Harper’s Index

Number of years since 1997's Balanced Budget Act set discretionary spending caps that spending has not exceeded them: 0¹

Percentage change in domestic discretionary spending required through 2002 to fund Congress's proposed tax cuts: - 18²

Portion of these tax cuts that will go to corporations: 9/10³

Ratio of the cost of building an F-22 fighter jet to that of upgrading an F-15 to twice the F-22's effectiveness: 1,500:1⁴

Value of Pentagon-brokered U.S. arms sales last year to Taiwan, expressed as a percentage of such sales to Israel: 92⁵

Year in which some of the nuclear “secrets” that Congress alleges China stole were published in the U.S.: 1984⁶

Percentage of Americans who say they're not sure whether the U.S. or Slobodan Milosevic won the war in Kosovo: 40⁷

Number of Vietnam-era helicopters that the U.S. donated to Mexico for drug control between 1996 and 1997: 73⁸

Percentage of them that the U.S. agreed to take back last summer after Mexico found them defective: 100⁹

Factor by which the 123,500 acres of coca that Colombia reports eradicating last year exceeds CIA estimates: 4¹⁰

Weeks after Pakistan vowed last July to rid a disputed territory of Pakistani rebels that India downed one of its planes: 6¹¹

Estimated number of illiterates in India's population as it reached one billion last August: 300,000,000¹²

Number of European countries with a lower adult literacy rate than that of England: 2¹³

Amount a clerical error has cost the British government in excess payments to the Queen since 1991: $31,500,000¹⁴

Legal fees paid by Princess Diana's memorial fund this year to stop the Franklin Mint's sale of Diana souvenirs: $48,000¹⁵

Ratio of daily queries on burial at sea received by the Coast Guard last August to those received a year earlier: 3:1¹⁶

Minimum number of U.S. Army bases in which space has been reserved for Wiccan soldiers' seasonal rites: 8¹⁷

Chances that one of the ten bishop-approved Catholic exorcists practicing in the U.S. was approved since 1993: 9 in 10¹⁸

Number of times CBS's press release forJesus, the miniseries, mentions the “billions” of Christians He inspired: 2¹⁹

Number of times it mentions or implies that He was Jewish: 0 ²⁰

Minimum number of TV markets in which last August's FCC vote will allow networks to own more than one station: 50²¹

Days after the FCC vote that a TV executive told theNew York Timesthat he was eager to play the “duopoly game”: 1²²

Amount of corporate funding or advertising accepted by the Pacifica Radio Network's five stations since 1949: 0²³

Number of days last July that Pacifica locked out the entire staff of Berkeley's KPFA over internal politics: 17²⁴

Hours after the Woodstock riots last summer that a participant told a reporter he couldn't wait to see them on TV: 6²⁵

Number of the 10 billion plastic Coke bottles distributed in the U.S. each year that are made from recycled material: 0²⁶

Number of confirmed deaths caused by doctored Halloween candy given to children by strangers: 0²⁷

Number of confirmed deaths caused by doctored Halloween candy given to children by their relatives: 1²⁸

Chance that an American who contracted rabies from a bat since 1981 survived the illness: 0²⁹

Chance that the victim noticed being bitten: 1 in 20³⁰

Percentage of the 2.3 million gallons of blood Americans could donate each month that they actually do: 0.1³¹

Gallons of untreated sewage that spilled onto L.A.'s streets last June after a sanitation plant's Y2K test: 1,200,000³²

Number of tires found along the Mississippi River since 1997 by an Illinois man bent on cleaning it: 1,916 ³³

Billions of gallons of water that the GOP reported released into a New Hampshire river in July for an Al Gore visit: 4³⁴

Billions of gallons actually released, and average amount released into the river each day, respectively: 1.67, 1.9³⁵

Percentage by which a year of drought had lowered the Potomac River by last August: 60³⁶

Number of federal candidates publicly declared to have “crossed a Rubicon” while campaigning this year: 3³⁷

Number of days last August that Iowa hosted both the GOP presidential straw poll and the National Hobo Convention: 1³⁸

Number of contestants who vied there for the title of 1999 Hobo King: 3³⁹

USERNAME
PASSWORD
Subscriber? · Lost password? Lost username? · More help