Issues and Allegations

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Just the Facts

Business

• Percent growth in corporate profits, 2001 through 2003: 62.2
• Percent growth in labor compensation, 2001 through 2003: 2.8
• Growth in private wage and salary income (total labor compensation, including health care and pension benefits), 2001 through 2003: -0.6 [Source]

Children and Families

• Percent of White children living in two parent homes in 1995: 75.8
• Percent of White children living in two parent homes in 2002: 74.5 [Source]

• Percent of Hispanic children living in two parent homes in 1995: 62.9
• Percent of Hispanic children living in two parent homes in 2002: 65.1 [Source]

• Percent of African American children living in two-parent homes in 1995: 33.1
• Percent of African American children living in two-parent homes in 2000: 38.5 [Source]

• Number of hours of convention coverage each major party received on Al-Jazeera: 13
• Number of hours of convention coverage each major party received on ABC, NBC and CBS combined: 9 (three hours over three nights on each station) Source

Crime and Punishment

• Number of defendants charged in U.S. district courts with firearm offenses in FY 1994 (second year of Clinton administration): 6,756 [Source]
• Number of defendants charged in U.S. district courts with firearm offenses in FY 2002 (second year of Bush administration): 10,634 [Source]

• Percentage of U.S. defendants who require a public defender: 80 [Source]

• Number of offenders in state/federal prison serving a life sentence in 1984: 34,000
• Number of offenders in state/federal prison serving a life sentence in 2003: 127,677 [Source]

• Percentage of offenders in prison serving a life sentence doing so without chance of parole in 1992: 17.2
• Percentage of offenders in prison serving a life sentence doing so without chance of parole in 2003: 26.3 [Source]

Education

• Percentage of average public university tuition covered by a maximum Pell Grant award in 1976: 84
• Percentage of average public university tuition covered by a maximum Pell Grant award in 2003: 39 [Source]

• A student from a family in the top 25 percent of income with standardized test scores in the lowest 25 percent was as likely to be enrolled in college as a student from a family in the lowest 25 percent of income earners with scores in the top 25 percent. [Source]
• Percent of students from families in the top 25 percent of income who graduate with a four-year degree within five years of entering college: 40
• Percent of students from families in the lowest quarter of income who graduate within five years: 6 [Source]

Energy

• Ratio of barrels of oil produced in US per day to barrels consumed in US per day during the Yom Kippur War of 1973: 1 to 1.3
• Ratio of barrels of oil produced in US per day to barrels consumed in US per day during the first Gulf War of 1991: 1 to 2.3
• Ratio of barrels of oil produced in US per day to barrels consumed in US per day during the second Gulf War in 2003: 1 to 3.7 [Source]

• Average engine horsepower of a truck/SUV in 1980: 121
• Average engine horsepower of a truck/SUV in 2004: 235
  
  
• Average weight of a truck/SUV in 1980 (lbs.): 3868
• Average weight of a truck/SUV in 2004 (lbs.): 4712 [Source]

• Average engine horsepower of a car in 1980: 100
• Average engine horsepower of a car in 2004: 183
  
  

• Average weight of a car in 1980 (lbs.): 3101
• Average weight of a car in 2004 (lbs.): 3462 [Source]

• Maximum number of miles that Ford's most fuel efficient 2003 car can drive on a gallon of gas: 36
• Maximum number of miles per gallon its 1912 Model T could drive: 35 [Source]

• Percentage of America's oil supply imported in 1973: 35
• Percentage in 2002: 53
• Percentage of oil imported by US in 2001 that came from Persian Gulf countries: 23 [Source]

Firearms

• Percentage of households that owned a gun during the Revolutionary War: less than 10
• Percentage of households that own at least one gun today: about 45 [Source]

• Number of states that do not have the ability to access mental health records (including records of mental commitments) for purposes of a background check at the time of a firearms purchase: 14
• Number of states that do not have a reliable ability to check records for convictions for domestic violence: 22
• Number of states that do not forward all of their protection order information to the FBI for inclusion in the National Protection Order file: 15 [Source]

Government Accountability

• Number of documents classified in the first two years of Bill Clinton's first term: 11 million
• Number of documents classified in the first two years of George W. Bush's term: 44.5 million [Source]

• Amount that federal money going to the average Democratic district exceeded that going to the average Republican district in 1995, the last year the Democrats controlled the budget process in the House: $35 million
• Amount that federal money going to the average Republican district exceeed that going to the average Democratic district in 2000, a year in which Republicans controlled the budget process: $612 million [Source]

• Average salary of a state legislator last year: $30,300 [Source]
• Average amount spent lobbying one: $130,000 [Source]

Homeland Security

• Number of English police guarding President Bush during state visit to London: 14,000 [Source]
• Number of Transportation Security Administration screener positions cut in 2003 due to federal budget cuts: 6,000 [Source]

Knowledge

• Percentage of surveyed Americans who knew the verdict of the Martha Stewart trial: 79
• In the same survey, percentage who knew that Republicans have a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives: 56 [Source]

Labor

• Number of U.S. states that provide paid family leave: 1 (California, as of July 1, 2004)
• Number of countries in the world that provide paid maternity leave: 163
• Number that also provide paid paternity leave: 45 [Source]

• Median weekly wage of full-time workers in 2003: $620 ($32,240 annually)
  • Percent increase from 2002: 2 [Source]
• Median annual compensation for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in 2003: $4.6 million
  • Percent increase from 2002: 27 [Source]

• Percentage increase in applications for disability payments from 1999 to 2003: 50
• Increase in number enrolled: 1 million [Source]
• Peak unemployment rate in current recession adjusted to account for these uncounted and workless people: 8 [Source]

Living

• Average square footage of a new house in 1970: 1,500
• Average square footage of a new house in 2000: 2,266 [Source]
  
  

• Average number of people per household in 1970: 3.14
• Average number of people per household in 2000: 2.62 [Source]

• The price of a life, according to the EPA, in 2000: $6.1 million
• The price of a life, according to the EPA, in 2002: $3.7 million [Source]

Military

• Amount the Defense Department has lost track of, according to a 2000 report by its inspector general: $1,100,000,000,000 [Source]
• Ratio of this amount to rest of the world's military budgets combined: 2:1 [Source]

• Number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq since May 1, 2003: 720 (as of 07/02/04)[Source]
• Number who died in Vietnam in 1963 and 1964: 324 [Source]

News Sources

• Of people who are regular viewers of the network nightly news, percentage who correctly answered four questions about current events: 33
• Percentage of regular viewers of the Daily Show who answered correctly: 47 [Source]

Same-Sex Marriage

• Percentage of counties in the 2000 U.S. Census reporting same-sex couples raising children under 18: 96
• Percentage of counties in the 2000 U.S. Census reporting a senior citizen in a same-sex relationship: 97
• Percentage of counties in the 2000 U.S. Census reporting citizens in same-sex relationship: 99 [Source]

Taxes

• Number of zero-tax* income tax filers in 2000: 29,900,000
• Zero-tax filers as percentage of all filers in 2000: 23.1%
• Estimated number of zero-tax income tax filers in 2004: 44,000,000
• Zero-tax filers as percentage of all filers in 2004: 33% [Source]

• Tax deduction for businesses that buy a Hummer H2 that gets under 10 miles per gallon: $34,000
• Tax deduction for businesses that buy a hybrid car that gets 55 miles per gallon: $1,500 [Source]

• Number of years the new increase in the federal child tax credit is scheduled to last: 1 [Source]
• Percentage of households that currently pay estate taxes: 2
• Percentage of value of estates worth more than $10 million that come from unrealized capital gains (e.g. appreciation of real estate or stocks or bonds): over 56
• Amount these estates are taxed on these gains: 0 [Source]

• Percentage of Americans who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of the 2003 tax cut: 88
• Average amount (in dollars) these Americans will save: 4 [Source]