Register. The Consumer Price Index for the Orange County-Los Angeles-Riverside shows a bump in the cost of food, gasoline, transportation, utilities, education, and even apparel.
The increases in prices for food saw a dramatic increase from January 2010 to January 2011 locally, with a 2.1% jump as the "highest annualized increase since April 2009." Utility bills are higher, with customers seeing a year-to-year increase of 3.8% for household electricity and gas. Speaking of gas, that is another cost that has gone up (and up some more) over the past couple of years.
What got cheaper over the last year? What we sit on (furnishings, at -1.9%) and what we do in our free time--besides drive places to eat--(recreation, at -1.8%).
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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