Sales for the quarter jumped about 7 percent, to $9.96 billion from $9.31 billion.

During the recent Christmas season, they jumped to about 35 percent.

Sales of new drugs, which can be sold at higher prices, jumped about 39 percent, to $2.62 billion.

Unauthorized trips have jumped about 20 percent a year in recent memory.

Retail sales are even more robust, jumping by about 15 percent a year for the last several years.

And pension costs for the police jumped about 50 percent, to $120,000, because the state reduced payments to the fund.

"Our statistics found that the average asking price jumped about 100 percent between '99 and 2000," she said.

The number of suspensions jumped about 90 percent from 1998-1999 to 2000-2001.

Prices jumped about 30 percent in 1984, then barely budged through 1986.

But over the same period outpatient visits in the private sector jumped about 50 percent.