Entrepreneurship & US
% of Chinese who say they intend to start a business within the next 3 years= 23
% of Colombians and Americans, respectively, who say this= 57, 7
source: (4-2010 harpers index)
03/12/2011
07/22/2010
Largest consumer of oil in the world = <drum roll>
Largest consumer of oil in the world = U.S. Military
05/24/2010
14% = percent of homes with a bathtub in 1909…
- 47 years = average life expectancy
- 14% homes had a bathtub
8% homes with telephones - 95% = number of home births
- Number of cars in US = 8000
- Miles of paved road = 144 miles
- Maximum city speed limit = 10 mph (on avg)
- 22 cents/hr = average wage (Average Worker made $200 and $400 per year)
- Dozen Eggs = 14 cents.
- Sugar = 4 cents per lb.
- Coffee = 15 cents per lb.
- Leading causes of death were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke
- Population of Las Vegas, Nevada = 30
- 2/10 adults couldn’t read or write and
- 6% graduated from high school..
- Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.
- 230 murders were reported (entire US).
Source: Un-verified email.
03/28/2010
“ In Japan 6 percent of the population is still farming, as opposed to 1 or 2 percent of our [U.S.] people. „
Wendell Berry in ‘The Necessity of Agriculture’
04/30/2009
Tale of two Downturns….
Another depression related flashback (from the present times): “1929-1934 the Number of pensioners skyrockets as employers force workers into retirement during the Depression. 1 in 5 companies limits pension benefits or gets rid of them all together.”
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Source: “Who Shredded our Safety Net?” Mother Jones. May/June 2009
04/30/2009
“ 1000 = Number of US Banks that failed following the Railroad bubble bursting from 1893-1897. „
“Who Shredded our Safety Net?” Mother Jones. May/June 2009
04/18/2009
Foodies still gotta eat & everyone else does too…
The “National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., forecasts that Americans will spend $566 billion eating out in 2009, a 2.5% increase over 2008, discounted menus at mid- to high-end restaurants suggest otherwise….”
04/18/2009
“ He’s doing everything he said he would during the campaign. „
Anonymous, on why they hated Obama.
04/18/2009
Americans [Hazmat] Railroads
When’s the last time you considered taking the railroad instead of a plane, or an automobile? If you’re like most Americans, you probably never have considered it an option. And for the majority of American cities, you don’t have the option anyway. That’s because today, America’s freight railroads dominate the tracks, carrying an estimated 33 million total carloads (40% of the nation’s goods) & 1.8 million of those 33 are hazmat carloads. Astounding? Yes. Surprising? No. Under the “common carrier clause of the Interstate Commerce Act railroads must provide transportation of hazardous materials upon a shipper’s request.” So, it won’t come as a shock to you to know that, “safety is always on the minds of [sic] those insurance companies insuring hazmat freight.” Any guess at how much one train accident might cost? Try $500 million (railroad association estimate of the 2005 Norfolk Southern freight train accident), and that was just for “ONE punctured tank car filled with chlorine.” Given those claims, I guess it makes sense why the legislators would have to force some transporter to accept the shipment of such goods, but unfortunately when catastrophes occur, they are occuring at the insurer’s expense (which is why very few insurers cover this class).
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by M. Bennett - 18 April 2008
Sources: All statistics from the December 2008, Best’s Review publication. By Lynna Goch & The Association of American Railroad’s annual estimates.
04/18/2009
The house must be high, because they just gave the FDA ANOTHER job to do
The house must be smoking something other than cigarettes if it thinks the FDA can handle controlling tobacco. Have they not seen all the headlines with product after product being recalled for one contamination or another? Apparently not. Now they’ve given the FDA another job, on its already understaffed/overworked department, when it can barely handle food, let alone the drug market… And unfortunately for them, tobacco is actually deadly without salmonella getting in and contaminating it, as one reporter on the topic noted, “it’s the only product when used as intended, kills and makes people sick.”
House Votes to Give FDA CONTROL OVER Tobacco (see the full story)
04/17/2009
“ Americans spend an average of 29 hours a week watching television - which means in a typical life span, we devote 13 uninterrupted years to our television sets. The biggest problem with mass media isn’t low quality - it’s high quantity. „
