Smart decisions are based on more than government statistics, agency reports, news releases, interest rates and stock quotes. We've selected a few fascinating statistics here that illuminate the markets, the world of financial services and big business.
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Minimum number of luxury hotels and conference centers that have dropped the “R” word from their names in a bid to attract companies reluctant to book conferences at “resorts” following criticism of AIG's sales retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, CA: 35
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U.S. GDP in 2009, its worst single-year performance since 1946: -2.4 percent
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Annualized GDP in the fourth quarter of 2009, the highest quarterly rate since 2003: +5.7 percent
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Of 11 IPOs since December 2009, the number that have priced within their expected ranges: 2
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Number of passengers who boarded commercial airlines in 2009 for intra-Asia-Pacific travel: 647 million
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Number of passengers for intra-North America (U.S. and Canada) travel: 638 million
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Number of U.S. airports that have lost commercial air service since 2007: 96
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Rank of Exxon Mobil, the largest corporation in America, among the top federal lobbyists in the U.S.: first
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Rank of Pfizer in 2009, which wasn't even in the top 20 in 2008: fourth
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Ratio of pharmaceutical sales reps in the U.S. to individuals with prescriptions in 2009: 1:8
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Estimated ratio by 2015: 1:12
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Ratio of registered drug-company lobbyists in Washington, D.C., to every member of congress: 2:1
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Average amount spent on congressional lobbying, per day, by U.S. health-care companies in 2009: $1.5 million
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Factor by which an index of 36 companies that are sponsoring the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver outperformed the broad global market in 2009: 20 percent
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Number of gold medals Canada won the last time it hosted the Winter Olympics (Calgary, 1988): 0
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Average consumer spending on home entertainment and media (excluding land and cell telephones) in 2009: $997.07
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Change in newsstand sales for 500 consumer magazines in the U.S. in the last half of 2009 from a year earlier: -9.1%
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Change in sales of Newsweek and Time, respectively: -41.3%, -34.9%
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Change in sales of American Rifleman, published by the National Rifle Association: +20.2%
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Rank of U.S. on the global individualism scale, which measures societal rewards for individual vs. collective performance: first
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Minimum number of karaoke singers in the Philippines murdered after they sang Frank Sinatra's “My Way:” 6
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U.S. government debt as a percentage of GDP (2009): 85%
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Of Japan, and China, respectively: 116%, 20%
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Number of self-employed workers in the U.S. (2007): 21 million
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Number of executives at Wall Street banks who have been tried on criminal charges related to the financial crisis: 2
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Number of acquitted: 2
Sources: 1 Wall Street Journal; 2-3 Commerce Department; 4 Wall Street Journal; 5-7 International Air Transport Association; 8-11 Teredata, WSJ; 12-13 Center for Responsive Politics; 14 Bloomberg; 15 International Olympic Committee, Bloomberg; 16 Census Bureau; 17-19 Audit Bureau of Circulation; 20 IBM, Prof. Geert Hofstede; 21-23 New York Times; 24 Census Bureau, National Association for the Self Employed; 25-26 Harpers, New York Times
