There is a social cost to standing up for your beliefs and that social cost can be exacted within the family, the community or the workplace.

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From a standing start in the 1880s low cost wallpaper production reached over 400 million rolls by the early 1920s.

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"A lack of central guidance on social eligibility criteria and perceptions of high cost of implementation are standing in the way of equitable access, " said Sheena Young, its head of business development.

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And then there is the cost to President Bush's own political standing and credibility as he lets the world's pygmies tie him down like Gulliver.

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This long-standing challenge for customers is aggravated by dramatic increases in cost and complexity amid a rising tide of sophisticated, data-intensive workloads in an increasingly interconnected world.

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It would be nice to think there is a "free lunch" available here - a cost-free way for the government to lend its good standing in the financial markets to worthy private projects, to make it easier for them to raise the money they need.

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The cost of living in Manhattan is the nation's highest, standing at twice the national average.

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Add in all the other cost-inflating provisions of the healthcare law and the long-standing trend of increasing health insurance premiums and the price of a family health insurance policy is expected to double over the next decade.

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