uExpress.com: Figuratively Speaking by John MacIntyre -- (02/12/2006)

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02/12/2006

Percentage of full-time U.S. employees who work more than five days a week, according to a study by Baxter Strategies Inc.: 13

Percentage who work a full seven days a week: 4

Source: Baxter Strategies Inc. Contact Steven Kane at (516) 367-1783 or e-mail info@baxterstrategies.com.

Rank of the United States, Portugal, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands as the markets with the highest percentage of consumers who have no spare cash, according to data from ACNielsen: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: ACNielsen.

Percentage of Americans who say they eat in their cars to save time, according to the Dashboard Dining Index Study conducted by Kelton Research: 68

Percentage of Americans who say they eat in their cars at least once a week: 30

Source: Kelton Research. Contact Cameron Meyer at (310) 479-4040 or e-mail cameron.meyer@keltonresearch.com.

Percentage of executives who said that e-mail is the method of communication they most often use at work, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 71

Percentage who said that e-mail was their primary method of communication five years ago: 27

Percentage who said the telephone is their primary method of communication: 13

Percentage who said it was the telephone five years ago: 48

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Source: OfficeTeam. Contact Abby Goodman at (650) 234-6104 or e-mail abby.goodman@officeteam.com.

Percentage of consumers who said they are likely to reduce their credit card debt in 2006, according to the Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey: 84

Percentage who said they would cut back on entertainment spending: 45

Percentage who said they would read a book or take a course on personal finances: 36

Percentage who said they would cut down on the number of credit cards they have: 35

Source: Experian -- Consumer Division. Contact Heather Greer at (714) 830-5578 or e-mail heather.greer@experian.com.

Percentage of senior executives who rated the complexity of their company's financial reporting model as "clear to all users," according to Barometer Surveys: 22

Percentage who describe them as only "somewhat clear": 35

Percentage who view them as "clear only to accounting and technical experts": 34

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers. Contact Pete Collins at (914) 921-4181 or email pete.collins@us.pwc.com.

Percentage of workers who say they always believe what they hear at work, according to a workingwounded.com/ ABCNEWS.com online ballot: 3

Source: Workingwounded.com. Contact Bob Rosner, e-mail bob@workingwounded.com.

Amount earned in 2005 by 30-year-old poker pro Phil Ivey, according to Bluff Magazine: $3.4 million

Source: Bluff Magazine. Contact Darren Shifflett at (404) 250-1798 xt: 116 or e-mail darren@bluffmedia.com.

Rank of protection of brand and reputation, the right thing to do, customer trust and loyalty, investor confidence, and public acceptance/recognition as the top five reasons to run a business in an ethical manner, according to the American Management Association and the Human Resource Institute: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: American Management Association. Contact Roger Kelleher at (212) 586-8100 or e-mail rkelleher@amanet.org.

Number of passengers who boarded U.S. scheduled airline planes in 2004, according to data from the Census Bureau: 698 million

Number of passengers who did so in 2003: 666 million

Revenue per passenger mile for U.S. scheduled airlines in 2004: 11.7 cents

Revenue per passenger mile for U.S. scheduled airlines in 2000: 13.5 cents

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Contact Mike Bergman at (301) 763-3030 or e-mail pio@census.gov.

Idle thought

"A king can stand people fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking." -- Will Rogers