IJMC - Get Your Christmas Shopping Loans Early!

I now understand why I feel broke around this holiday season. It's not 
because I have less money than in past years, it's because the cost of 
buying presents has gone up again! CNNfn does such a great job of showing 
us why and how this is, so I present their proof to you! And in a sort of 
double bonus (and so you don't feel too poor for long), here's a cute 
little URL for you to follow. The story's pretty good and the picture of 
the house with the snow falling is nice. Just don't stare at it too long 
and forget to hit the bank in the morning!                          -dave

        http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4610/snow.html

Copyright, Fair use, all that. 

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A wage increase for dancing ladies will make it more
expensive for your true love to give to thee the gifts contained in the
song "The 12 Days of Christmas." 

While inflation may be pretty tame in the overall economy, the cost of the
364 gifts listed in the song will rise 6.02 percent this year to a grand
total of $58,405.09, according to the PNC Bank, which compiles these costs
yearly. 

The government's Consumer Price Index inflation rate currently stands at
1.5 percent. 

The one-time cost of buying gifts (the whole song would require your true
love to buy two turtle doves for 11 days..etc) rose 6.53 percent from last
year to a total of $14,214.90. 

Gains made by ladies dancing were a major contributor to the higher costs.
Pay inequity for these women became less of a factor as they received a
20.69 percent wage increase to $3,932.72. 

Because of this salary hike, the ladies dancing now make more than the men
in the carol, including the 10 lords-a-leaping, 11 pipers piping and 12
drummers drumming. 

Unfortunately, not all women in the song benefited. The eight
maids-a-milking, whose compensation depends on the minimum wage, are also
being slowly phased out due to automation. They cost $41.20 this year. 

The overall cost of the carol was also pushed higher by an increase in the
price of pear trees, which rose 133.31 percent to $89.99. However, the
partridge contained therein stayed the same at $15. 

                    The costs of each verse are:
                    Partridge in a pear tree:		$104.99
                    Two turtle doves:			$50
                    Three French hens:			$15
                    Four calling birds:			$280
                    Five gold rings:			$250
                    Six geese-a-laying:			$150
                    Seven swans-a-swimming:		$3,500
                    Eight maids-a-milking:		$41.20
                    Nine ladies dancing:		$3,932.72
                    10 lords-a-leaping:			$3,433.99
                    11 pipers piping:			$1,179.36
                    12 drummers drumming:		$1,277.64

                    Total:	 			$14,214.90

                    
Not every item in the song increased in price. The Christmas price index
also reflected a trend among women's taste in jewelry. Increasingly, women
are turning away from simple gold bands to those mounted with diamonds or
other gems. It is this shift in taste which brought the price of five gold
rings down 23.08 percent to $250.