Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of Americans who get stressed at just the thought of relaxing, according to a survey of Princess Cruises: 33

Percentage of Americans who feel guilty about relaxing: 42

Source: Princess Cruises.

Percentage of Americans who think the United States should limit the number of refugees allowed into this country, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll: 60

Percentage who say the U.S. should take in more refugees from Syria: 20

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of children age 18 and under who have accumulated savings for college, according to data, drawn from the College Savings Foundation's annual State of College Savings survey: 72

Of those, percentage who had savings started by age 5: 76

Percentage who started saving between the ages of 6 and 10: 21

Percentage all respondents' children who did not yet have savings set aside for college: 28

Source: College Savings Foundation.

Percentage of workers who report having experienced an increase in health care costs in the past year -- down from 59 percent in 2014 and a historical low for the survey, according to research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute: 50

Percentage of workers experiencing cost increases who said the cost increases led them to try to take better care of themselves: 69

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of women ages 18 to 54 in the United States who wear makeup, according to a survey by Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser: 83

Source: Clarion Brands.

Percentage of Americans who say the federal government poses "an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," according to a Gallup Poll: 49

When this question was first asked in 2003, percentage of Americans who held this belief: 33

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who admit to making mistakes on social media who are concerned they might adversely affect their careers with a questionable social media post, according to a YouGov Omnibus survey: 21

Percentage who are afraid they may hurt relationships with family or partners by sharing misguided images or messages: 14

Source: YouGov.

Percentage of Americans who believe U.S. public schools provide an excellent or very good education nationally, at both the primary (19 percent for grades K-6) and secondary (18 percent for grades 7-12) levels, according to the results of a Harris Poll: 17.5

Percentage of Americans who believe religious private schools provide an excellent or very good education: 40

Percentage who say the same of private schools without religious affiliations: 38.5

Source: The Harris Poll.

Ranks of the Texas cities of Odessa, Frisco, Midland, Mission and College Station on the list of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., as calculated by 10 key metrics, ranging from population growth rate to unemployment rate decrease, according to an in-depth analysis by WalletHub: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Of the top 10 cities on this list, number that are in Texas: 9

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of consumers who revealed the top reason they hesitate to purchase gifts online is the worry about buying the wrong size, according to a survey by Loop Commerce: 25

Percentage who cited worrying about the hassle of returns as the most common reason they hesitate to buy gifts online: 24

Source: Loop Commerce.

Idle Thought

"It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars." -- Garrison Keillor, radio host and author

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Percentage of Americans who commute to work in their car, according to Convergex: 85

Percentage who do so alone: 75

Source: Convergex.

Rank of Social Security on the list of the largest government programs in the world, accounting for 26 percent ($906 billion) of total U.S. federal spending in 2014 ($3.5 trillion), according to research by ProCon.org: 1

Percentage of unmarried retirees who relied on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income: 47

With the Social Security trust fund paying out more in benefits than it collects in employee taxes since 2010, year that the fund is projected to run out of money: 2034.

Source: ProCon.org.

Percentage of all men who tuck in their shirts at least three days a week, according to a Fruit of the Loom survey of men ages 25 to 60: 49

Percentage of tuckers who report being happier on the job: 60

Percentage more likely that tuckers are to report being socially outgoing: 10

Percentage more likely they are to say they're optimistic about the future: 22

Source: Fruit of the Loom.

With 3,130 ultra-wealthy individuals among its alumni, rank of Harvard University on Wealth-X's list of universities with the largest ultra-high net worth alumni population: 1

Ranks of the University of Pennsylvania (1,580), Stanford University (1,240), Columbia University (940), New York University (860) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT (670) on the Wealth-X ranking of universities with the largest ultra-high net worth alumni population: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of employers who believe the minimum wage should be increased in their state, up from 62 percent last year, according to a new CareerBuilder survey: 64

Percentage of employers who said they plan to hire minimum wage workers this year: 26

Percentage of all employers who believe the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) is fair: 6

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Date that a 29-year-old female passenger pigeon named Martha died, marking the extinction of the species that once covered North America in enormous flocks, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: Sept. 1, 1914

Today, estimated number of zoos and botanical gardens in the U.S. devoted to conserving and preserving threatened species: 600

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of millennials (those born in the early 1980s to the early 2000s) who said they have college-related debt, according to a survey conducted by the nonprofit Investor Protection Institute.: 49

Percentage with debts of $1,000 to $20,000: 20

Percentage with debts of $20,000 to $50,000: 16

Source: Investor Protection Institute.

Approximate number of verses there are in the Bible about money -- twice as many as verses about heaven and hell combined, according to Crown Financial Ministries: 2,300

Percentage more likely that parents are to have talked with their children about the importance of good manners than about the value of money: 95

Percentage more likely they are to have talked about the benefit of good eating habits: 87

Percentage more likely they are to have talked about the risks of smoking: 82

Source: Crown Financial Ministries.

By 7 a.m., percentage of new parents with a mobile device who have visited their Facebook page for the first time in the day, according to research provided by Facebook: 56

Percentage of non-parents who have done the same: 45

Source: Nielsen Insights.

Percentage of Americans who agree that racism is a major problem in the U.S., according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos: 70

Percentage who say America should deport most or all illegal immigrants: 56

Source: Reuters/Ipsos.

Idle Thought

"Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck." -- Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report for July 2015, total number of job openings in the United States, a record high since the Labor Department started tracking the data in December 2000: 5.75 million

Percentage of all employer-employee separations -- including layoffs, firings, etc. -- that involved an employee quitting, also known as the "take this job and shove it" indicator: 57.1

Highest percentage recorded since the end of the Great Recession, reported in January 2015: 57.5

Currently, average number of years workers spend at a job: 2.6

Source: Convergex.

Number of times their final annual pay at retirement (age 65) that the average worker will need to have saved to keep a pre-retirement lifestyle, according to Aon Hewitt's analysis of 77 large U.S. employers, representing 2.1 million employees: 11

According to the analysis, percentage of workers who are on track to meet or exceed their needs in retirement at age 65: 20

Source: Aon Hewitt.

Percentage of workers who admitted they've had an office bully, according to research from the staffing firm OfficeTeam: 35

Percentage of HR managers who said they think workplace bullying happens at least somewhat often at their company: 27

When employees were asked how they responded to a bully, percentage who stated they confronted the person: 32

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of American adults who have begun their holiday shopping, according to a new survey by CreditCards.com: 14

Percentage of Americans who said they plan to start shopping earlier this year compared to last year: 15

Percentage of all consumers -- or about 4.6 million people -- who have already finished their holiday shopping: 2

Source: Creditcards.com.

Percentage of respondents who say they're all for a quick kiss hello when greeting a friend, according to a Skout survey: 61

Percentage of men who kiss when saying hello: 64

Percentage of women who do the same: 56

Source: Skout.

Percentage of families who did not borrow any of the money they used to pay for college during the 2014-2015 academic year, according to the national study from Sallie Mae and Ipsos: 62

Among those who did borrow, percentage of the responsibility for the funds borrowed that fell primarily to the student: 75

Percentage of students who worked during the year to help cover costs: 74

Source: Sallie Mae.

Date that USA Today began publishing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: Sept. 15, 1982

Date that The New York Times issued its first edition: Sept. 18, 1851

Month that the first newspaper in America was published in Boston, called "Public Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick," and lasting for one day before being shut down by British authorities unhappy with its content: September 1690

Today, estimated number of publishers of daily, weekly or other periodical newspapers in the U.S., employing over 231,000 people: 7,500

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

On average, total amount of money the typical American spent in 2013, the most recent year for which data was available, according to research by Credit Donkey: $51,100

Median household income in the United States in 2013, a steep drop from the $56,436 reported in 2007: $51,939

As of December 2014, personal savings rate in the U.S., compared to the 10.5 percent rate reported in December 2012: 4.9

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Percentage of the top 10 fastest-growing degrees that are in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields, according to a the results of a CareerBuilder survey that looks at trends in college degrees over the past four years: 50

Percentage growth in science technologies/technicians: 49

Percentage growth in natural resources and conservation: 45

Percentage growth in parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies: 44

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of senior U.S. association executives who said their associations are outsourcing functions other than audit and legal services, according to a SmithBucklin Outsourced Services: 81

Ranks of graphic design/multimedia/video, editorial/publishing, advertising sales and membership technology on the list of services association executives considering outsourcing as an option to help achieve their organizations' goals: 1, 2(tie), 4

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Idle Thought

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -- Leo Tolstoy

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)