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May 2005 · Harper's index · Previous · Next

Harper’s Index

Average amount the Bush Administration has spent per year on contracts with P.R. firms : $62,500,000

Average amount spent during the second term of the Clinton Administration: $32,000,000

Amount the Department of Homeland Security will spend this year directing research at U.S. universities: $45,000,000

Percentage of U.S. high-school students who believe news stories should require “government approval” before publication: 36

Percentage of owners of private businesses in China who are members of the Communist Party: 34

Percentage of all adults in China who are: 5

Average number of East Germans who died each year trying to cross to West Germany: 18

Average number of Mexicans who have died each year since 2000 trying to cross to the United States: 407

Minimum number of Midwestern towns offering free land to new residents: 18

Number of the top-ten states for bankruptcy filings per capita that voted for President Bush: 10

Ratio in America of mobile homes to homes in gated communities: 1:1

Percentage of Americans who say Bush is a “uniter”: 49

Percentage who say he is a “divider”: 49

Percentage of Republicans who say they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62

Minimum number of U.S. adults who think Bush is “liberal” or “very liberal”: 11,800,000

Chance that a U.S. adult thinks a “conservative” is someone who supports affirmative action: 1 in 4

Average price of a Grāpple, a Washington State apple made with artificial grape flavoring: $1.25

Minimum number of cows whose skins are used each year for Major League baseballs: 45,000

Percentage by which this exceeds the seating capacity of Wrigley Field: 14

Number of full-time reporters for ESPN who are covering only Barry Bonds: 1

Number of U.S. newspapers with a full-time reporter in Afghanistan: 2

Number of female U.S. soldiers disciplined this year for mud-wrestling at an Iraqi prison camp: 2

Minimum number of miles that a private jet has been flown to take U.S. terror suspects to “rendition” abroad: 302,000

Round-trips from D.C. to Tehran that this many frequent-flyer miles on American Airlines will buy: 4

Average self-esteem of a U.S. teenager, as measured by sociologists on a scale of 0 to 10: 7.6

Average self-esteem of a Baghdad teenager: 7.9

Number of “certified laughter leaders” employed by the U.S. Army to help families of reservists: 20

Minimum number of laughter clubs in India: 381

Number of New York stand-up comedians who formed a union in December: 300

Average number of mandatory anti-union meetings held by U.S. employers during a union election: 11

Percentage of employers that require at least one of these meetings to be one-on-one: 78

Percentage in 1950 of U.S. men over 65 who were in the workforce: 46

Percentage last year: 19

Minimum age at which Massachusetts allows boys to marry, with parental permission: 14

Minimum age for girls: 12

Percentage of Philippine couples who “do not know how pregnancy happens,” according to the country's health minister: 30

Gallons of human breast milk dispensed last year by milk banks in North America: 4,438

Year that Boise, Idaho, banned full nudity in public unless it had “serious artistic merit”: 2001

Number of nights each week that a Boise strip club now distributes sketch pads and pencils: 2

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