Facts & Trends

141: The number of seasonal former IRS employees rehired by the agency between 2010 and 2013 despite having botched or failed to file their own tax returns, according to a February report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. 8.8 ...

Gallup ranked 143 countries by how great a share of respondents said they had recently had positive experiences such as laughter or enjoyment. A sampling, from greatest to least: 1 - Paraguay 8 - Costa Rica 15 - U.S. 134 ...

Americans spend $100 billion annually on cocaine, heroin, pot and meth. Many users spend small amounts at a time—$10 may buy a day’s supply of heroin, for instance. But over time users may build a tolerance to a drug and ...

Reduced awareness Brain imaging shows that it’s harder for people who are high to focus on several things at once, such as a changing stoplight, an approaching bicycle and a car signaling a turn. Hallucinations Research is sparse, but pot-related cases ...

Lake Mead, the main reservoir on the Colorado River, is now just 38 percent full — lower than at any time since it was filled in the 1930's.  If the lake sinks lower still during summer months, officials may cut ...

The graduating class of 2015 is the most indebted in history, owing a total of $56 billion in student loans.  About 71 percent of college students graduating this year took out loans, at an average of $35,051 each.  In 1996, ...

What happened to the Conservatives’ promise to roll back the surveillance state? said James Ball. The British are already the most-spied-upon people on the planet, with hundreds of thousands of video cameras recording our comings and goings. Junior-level bureaucrats have ...

Percentage of British businessmen who travel with their teddy bears: 25 Percentage of British men who say they share  “all their secrets” with their teddy bears: 15 ...

Portion of college students who believe alcohol improves their ability to tell jokes: 3/4 ...

Estimated number of people held in forced labor worldwide: 21,000,000 Portion who are 18 or younger: 1/4 ...