Rupert Clevely of Geronimo Inns said drink sales had risen by more than 5%, with a double-digit rise in food sales.

Prices in Seattle rose 12.1 percent last year, the only double-digit rise, although Portland, Ore., came close with a 9.9 percent gain.

Sales at Hot Topic, which were on what seemed like an endless double-digit rise a year ago, dropped 8.7 percent in August.

And at the University of Chicago, there were double-digit rises in the percentage of early applications from black and Hispanic students.

Even with inflation staying under 5 percent for most of the decade, large increases are projected for medical costs in 1989, following double-digit rises this year.

In fact, London's property market continues to buck the national trend, with double-digit rises reported across much of the capital in early 2008.

Surging use of effective but costly new drugs has been a primary cause of the double-digit rise in health care costs.

Last year's double-digit rise in health costs helped squeeze wages as well; many companies also required employees to cover more of the premiums out of their own pay.

The last time the Nasdaq index fell as much was June 17, when it dropped by 10.83, to 553.24, although the market has had some double-digit rises since then.

The steep proposed increases are reminiscent of the double-digit rises in premiums common before managed care became the health insurance system for most American employees in 1993.