Facts and figures.

Post 494 - Here are some current facts and figures about the way we're living and the choices we're making - and not making! Go figure....

1970 federal deficit, as a percentage of GDP was 0.3% - today it's 9.9%.

U.S. unemployment rate for ages 20-24 in 1970 was 7.5% - now it's 17.2%.

Estimated cost to taxpayers of TARP, adjusted for inflation, $117 billion.

Amount that U.S. banks charged in 2009 for overdraft fees - $38.9 billion.

Estimate of underfunding for state government employee pension funds across the US – currently greater than $3 trillion.

A recent Rasmussen Poll asked Americans: “Would you prefer smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes or more active government with more services and higher taxes?” By a margin of 64% to just 22%, Americans said they’d prefer a smaller government.

A few weeks ago the latest right-track-wrong-track numbers came out, and about 70% of respondents said they thought the U.S. was on the wrong track.

Estimated combined salaries of the top ten actor nominees at the 2010 Oscars, including winner Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart - $20 million.

Salary paid best acreess Julia Roberts in 2001 for Erin Brokovich - $20 million.

Rank of U.S. among nations in internet connection speed – 18th.

Number of works of art by Picasso that have been stolen – 660.

Fine DOT can levy against a Boeing 737 full of passengers that’s stuck on the runway for three hours at $27,500 per passenger - $4,097,500.

With 73 closures so far this year, the pace of bank failures is more than double that of 2009, which was itself quite a brisk year for shutdowns.

Twenty years ago, the U.S. ranked 29th in the child mortality rate (the percentage of children younger than 5 who die each year). Today, it ranks 42nd globally, behind much of Europe as well as the United Arab Emirates, Cuba and Chile. The U.S., which is projected to have 6.7 deaths per 1,000 children in 2010, saw a 42% decline, a pace that’s on par with Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Angola.

In 2002, only 10% of multinational companies had software development and other IT work performed abroad. By 2008, 70% of multinationals had joined the outsourcing parade.

According to the European Commission, by 2050 the percentage of Europeans older than 65 will nearly double. In the 1950s there were seven workers for every retiree in advanced economies. By 2050, the ratio in the European Union will drop to 1.3 to 1.

Gross public social expenditures in the European Union increased from 16 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21 percent in 2005, compared with 15.9 percent in the U. S. In France, the figure now is 31 percent, the highest in Europe, with state pensions making up more than 44 percent of the total and health care, 30 percent.

And finally, here's something I bet you didn't know:

The number of people the Bible says were killed in the name of God, not including Noah’s flood, Sodom & Gomorrah, or plagues and famines, adds up to 2,391,421.