Timeline of government healthcare in the United States

The Supreme Court’s ruling on President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul comes after a century of debate over what role the government should play in helping people in the United States afford medical care. A look at the issue through the years: 1912: Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to …

The most visited countries in the world

France – 77 million United States – 61 million China – 56 million Spain – 53 million Italy – 43 million United Kingdom – 28 million Turkey – 27 million Germany – 27 million Malaysia – 25 million Mexico – 22 million   Interesting to note that both France and Spain receive more visitors than …

Average annual hours worked per country

“Over the last century, you’ve seen a reduction from very long working hours – nearly 3,000 a year at the beginning of the 1900s – to the turn of the 21st Century when most developing countries were under 1,800 hours,” says Messenger. “And indeed some of the most productive countries were even lower than that.” …

The most popular media outlets by state – where is Fox News/NPR popular?

Forbes and Bitly pulled together a data set highlighting the most read newspapers by state. In some places certain media is read more than others. Can you guess where NPR is the most popular, or where Fox News is read the most?   The Media Map: Who’s reading what and where News sources read and …

Progress in the Middle East – if you measure by the number of Facebook users

There are growing signs of progress in the Middle East, if you measure by the total number of Facebook users. That number has skyrocketed since 2010, going from 15 million to near 40 million. Of those users, a growing number are starting to prefer using the site in their own native language, Arabic. Of the …

North America poised to once again dominate world economic growth

The Economist published a barometer of world business according to 1,500 senior executives. It’s a complicated graph but very interesting because it shows North America will once again lead the world out of trouble. Read it as follows, “Balance of respondents expecting:” global business conditions to improve (let side) their companies to have more employees …

U.S. global warming affects Texas, Midwest, and Northeast – the most

The United States recently went through the hottest 12 months ever, since record-keeping began in 1895. National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration said that for the period from May 2011 to April 2012, the nationally averaged temperature was 55.7 degrees, 2.8 degrees higher than the 20th century average. The national average temperature for April was 55 …

Housing recovery hits some areas – top growth in U.S. cities

Metros with the Most Construction Permits in 2011 Houston, TX – 31,271 Dallas, TX – 18,686 Washington, DC – 16,501 New York, NY – 13,973 Austin, TX – 10,239 Los Angeles, CA – 9,895 Phoenix, AZ – 9,081 Seattle, WA – 8,664 Atlanta, GA – 8,634 San Antonio, TX – 7,127 More permits were issued …