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02 Sep 2010 10:31

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U.S.: WHOO: Illegal immigration dips by nearly 67 percent

  • 850,000 number of people who illegally entered the U.S. between 2000 and 2005 (which is huge)
  • 300,000 number of people who did the same thing between 2007 and 2009; this is a pretty big deal source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2010 10:18

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Biz: Existing home sales, meet crapper: Sales hit lowest level in 15 years

  • 27.2% decline in existing home sales in July source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2010 10:47

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Biz: Ah crap: After a solid streak of retail increases, sales go down

  • +0.6% the increase in retail sales in April; that’s pretty good
  • -1.2% the decrease in retail sales in May; that’s really bad
  • sevennumber of months of increases before May’s decrease source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2010 11:20

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Culture: To all the jerks making fun of Gary Coleman: Screw you.

  • Dude is on life support. In a coma. He’s suffering from a brain hemorrhage just like Bret Michaels was. Yet everyone seems compelled to make jokes because it’s Gary Coleman. Come on. Give the man a break – he’s had a tough life. Would you want to die that way? Seriously? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 May 2010 19:17

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Culture: Gary Coleman gets hurt; M.C. Hammer sticks his neck out for him

  • In your time of pain and suffering, may it increase upon you tenfold if you mock Gary Coleman. Prayer is what he needs.
  • M.C. Hammer • Throwing down the gauntlet against those mocking Coleman, he of short stature who is in a Utah hospital in critical condition today after a fall. Absolutely zero details have been released beyond that. Twitter’s chattering amongst itself. Best of wishes, little guy. We hope you pull through. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2010 11:07

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Biz: Private businesses less responsible for people’s income than ever

  • 41.9% of personal income comes from private wages and salaries
  • 17.9%of personal income comes from government programs source

 

  • » What this means: Simply put, it’s an unsustainable trend. The government raises money through taxes on wages and salaries, and with many people out of work and benefits making up a larger share of personal income, the government is on the hook for more of people’s collective personal incomes. Part of this, yes, is due to the stimulus. Once the economy gets back in tip-top shape, will the numbers go up? Maybe. But the numbers were going down even before the recession due to the increase in benefits.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 May 2010 13:18

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Biz, U.S.: BP’s oil-siphoning tally looks less impressive than it did yesterday

  • 5,000 number of barrels BP said it was recovering per day yesterday
  • 2,200 number of barrels the company says it’s recovering per day today source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 May 2010 11:13

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Culture: “Iron Man 2” can’t keep up the luster of the original

  • 57 the second film’s disappointing Metacritic score source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 May 2010 10:41

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Biz: Fewer people making jobless claims; workers starting to get lazy

  • 7,000 fewer initial jobless claims
    than last week (it’s still fairly high,
    at 444,000, though)
  • 3.6% increase in worker productivity
    this quarter the smallest increase
    in a while source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:23

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Biz: AOL’s profit picture looks a lot worse than it did a year ago

  • $48
    million     decrease in AOL’s profit
    between this quarter and the
    same quarter a year ago
  • 4.6
    million     number of people who STILL subscribe to AOL’s legacy service after all these years source
  • » Why the cruddy profits? It’s worth keeping in mind that AOL is a different company than it was a year ago. The company, fresh after leaving the disastrous merger with Time Warner which hurt both companies, is in the midst of making a big push into content, away from its core subscription business. (Disclosure: We freelance for AOL News occasionally.) Even considering that, their profit picture is significantly lower than expected – instead of the analyst-expected 70 cents per share, they could only muster 39 cents per share. Part of this is due to the quickly-falling legacy subscriber base and part of it is due to continuing advertising declines.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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