The Page That Counts :: Spring 2004

FBI estimate of cost of burglary and robbery in the U.S. every year: $3.8 billion

Cost of health care fraud in the U.S. per year: $100 billion to $400 billion (1)

Amount Americans spent on Internet dating during the first half of 2003: $214 million (2)

Number of people in the U.S. Army on the eve of World War II: 186,000 (3)

Number of people in today's U.S. regular Army: 480,000 (4)

Number of U.S. troops in Iraq who have been killed, wounded, or become sick enough to require airlifting out of Iraq, as of December 19, 2003: 10,854 (5)

Percent of Americans whose favorite sport is not football, baseball or basketball: 44 (6)

Average daily wage of an adult male in an Indian/Pakistani football stitching factory: less than $0.50 (7)

Percent of the low-wage workforce in the U.S. that is not composed of teenagers: 93

Percent of low-wage jobs that are in the fast food industry: less than 5% (8)

Number of hours between the appointment of a six-person team of military defense lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners and their dismissal for decrying the unfair design of the tribunals: about 8 (9)

Number of members of the replacement defense team who signed a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the rules for these tribunals are unfair: 5 (10)

Percent of Americans who are unable to identify a single department in the U.S. Cabinet: 58 (11)

Minimum number of times a year the Kentucky legal code requires its citizens to take a bath: 1 (12)

Rank of “It's too cold” among office complaints in a survey of workplaces with 100 people or more: 1

Rank of “It's too hot”: 2 (13)

Percent of Wal-Mart employees eligible for food stamps: around 50% (14)

Combined net worth of the three Waltons who own 38% of Wal-Mart's stock: $66 billion

Net worth of Afghanistan: $19 billion (15)

Value of the gift certificate Wal-Mart offered a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly fondled by a store employee in South Carolina: $25 (16)

Size of the tax break Denver, Colorado, is offering Wal-Mart to locate a store in the city: $10 million

Projected sales tax this Wal-Mart will produce between now and 2016: about $1.6 million (17)

Value of merchandise Wal-Mart—which earlier advertised its mission to “Buy American”—imported from China in 2002: $12 billion (18)

Cost of a single-serving bottle of Coca-Cola in Ecuador: $0.55

Daily wage of the average Ecuadorian: $5

Amount of Coca-Cola consumed daily by the average Latin American: 1 bottle (19)

Percent of Americans who would like to have a simpler holiday season: 77 (20)

Rank of Alaska in the most polluted states in the U.S.: 4 (21)

Number of people there would be in Manhattan if it had as few people per square mile as Alaska: 14 (22)

 

1. Corporate Predators, “Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade,” www.corporatepredators.org/top100.html 2. “No Time For Dating? You're Not Alone,” USA Today, www.usatoday.com/life/2003-11-12-modern-dating_x.htm 3. “The War Business,” Harper's, November 2003 4. “Army To Delay Soldiers' Exits,” Reuters, Jan.5, 2004. 5.“Medical Evacuations from Iraq Near 11,000,” United Press International, www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031217-032344-8720r 6. “Why You Don't Have to Care About Michael Jackson,” Progressive Review, December 2003, http://prorev.com/arts.htm 7. Global March Against Child Labour, “Child Labour and Sporting Goods,” www.globalmarch.org/world-cup-campaign/child-labour.php3 8. The Betrayal of Work, www.thebetrayalofwork.org/facts.htm 9. “U.S. Fires Guantanamo Defence Team,” The Guardian, December 3, 2003 10. “Military Lawyers Question Tribunal Rules,” Washington Post, January 13, 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11416-2004Jan12.html. 11. The Polling Company, www.pollingcompany.com/News.asp?FormMode=ViewReleases&ID=73 12. Local6.com News, www.local6.com/news/2662644/detail.html 13. “IFMA Survey Ranks Top 10 Office Complaints…and Some That Score High on the Laugh Meter, The 2003 Corporate Facility Monitor International Facility Management Association Survey, www.ifmasfv.org/Education/top_10_office_complaints.htm 14. “Tear Down That Wal-Mart,” AlterNet, http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17297 15. “Will Break to Wal-Mart Really Pay?” Common Dreams News Center, www.commondreams.org/views03/0926-11.htm 16. “NOW Declares Wal-Mart a Merchant of Shame,” National Organization of Women, www.now.org/nnt/fall-2002/walmart.html 17. “Will Break to Wal-Mart Really Pay?” Common Dreams News Center, www.commondreams.org/views03/0926-11.htm 18. “The Wal-Mart You Don't Know,” Fast Company, www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html 19. “Coca-Cola: Latin America's Second Religion,” AlterNet, www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13226 20. The Center for a New American Dream, www.newdream.org/holiday/poll02.html 21. “Alaska: Oil and the Natives,” Earth Island Journal, Autumn 2003 22. “How Big is Alaska?” www.ltia.lynden.com/ltia/howbig.html