Harper’s Index

Estimated change since 2001 in the total number of U.S. private-sector jobs: +1,900,000¹

Estimated number of new private-sector jobs created by government spending during that time: 2,800,000²

Percentage of U.S. workers who say they are confident that they will be able to live comfortably after retirement: 68³

Percentage who have saved less than $25,000 toward retirement: 53⁴

Percentage of Americans who believe that most Americans are too fat: 90⁵

Percentage who believe that they themselves are too fat: 39⁶

Average number of extra calories children consume for every hour of television they watch: 167⁷

Size, in inches, of Panasonic’s new top-of-the-line plasma TV: 103⁸

Factor by which Hummer sales in April exceeded those a year earlier: 3⁹

Percentage change in average U.S. gas prices over that year: +80¹⁰

Volume of new reserves added by major oil companies in 2005, expressed as a percentage of oil pumped that year: 51¹¹

Ratio of the amount of energy used in producing corn ethanol to the amount yielded when it is burned in gasoline: 1:1¹²

Ratio of the amount of energy used in producing gasoline itself to the amount yielded when it is burned: 6:5¹³

Amount it costs the U.S. Treasury to manufacture and distribute a penny: 1.4¢¹⁴

Amount that insects add to the U.S. economy each year, according to one invertebrate advocacy group: $57,000,000,000¹⁵

Percentage of this total attributed to insects’ value as a food source for larger animals: 88¹⁶

Ratio of the average U.S. import of Mexican lettuce each year to the average Mexican import of U.S. lettuce: 1:1¹⁷

Number of players that Brazilian soccer teams have sold to teams overseas since 1993: 6,700¹⁸

Amount the Brazilian teams have earned from these sales: $918,819,900¹⁹

Percentage of Peruvians who say their nation needs leaders who “impose order” and “authority”: 74²⁰

Number of U.S. residents the FBI investigated last year using Patriot Act powers that waive the need for a warrant: 3,501²¹

Number of times that President Bush’s “signing statements” have exempted his administration from provisions of new laws: 750²²

Total number of times for all other presidents since Washington: 568²³

Minimum number of close-up photographs of President Bush’s hands owned by his new chief of staff, Josh Bolten: 4²⁴

Percentage of Republicans who viewed “Hillary Clinton” favorably in an April poll: 16²⁵

Percentage who viewed “Hillary Rodham Clinton” favorably: 23²⁶

Rank of atheists among minorities whom Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry: 1²⁷

Rank of Muslims and African Americans, respectively: 2, 3²⁸

Number of “peace walls” that divided Protestant and Catholic communities in Belfast at the time of the 1994 ceasefire: 30²⁹

Number today: 41³⁰

Percentage of Irish Catholics who think that priests should not have to be celibate: 76³¹

Percentage by which Britain’s The Independent outsold its daily average on May 16, the day U2’s Bono was guest editor: 30³²

Last date on which the newspaper sold as many copies: 9/12/01³³

Number of books that Art Garfunkel has read since June 1968, according to a comprehensive list on his website: 948³⁴

Length, in hours, of a book appearance that author Lawrence Lessig made in January inside an online fantasy world: 2³⁵

Minimum number of different characters who showed up: 100³⁶

Number of MySpace.com users featured by Playboy in its June “Girls of MySpace” photo spread: 9³⁷

Minimum number who sent pictures to try out: 2,000³⁸

Estimated number of hot dogs that will be eaten in the United States over the Fourth of July weekend: 150,000,000³⁹

Tons of mud a Mongolian girl has eaten since 1994, because she finds it “delicious”: 1.7⁴⁰

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