Crime, much of it drug-related, and urban disarray increased, accelerating in some quarters a never quite disguised racism.
In that case, as the universe expands and the volume of space increases, astronomers say, the push because of dark energy will also increase, accelerating the galaxies away from one another faster and faster, leading to a dire dark future.
The bad news: Price increases accelerated in the last part of the year.
Yesterday's price increase accelerated after President Clinton said he did not think the nation faced a recession because of high energy prices.
Some economists said they were surprised that the Fed was not more concerned about inflation, given that by most measures price increases accelerated this year.
Barrett Toan, president of Express Scripts, said last year's increase accelerated a trend observed since 1993, when the company began monitoring changes in drug spending.
The increase accelerated from a 0.4 percent gain in the second quarter and beat a median forecast for a 0.6 percent rise.
Analysts believe that inflation data for November, due Saturday, will show that price increases accelerated substantially from the 4.4 percent reading in October, and that inflation will remain higher than the authorities would like for some time.
Although mortality increased with each decade of passenger age, this increase accelerated after age 60.
The annual rate of increase accelerated from 7.4% a month earlier, despite consumer prices in general being flat.
