It takes $1.23 to buy today what $1 bought in 2003, according to the federal government.
If you think that’s bad, then you probably don’t want to hear which prices rose even more than that.
Yahoo compiled a list of items with the worst price hikes in the past decade. Here are some of them, along with the main reason for the jump:
- Gasoline — 108 percent, because demand for crude oil has increased in emerging economies while production hasn’t.
- College tuition — 88 percent, because state and local government spending on public colleges and universities has continuously dropped. It fell from 70.7 percent of schools’ revenue in 2000 to 57.1 percent in 2011, and tuition has spiked to help make up the difference.
- Hospital services — 85 percent, because hospitals have been upgrading their technology and offering more costly services.
- Beef — 64.8 percent, because of feed grain prices that have risen due to population growth, drought and ethanol policies.
- Tax and accounting services — 51 percent, because of the increasing complexity of the tax code and tax software.
There are a lot of ways to fight extraordinary inflation: We have some tips in the video and links below.
What’s been the worst price hike in your experience, and what are you doing to save? Let us know on our Facebook page.
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