Facts That Make A Difference
1. GROWING IOU - As of March 22, 2009, the total U.S. federal debt was $11,039,686,130,898.10 which is an increase of $98,520,837,247.21 since March 3, 2009 (source: Treasury Debt To The Penny).
(Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Schapiro)
2. TICKED? - The “uptick rule” requires a stock that is being “sold short” must be sold at a price above the last sales price of the stock. Some, but not all, market watchers believe the elimination of the “uptick rule” on 7/06/07 has contributed to the stock bear market that began in October 2007. The “uptick rule” was first adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1938 (source: Wall Street Journal). 
3. WORTH - The total net worth of Americans was $51.5 trillion as of 12/31/08, down 18% in the last year, reaching its lowest level since 9/30/05 (source: Federal Reserve). 
4. BIG APPETITE - The USA consumes as much oil per day as does the next 5 largest oil-consuming countries in the world combined (US Energy Information Administration, Wall Street Journal). 
5. PRINTING PRESS - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely prints money to fund its budget deficit, causing the official annual inflation rate to rise from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, passed 1000% in 2006, and 26000% in November 2007, and to 11.2 million percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 30,000 per US dollar in September 2007 (source: CIA Factbook).
6. NOTHING TO IT - Zimbabwe's central bank in January, 2009 issued a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknote as its currency, worth about $33 on the black market (source: International Herald Tribune)
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