Percentage by which it exceeds the cost of the entire New Deal : 33
Factor by which it exceeds the cost of the 1990 savings-and-loan bailout : 3
Minimum number of properties the U.S. government was forced to buy as part of the S&L bailout : 43,640
Number of churches and athletic clubs, respectively, that this purchase included : 3, 27
Ratio of the funds U.S. banks paid into the FDIC last year to those they received in ATM fees : 1:1
Percentage of Americans who say they live “paycheck to paycheck” : 47
Percentage of those making over $100,000 per year who say this : 21
Percentage of Fortune 500 companies that own a Web address in which their name is followed by “sucks.com” : 26
Chance in 2003 that a Fortune 500 company was based in an emerging-market country : 1 in 14
Chance today : 1 in 8
Amount a Chinese investor paid in June to have lunch with Warren Buffett : $2,110,000
Number of appearances that a Thai prime minister made this year as a TV chef : 4
Amount he was paid, leading to his ouster in September for receiving outside income : $2,300
Tons of international food aid provided to Sudan last year : 548,400
Estimated tons of food Sudan produces and exports to other countries each year : 534,000
Chance that a person worldwide lacks adequate drinking water due to socioeconomic conditions : 1 in 6
Estimated portion of all freshwater drawn from U.S. sources each year that is used to cool power plants : 1/2
Percentage of Fortune 1000 companies that say a water shortage would be “severe” or “catastrophic” to their business : 40
Percentage that say they have made preparations for such a shortage : 17
Number of complaints filed by corporate whistleblowers with U.S. workplace-safety officials since 2002 : 1,288
Number in which the government ruled in favor of the whistleblower : 17
Estimated number of professional “union-avoidance consultants” currently working in the United States : 2,000
Percentage change since 1977 in the size of the U.S. labor force : +61
Percentage change since then in the number of federal wage and hour inspectors : –21
Average value of defense contracts that each Pentagon auditor was responsible for vetting in 2007 : $2,030,000,000
Average value each auditor vetted ten years ago : $642,000,000
Date on which Sears began selling an “All American Army” clothing line, with royalties paid to the U.S. military : 9/15/08
Percentage of U.S. Christmas trees purchased in 2001 and 2007, respectively, that were artificial : 21, 36
Number of credit-card solicitations sent to Americans last year : 5,200,000,000
Percentage that were responded to : 0.5
Year in which Cuba’s ban on toasters will be lifted : 2010
Year by which computer server farms worldwide are projected to produce more greenhouse gases than air travel : 2020
Year by which New Orleans is expected to be rebuilt, at the current pace : 2028
Number of years that Google’s CEO says it will take the company to achieve its goals : 300
Number of members in the Facebook group “I Just HATE Pakistan” : 2,973
Number in the group “Belgium Doesn’t Exist” : 1,156
Percentage of total Internet site visits in 2004 and today, respectively, that accessed porn : 17, 10
Number of U.S. postage stamps printed in June whose packaging mistakenly listed a phone-sex number : 4,000,000
Telephone number that was printed in place of 1-800-STAMP-24, the number for reordering : 1-800-TRAMP-24
Source: Harper's Magazine, "Harper's Index," Harper's November 2008, 13.
Harper's lists sources on page 88 of the December issue. "Harper's Index is a registered trademark.
Harper's is completely different from Time, The New Yorker, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Foreign Affairs, The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic Monthly, or various other respected magazines. The analysis of the articles is deep, and one may need a dictionary close by to look up a few words in each issue.
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