Unca Darrell

MAY 14 / President Obama won last week's poll battles

Details at "Following the Polls," one column to the right. And while you're there, check out . . .

MAY 12 / "Following the Polls" has . . .

. . . just been updated. See the right column of this blog or click here.

MAY 9 / Let's agree on a few rules for reading the polls

THE ONLY THING that matters in the presidential race is the Electoral College. We will follow an updated map maintained by Real Clear Politics. As I write it shows 253 likely or leaning for Obama, 170 for Romney, and 115 toss-ups. (Winning takes 270.)

MAY 4 / Numbers

 $57,420,181,300,000

America's "total debt" at 12:06 p.m. CDT yesterday. That's $692,192 per family. Total debt is the combined debt of households, businesses, financial institutions, and local, state, and federal governments. It includes the national debt mentioned below.  

This number is scary enough, but it omits something that makes it scarier still: . . . 

APRIL 6 / Numbers

Bogus numbers

Argentina's official inflation rate -- between 5 percent and 11 percent a year -- is a made-up number. It is so unreliable that the Economist now refuses to include it in economic tables. The real rate is at least twice what the government reports.

We are tired of being an unwilling party to what appears to be . . .

 

MARCH 5 / Numbers

$3,400,000,000

Back taxes owed to the IRS by federal workers. 

JANUARY 4 / Numbers

$825,000,000,000.00

The true price tag for President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

 $787,000,000,000.00

The advertised price tax for President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill.

541

Days Belgium went without a government. Belgium's S&P rating: AA. Cause and effect?

75

Percentage of America's last four presidents who were left-handed (Obama, Clinton, G.H.W. Bush).

50

Percentage of America's last twelve presidents who were left-handed (add Reagan (ambitextrous), Carter, Truman).

13

The U.S. misery index in September, a 28-year high. Unemployment was 9.1 percent; inflation, 3.9 percent.

10

Percentage of Americans who are left-handed. Time for an affirmative-action program for righties?

DECEMBER 5 / Numbers

$79,600,000,000

How much the federal government borrowed from China to bail out the auto industry.

$70,000,000,000

General Motors' profits in 2010, as reported to the IRS.