Harper's Index

Harper's Magazine (December 2004)


Number of terrorism trials brought before a jury since September 11, 2001 : 1

Number of terrorism convictions resulting : 2

Number of them dismissed in June due to a "pattern of mistakes" by the prosecution : 2

Revenue generated by Halliburton under CEO Dick Cheney from business deals with Iraq under Saddam Hussein : $30,000,000

Estimated revenue generated by Halliburton last year through subsidiaries in Iran : $63,506,000

Value of the Halliburton shares owned by New York City's Fire Department Pension Fund : $3,359,095

Number of times since 2002 the city has filed a shareholders' resolution questioning the risk of doing business in Iran : 3

Number of companies in which Tom Ridge holds stock that have a contract with the Department of Homeland Security : 7

Number of overseas bullet suppliers the Army contracted with last year and this year, respectively : 1,5

Minimum number of bullets the military purchased for use this year : 1,500,000,000

Average number of bullets per Iraqi this represents : 58

Number of major weapons systems the Pentagon has under development : 77

Ratio of the original estimate of these programs' total cost to the estimate today : 1:2

Ratio of arms dealers' campaign contributions made since January 2001 to Democrats to those made to Republicans : 1 :2

Number of states with a Libertarian Party presidential candidate on the ballot last month : 48

Number with a Reform, Green, and/or Socialist Workers Party candidate on the ballot, respectively : 35,28,14

Weeks the Green Party's vice-presidential candidate spent staying in homeless shelters as part of her campaign tour : 2

Average number of clothing items an adult American acquired in 2002 : 52

Estimated average amount of textiles thrown out by each household in 2001, in pounds : 66

Percentage salary cut that Delta's CEO announced this fall that he would take through the end of the year : 100

Percentage of 30-year-old American men who were married, self-supporting fathers in 1960 and 2000, respectively : 65,31

Number of levels of executive positions in the federal government in 1960 and this year, respectively : 17,58

Total number of federal executives in each of those years : 451,2592

Percentage of poor Americans who lived in the suburbs in 1959 and last year, respectively : 17,39

Ratio of the number of poor Americans living in cities to the number who live in suburbs : 21:20

Number of the 20 fastest-growing counties that are coastal : 17

Number of body bags a New Orleans suburb secured for this year's hurricane season : 10,000

Estimated number of Britons sent government warnings last fall of their increased chance of having mad cow disease : 6,000

Minimum number of countries with a greater capacity to produce nuclear weapons than Iraq at the time of the invasion : 35

Ratio of spending on Iraq each week to total aid to Sudan since February 2003 : 2:1

Minimum number of tribes and ethnic groups in Sudan's Darfur region : 80

Chances that an adult male citizen of Pitcairn Island has been arrested for a sex-related crime this year : 2 in 5

Minimum number of those arrested who are direct descendants of mutineer Fletcher Christian : 4

Estimated average price of a female newborn in a Bulgarian infant-selling ring busted this summer : $6,000

Estimated average price of a male newborn : $18,000

Average black-market price in Baghdad of a DVD showing the beheading of a foreigner or Iraqi "collaborator" : 50 cents

Price of the bottle of champagne a New York club requires patrons to buy in order to use a diamond-encrusted table : $5,000

Minutes of weightlessness that Virgin Galactic passengers will experience on suborbital space flights in 2007 : 5

"Degrees of freedom" accorded each eyebrow of an "Emotion Expression" robot under development : 4 (see page 28)


Figures cited are the latest available as of October 2004.


December Index Sources

1-3 US Department of Justice

4 Colum Lynch, Washington Post (New York City)

5 Halliburton (Houston, Texas)

6-7 Office of the Comptroller (New York City)

8 US Department of Homeland Security

9-10 Program Executive Office for Ammunition (Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey)

11 Harper's Research

12-13 US Department of Defense

14 PoliticalMoneyLine (Washington)

15-16 Ballot Access News (San Francisco)

17 Green Party (Washington)

18-19 Juliet Schor, Boston College (Boston)

20 Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)

21 American Sociological Association (Washington)

22-23 The Brookings Institution (Washington)

24-25 Harper's Research

26 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Silver Spring, Maryland)

27 Times-Picayune (Jefferson Parish, Louisiana)

28 Department of Health (London)

29 International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna)

30 Harper's Research

31 Embassy of the Republic of Sudan (London)

32 British High Commission (Wellington, New Zealand)

33 Harper's Research

34-35 State Police Headquarters (Pondenone, Italy)

36 Richard Beeston (Baghdad)

37 Select (New York City)

38 Virgin Group (London)

39 Waseda University (Tokyo)



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