A Few Interesting Statistics

The past few years have brought significant change to the United States –some good, some bad. Here are some of the changes, according to the current issue of The Atlantic:

• Daily consumer spending has dropped from $91 (2008) to $62 (2010)
• Book sales declined $1.1 billion between 2007 and 2009
• The U.S. Treasury collected $164,856,000 more in tax from the sale of firearms and ammunition since the election of Barack Obama as president
• During this same time, 9% more people thought it was more important to protect gun owners’ rights than to control guns
• In 2007, teenagers (15-19 years old) spent an average of 16 minutes each weekend day reading; by 2009 that had dropped to 5 minutes per weekend day
• In contrast, the average time teenagers spent using the computer for leisure increased from 46.8 to 61.2 minutes per weekend day
• The number of people living in poverty increased by 6.3 million from 2007 to 2009.
• In 2007, only Wisconsin faced a budget shortfall; in 2010, only North Dakota and Wyoming are not facing a budget shortfall — 48 states are
• Between 2000 and 2007, 27 banks failed; since 2008, more than 314 have failed
• Since the election of Barack Obama, the number of active militias has risen from 43 to 127 (as of 2009)
• The number of violent crimes per 100,000 people dropped from 472 (2007) to 429.4 (2009) 
• The percentage of Americans who think Barack Obama is a Muslim has increased from 12% in 2008 to 18% in 2010
• Those with a favorable view of Sarah Palin dropped by 18% (from 40% to 22%) between 2008 and 2010