Less for the Money

The latest movement of the consumer price index did little to assuage fears of another inflation spiral. What a consumer could buy for $105.80 in December 1962 cost him $107.60 last December--the biggest price jump in five years. Much of the increase comes from a severe freeze in the South that drove up prices of fruits and vegetables, which figure heavily in the Labor Department's index; but prices are also up in other areas, from transportation to movie tickets. One hopeful fact: wholesale prices, whose rise is essential in any real inflationary movement, actually registered a slight decline in 1963.

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