Interesting Trivia

Áine on March 2nd, 2004 filed in General

Number of press conferences at which President Bush has referred to a question as a “trick” : 11

Estimated percentage of Afghanistan’s GDP last year accounted for by opium exports : 39%

Ratio of the U.S. spending on Iraq approved last November to total AIDS spending in developing countries last year : 18:1

Percentage of new HIV infections worldwide accounted for by people under the age of 25 : 58%

Percentage of Americans who say they would prefer a universal health-care system to the current one : 62%

Estimated number of Americans who refuse to pay some or all of their federal income taxes to protest military spending : 2,000

Percentage change in the thickness of the Arctic ice pack since the 1960s : -40%

On that last one, anyone who says Global Warming is hype and not really a problem, I suggest you read that again. Figures are taken from Harper’s Index for January 2004

3 Responses to “Interesting Trivia”

banks Says:
December 11th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Re: The global warming comments–Please show me where Harpers (or anyone) has defined a DEFINITE LASTING TREND THAT IS NOT CYCLICAL with scientific data. Please also show me the reasonable expected consequences of your hypotheses, if you believe them to be true.
banks Says:
December 11th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Estimated percentage of doctors ((personal opinion) who won’t accept universal health care coverage if implemented-eventually 0%. Many doctors don’t accept insurance now. Most dentists don’t accept it now. I don’t accept certain insurance companies and likely will drop all within 3 years because of poor reimbursement, untimely payment, fraudulent payment, lack of patient understanding of their responsibilities under the current system. Best guess-most physicians will go strictly fee-for-service within 10 years.

If you think universal health care coverage is a panacea, why don’t you ask the Canadiens who cross the border to get their health care in Minnesota? Why don’t you ask the estimated 30% of Britons who travel to continental Europe for elective health care?

Be careful what you wish for-you may get it!
Aine Says:
December 11th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Global Warming : The Evidence
http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_evd.htm
Consequences are also listed on that page. It’s one of probably thousands of sites containing such evidence.

As for health care, I’d say most people would prefer SOME kind of health care to either a)that which is unavailable or out of reach because of expense or b)none at all. If a person can afford to travel to obtain health care, it isn’t a lack of money that’s the problem.