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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
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Wages that an average CEO earns before lunchtime: more than a full-time minimum wage worker makes in a year
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Ratio of the average U.S. CEO's annual pay to a minimum wage worker's: 821:1
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Year when this ratio reached its highest so far: 2006
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Total compensation in 2005 of Barry Diller of IAC/Interactive, the highest paid CEO in the US today: $469 million
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Additional amount that Mr. Diller received in new stock options "to motivate Mr. Diller for future performance": $7.6 million
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Percentage of Americans who feel chronically overworked: 30
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Years of unused vacation time that American workers collectively give back to their employers each year: 1.6 million
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Percentage of women earning less than $40,000 per year who receive no paid vacation time at all: 37
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Payment per episode that Donald Trump receives to host The Apprentice:
$3,000,000
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Average amount that companies spend to recruit a new CEO from outside the company: $2,000,000
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Probability that the newly hired CEO will either quit or be fired within the first eighteen months: 1 in 2
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Estimated number of people lined up outside the new M&M store set to open in Times Square responding to ads for "on-the-spot" hiring for 200 jobs, 65 of which were fulltime: between 5,000 and 6,000
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Starting salary that drew them there: $10.75 per hour
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Fee Paris Hilton is seeking to host a New Year's Eve party in NYC, Miami, or L.A.: $100,000 plus a private jet
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Amount that Ms. Hilton is set to inherit from the Hilton Hotel fortune: $350 million
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Number of times that Congress has reduced the estate tax since it last raised the federal minimum wage: 9
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Longest period in which the federal minimum wage has not been increased: 1997-2006
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Number of workers who would directly benefit from an increase in the minimum wage: 5.6 million
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Number of very large estates that would directly benefit from a reduction in the estate tax: 8,200
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Highest price per custom-fitted, handmade power suit in Armani's new line, which hopes to respond to what ex-Gucci head designer Tom Ford calls "a lot of pent-up demand for true luxury [from men who] are getting rich first, and they want to deck themselves out before they deck out their wives": $20,000
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Number of households using credit to cover basic living expenses: 7 in 10
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Amount in tax breaks and subsidies that last year's energy bill paid out to the gas and oil industry during a period of record profits and higher prices at the pump: $6 billion
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Campaign donations that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who voted for the energy bill, received from the oil and gas industry: $500,000, making her the top recipient of oil contributions in the 2006 election cycle
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Percentage of U.S. workers who are confident they will be able to live comfortably after retirement: 68
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Percentage who have saved less than $25,000 toward their retirement: 53
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Percent of African-American and Latino families that have zero or negative net worth, respectively: 31 and 38
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Date on which USA Today reported that Dr. Anthony Griffin of the Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgery Institute, who appears on the ABC program Extreme Makeover, predicted that CEOs will lead a surge in male cosmetic surgery because, he says, "for instance, executives on trial for corporate scandals would improve their chances for acquittal with a makeover just before trial": November 4, 2006
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Date on which the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its all-time high: October 26, 2006
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Decrease in percentage of Americans who own stocks from 2004 to 2006, the first such decline on record: 51.9% to 48.6%
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Total Wal-Mart received in government subsidies, sometimes called "corporate welfare" by activists, in 2005: $3.75 billion
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Percent of the decline in welfare caseloads that is due to TANF programs failing to serve families that are poor enough to qualify, rather than due to a reduction in the number of families poor enough to qualify for aid, in the ten years since "welfare reform": 57
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Percentage of the GDP that went to wages and salaries in the first half of 2006: 51.8
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Time when the percentage of GDP belonging to wages and salaries was lower than in 2006, out of the 77 previous years for which these data are available: never
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Projected total in Christmas bonuses that the five largest investment banks in New York City will pay out in 2006: $36 billion
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Estimated additional amount U.S. workers would receive annually if all employers obeyed workplace laws: $19 billion
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Ratio of compensation of CEOs of publicly traded defense companies to privates before September 11th, 2001: 190 to 1
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Ratio in 2006: 308 to 1
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Percentage increase in out-of-pocket medical expenses for the average American in the past 5 years: 93
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Estimated amount the U.S. would save each year on paperwork if it adopted single-payer health care: $161,000,000,000
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Date on which incoming Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced "Amid this country's strong economic expansion, many Americans simply aren't feeling the benefits. Many aren't seeing significant increases in their take-home pay. Their increases in wages are being eaten up by high energy prices and rising health care costs, among others": August 2, 2006
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According to exit polls in the midterm elections, percentage of Americans who think life for the next generation will be about the same or worse respectively: 28, 40