Single households on the rise
The share of U.S. households made up of just one person is now 28 percent—the highest level in U.S. history. These singles spend more than their married counterparts—$34,471 per capita in 2010 compared with $28,017 for married individuals without kids—and contribute $1.9 trillion to the economy each year.
Fortune
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The odds of having a fatal plane crash
In the past five years, the odds of a U.S. plane having a fatal crash have been 1 in 49 million, a decline of 93 percent from the period between 1994 and 1998. The improved odds stem from new technologies and better analysis of precrash factors.
Bloomberg Businessweek
The iPhone 4S's bandwidth needs
The Siri-equipped iPhone 4S uses twice as much bandwidth as the iPhone 4 and nearly three times as much as the iPhone 3G. The smartphones’ increasing popularity could lead to congested data networks, slowing service even for those who don’t use the iPhone 4S.
The Washington Post
$133 billion of TARP monies are still owed
The U.S. government is still owed about $133 billion allocated by the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to the fund’s watchdog. Some 458 companies, mostly small banks, still owe the fund money, but AIG, General Motors, Chrysler, and the auto companies’ financing arms are on the hook for about $90 billion of the outstanding funds.
Time.com
Tax burden is lower under Obama than Reagan
The federal tax burden is lower under President Obama than it was under President Reagan. In 1983, tax revenues were 17.5 percent of GDP; in 2010, they were 14.9 percent of GDP. Taxes under Obama are comparatively low because of the Bush tax cuts, the effects of the financial crisis, and tax cuts included in Obama’s stimulus package.
The Washington Post
