Percentage change since March 2002 in total U.S. corporate profits, as valued in dollars: +39
Percentage change as valued in euros: -8
Chances of a U.S. "currency crisis" within five years, according to former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker: 3 in 4
Number of free-trade agreements between developing nations and developed nations in 1990 and today, respectively: 23, 109
Projected change in world income over fifteen years if all developing nations were to enter such deals today: +$112,000,000,000
Projected change, in this scenario, in the total income of developing nations: -$21,500,000,000
Estimated percentage by which the number of automobiles made in Ontario last year exceeded the number made in Detroit: 4
Rank of the United States among the largest world exporters of cigarettes: 1
Rank of the United States among nations that consume the most cigarettes per capita: 16
Number of states where women seeking abortions are required to be told that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer: 3
Number of the eighty-nine experts convened in 2003 by the National Cancer Institute who found any evidence of such a link: 1
Year by which the median full-time wage of a U.S. woman will equal that of a U.S. man, based on current trends: 2050
Estimated change since 1999 in the number of civil-rights complaints reported to the Justice Department: 0
Percentage change since then in the number of civil-rights criminal charges brought by the department: -47
Number of black U.S. senators during the entire 1800s, the entire 1900s, and today, respectively: 2, 2, 1
Number of copies of Helping Your Child Learn History destroyed by the Department of Education last summer: 338,500
Amount that makers of the video game JFK Reloaded will pay the player who best replicates the murder of Kennedy: $100,000
Cost of "The Sword," an unmanned robo-soldier equipped with a rifle, machine gun, or rocket launcher: $230,000
Number of these devices the U.S. Army plans to deploy in Iraq this spring: 18
Ratio in December of the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to the number from Britain, the second-largest contributor: 16:1
Ratio of the number from Britain to the number from Italy, the third-largest contributor: 3:1
Number of political parties registered for Iraq's national elections scheduled for January: 72
Rank of the Vlaams Blok, Belgium's far-right anti-immigration party, among the most popular in Flanders: 1
Number of Nicaragua's seventeen regional capitals whose governments are now controlled by the Sandinistas: 14
Number of U.K. Guardian readers who signed up last fall to write pro-Kerry letters to voters in Clark County, Ohio: 14,000
Number of Ohio counties besides Clark that switched from backing Al Gore in 2000 to backing President Bush in 2004: 0
Price a D.C. hotel charges for its "Presidential Privilege 2005" inauguration package, which includes a mink coat: $200,500
Average total cost for a U.S. eighty-year-old to live out the rest of his or her days on a luxury cruise ship: $230,497
Average cost to live them out in an assisted-living facility: $228,075
Estimated number of Florida homeowners who signed contracts last year forbidding them to complain about their homes: 4,000
Minimum damages sought by a builder last fall against a homeowner who had broken the rule: $15,000
Ratio last year of the amount spent declassifying former U.S. secrets to the amount spent safeguarding others: 1:120
Number of children's choir members from Pink Floyd's 1979 hit "Another Brick in the Wall" who are now seeking royalties: 1
Estimated amount each member is owed: £150
Percentage of children who by age seven have had at least one imaginary friend: 65
Percentage of these friends who are animals: 41
Number of Britons who have signed a declaration stating they will disobey any ban on fox hunting: 50,000
Number of foxes eaten by a British performance artist to protest the protests of the proposed ban: 2
Bail set in December for a Gainesville, Florida, man accused of biting a dog: $25,000
Page on which the Gainesville Sun ran the story: A1
---- This is Harper's Index for February 2005, a Harper's Index, published Wednesday, March 9, 2005. It is part of Harper's Index for 2005, which is part of The Harper's Index, which is part of Harpers.org.
Permanent URL http://harpers.org/HarpersIndex2005-02.html