Sometimes truth in advertising hurts, especially when you can still see the outline of the former sign above the new one.

Update: The new sign may have actually gone up a while back, in which case it's more an illustration of NYC's high cost of living than current inflation. Even if that's the case, you'd think they'd do something about the remnants of that old sign taunting everyone.

Update #2: Another reader, David, sent us a picture he took last summer of the same store. It appears "99¢ Dreams" is in a constant state of naming flux:

We sort of like "OR LESS OR MORE" as a slogan—makes it seem more like a carnival game, somehow.

(Thanks to Larry!)

• Cereal makers General Mills and Kellogg Co. have both said they will raise prices. General Mills "said it needed to make up for cost increases that it expects will total 9 percent."
• Kraft Foods, whose brands include Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oreos and Wheat Thins, will follow its 8% price increase earlier this year with another one to offset rising commodity costs.
• Sara Lee will raise prices 20% for its meat products like Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park Franks. Sara Lee's COO gave this mangled explanation to Datamonitor: "Price increases vary a lot by type of products but the increases will be as low as zero and some products we will decrease on and other increases (will be) in excess of 20%."

The Chicago Sun-Times advises,

Overall grocery prices are expected to rise 5 percent to 6 percent this year. But some categories are projected to post higher increases, such as eggs, fats and oils and cereals.

A report by the Food Institute, a research group for manufacturers, predicted 2008 increases of at least 9 percent for those products.

"Grocery bills going up — again" [Chicago Sun-Times]
"US food firms to increase prices again" [Datamonitor] (subscription only)
(Photo: Getty)

"Inevitably there would be an increase in the cost of the products that is passed on to the consumer," Cal Dooley, the group's president and a former Democratic lawmaker, told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. "You are further compounding the rapid increase in food prices, the likes of which we haven't seen in recent years."

With the legislative changes, "you would get safe food from places like China, where they sell all manner of crap," Dingell told Dooley.
 
Under the proposal, food producers would have to pay annual registration fees of $2,000 per facility, generating $600 million for FDA food-safety activities, more than doubling the current budget. The FDA would be required to conduct inspections every two years of both domestic and foreign makers of drugs and medical devices.

I know shipping products can be expensive, what with the rising fuel costs and all, but this shipping charge from the UK to Utah is ridiculous! Maybe the seller's just padding the fee, I don't know. :)

This year the purchase price of the 12 items has jumped 3% to $19,507. PNC also calculates what they call the "True Cost of Christmas" which includes all the items purchased by a True Love who repeats all the song's verses. This year's "True Cost" is $78,100 (for all 364 items.)

2007's price increase came from a minimum wage increase for the "Maids-A-Milking," increased gold prices, and higher demand for food items such as the "Geese-A-Laying."

"For True Loves planning to serve a Christmas goose - or six - for a holiday meal, this item will be a bit more expensive," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. "Food prices have increased over the last year, which has not impacted birds like Turtle Doves and Partridges, but has had an impact on birds traditionally served as food, like Geese."

PNC Christmas Price Index
23rd Annual PNC Christmas Price Index UP 3.1 % [PNC]

From SFGate:

A family of four in the Bay Area with two working adults must earn $77,069, equaling an hourly wage of $18.53, just to pay for basic necessities, a study released today calculates. If only one adult works, that figure falls to $53,075, largely because the family doesn't have to pay for child care, according to the report by the California Budget Project, a liberal Sacramento research group. But that one wage-earner must make $25.52 an hour.

And a single parent with two children needs to take in $65,864 annually, at an hourly wage of $31.67, to cover expenses, the Budget Project figures.

Statewide, the two-working-parent family needs an annual income of $72,343 to cover necessities; the family with one working adult must earn $50,383.
...
They estimated prices of housing, child care, transportation, food, health care, taxes and miscellaneous, a category that lumps together everything else. They looked at rental costs rather than home ownership and made certain other assumptions that have big effects on living standards.

For example, they included as a necessity individually purchased health insurance, although many families are covered at least partly through work. And, in an effort to figure what it takes to support a family without public assistance, they didn't consider the help many families get from government benefits such as housing and child health care subsidies.

According to those assumptions, the biggest expense was rent, estimated at an average of $1,312 for a family of four in the Bay Area, higher than the statewide estimate of $1,160. Child care was the second biggest outlay at about $1,216, followed by taxes and health coverage.

Hey Bay Area readers, do these estimates sound correct to you?

A Bay Area couple with two kids can't make it on $50,000 a year [SF Gate]
(Photo:Maulliegh)

Kimberly-Clark said that higher raw materials costs as well as increased energy bills are the reason for the price increase.

Prices for Cottonelle and Scott bathroom tissue, Viva and Scott paper towels, Huggies diapers, Pull-Ups training pants, Goodnites youth pants and Huggies Little Swimmers swimpants will increase between 4 and 7 percent effective February 3, 2008.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Price Increases for U.S. Consumer Products Businesses [PR Newswire]
(Photo:Hannahs Mum)

The article may concentrate on those making minimum wage, but these costs have risen for all of us. Yuck!

Life at Minimum Wage [Center For American Progress]

ALABAMA none
ALASKA $7.15
ARIZONA $6.75
ARKANSAS $6.25
CALIFORNIA $7.50
COLORADO $6.85
CONNECTICUT $7.65
DELAWARE $6.65
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA $7.00
FLORIDA $6.67
GEORGIA $5.15
HAWAII $7.25
IDAHO $5.85
ILLINOIS $7.50
INDIANA $5.85
IOWA $6.20
KANSAS $2.65
KENTUCKY $5.85
LOUISIANA none
MAINE $6.75
MARYLAND $6.15
MASSACHUSETTS $7.50
MICHIGAN $7.15
MINNESOTA $6.15
MISSISSIPPI none
MISSOURI $6.50
MONTANA $6.15
NEBRASKA $5.85
NEVADA $6.33
NEW HAMPSHIRE $5.85
NEW JERSEY $7.15
NEW MEXICO $5.15
NEW YORK $7.15
NORTH CAROLINA $6.15
NORTH DAKOTA $5.85
OHIO $6.85
OKLAHOMA $5.85
OREGON $7.80
PENNSYLVANIA $6.25
RHODE ISLAND $7.40
SOUTH CAROLINA none
SOUTH DAKOTA $5.85
TENNESSEE none
TEXAS $5.85
UTAH $5.15
VERMONT $7.53
VIRGINIA $5.85
WASHINGTON $7.93
WEST VIRGINIA $6.55
WISCONSIN $6.50
WYOMING $5.15

The moral of this story is that if you're going to work a McJob, do it in Washington where you'll be paid $7.93. Say, what's the cost of living like in Washington?

Department of Labor