Things that will cost more and less in 2012

Things are looking up in the New Year.

Unfortunately.

Laura Heller on MSN Money writes about the things that will cost more in 2012.

Flying

Expect to pay 5 percent more for economy seating and 7 percent more for business class. A nice green tax in the EU will take 15 more greenbacks on each flight in Europe.

Digital cameras

Those teeny tiny lenses on everybody's smartphones means few people want inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras. So fewer will be made and camera companies will focus (no pun intended) on making more-expensive higher-end models.

Desktop computers.

Say goodbye to the old desktop towers as computers become one with the monitor. This shift won't be cheap — expect to pay about 30 percent more.

City enforcement fees

A municipality has to find some way to pump money into its tight budget. Advice: Don't get a parking ticket or forget to license Rover.

Heller also said prices are going up on hard drives, grocery food, mobile device data plans, water, gas and gold.

ABC News said gas will be $5 a gallon. Starbucks is raising prices in some cities by about 1 percent. Denny's is raising prices on its menu by up to 5 percent. "It might not seem like much, but add it all up and you are spending at least another $218 more a year," ABC said.

Food from the grocery store will jump 2 percent this year.

Entrepreneur.com expects small businesses to raise their prices as well.

But not everything is going up.

Going down

ABC News, for example, said incomes are not going up.

But there is also better news.

Yahoo Finance had a few bright spots to tout.

In the last few months of 2011, 42-inch LCD screen TVs fell below an average of $500 for the first time.

Notwithstanding the European air travel green tax, the dollar is doing better against the Euro, making travel cheaper. As Yahoo Finance put it, "The European debt crisis may be a boon for travelers: one U.S. dollar currently buys 0.76 euro, up from 0.69 euro on Sept. 1"

Dealnews had an article by Louis Ramirez about things that will cost less in 2012.

Tablets like the Apple iPad 2 (not the 3, sorry) will go down. Android tablets should also go down — trying to match the Amazon Fire's low price. Laptop computers will be down to replace those old desktop computers.

Ebook readers will continue to drop in fierce competition and as possible new models make the older models dirt-cheap.

As GPS becomes more smart phone standard, standalone GPS models will become cheaper.

3-D HDTV prices dropped 33 percent in 2011. The plummet will continue. Kiplinger reports home prices will drop 3 percent to 5 percent. Prices are expected to finally stabilize in 2012 and start back up in 2013.

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