Harper's index

From Harper’s magazine

Associated Press

A woman walks past destroyed huts and buildings in the still largely deserted town of Abyei, Sudan. Tons of international food aid provided to Sudan last year: 548,400. Estimated tons of food Sudan produces and exports to other countries each year: 534,000.

Facts compiled by the editors of Harper’s magazine:

•Percentage by which the $750 billion bailout exceeds the total U.S. gross domestic product of a century ago, adjusted for inflation: 50

•Percentage by which it exceeds the cost of the entire New Deal: 33

•Factor by which it exceeds the cost of the 1990 savings-and-loan bailout: 3

•Minimum number of properties the U.S. government was forced to buy as part of the S&L bailout: 43,640

•Number of churches and athletic clubs, respectively, that this purchase included: 3, 27

•Ratio of the funds U.S. banks paid into the FDIC last year to those they received in ATM fees: 1:1

•Percentage of Americans who say they live “paycheck to paycheck”: 47

•Percentage of those making more than $100,000 per year who say this: 21

•Percentage of Fortune 500 companies that own a Web address in which their name is followed by “sucks.com”: 26

•Chance in 2003 that a Fortune 500 company was based in an emerging-market country: 1 in 14

•Chance today: 1 in 8

•Amount a Chinese investor paid in June to have lunch with Warren Buffett: $2,110,000

•Number of appearances that a Thai prime minister made this year as a TV chef: 4

•Amount he was paid, leading to his ouster in September for receiving outside income: $2,300

•Chance that a person worldwide lacks adequate drinking water because of socioeconomic conditions: 1 in 6

•Estimated portion of all fresh water drawn from U.S. sources each year that is used to cool power plants: one-half

•Percentage of Fortune 1,000 companies that say a water shortage would be “severe” or “catastrophic” to their business: 40

•Percentage that say they have made preparations for such a shortage: 17

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