Americans face triple whammy as rent, gas and electric bills surge

Zachary Lloyd makes $14,800 a year as a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University — right around the poverty line for a single adult. So the 25-year-old was looking forward to a pay increase starting this fall that would net him about $1,000 more, just about covering his higher costs for groceries, fast food and gasoline. 

Then his lease came up for renewal, and Lloyd learned his management company was raising the rent on the Tallahassee apartment he shares with a fellow student by $250 a month.

"I was shocked when I opened the letter today — it was almost 18%, which is not covered by a pay raise," he told CBS MoneyWatch.