Percentage of men who said they would stay in a relationship where their partner had substantial credit card debt or had filed for bankruptcy, according to a nationwide survey from TRUE.com: 87

Percentage of women who said the same: 80

Percentage of men and women who claim they have never kept financial secrets from someone they are dating: 66.5

Source: True.com.

Percentage of workers who say they stay in contact with work while on vacation, according to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder: 25

Percentage who say their bosses expect them to be working or at least checking voicemail and e-mail while on vacation: 9

Percentage who say they gave up vacation days in 2007 because they didn't have time to use them: 15

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of consumers who say they plan to stay home more in an economic downturn, according to the results of a survey conducted by e-Rewards on behalf of Blockbuster Inc.: 88

Ranks of eating out, attending entertainment events like concerts and plays, taking vacations, seeing movies in the theater and going to the mall as the most likely candidates for budget cuts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Blockbuster.

Percentage of senior-level executives who say they would accept a pay cut for the "right" position -- defined as a position in which they are learning, positively impacting their organization and co-workers and growing professionally -- according to a survey conducted by IMPACT Hiring Solutions: 54

Percentage who would take up to an 18 percent pay cut: 38

Source: IMPACT Hiring Solutions.

Percentage of U.S. executives who say they are willing to sacrifice at least 1 percent of their salaries to fund their companies' "green" initiatives, according to a survey conducted by Korn/Ferry International: 73

Percentage who say they would be willing to forgo 1 to 2 percent: 40

Percentage who say they would be willing to forgo 10 percent or more: 3

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

When asked to name the most important financial problem facing their families today, percentage of Americans who say energy and gas prices, according to a Gallup Poll: 29

Percentage who cite the high cost of living and inflation: 18

Percentage who say a lack of money and low wages: 14

Percentage who say health care costs: 9

Source: Gallup.

Despite the growing availability of other formats for reading -- such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA -- percentage of readers who still like to read the old-fashioned way and curl up with a printed book, according to a Random House/Zogby poll: 82

Percentage of respondents who said they are comfortable reading books in other formats, such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA: 11

Source: Zogby International.

Amount of money needed annually to eradicate world hunger, re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food, according to Director-General Jacques Diouf of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization: $30 billion

Estimated number of hungry people this money would allow to enjoy the right to food: 862 million

Amount of money spent on arms in 2006: $1.204 trillion

Source: FAO.

Value of the beauty product market in 2007, according to a report, The U.S. Cosmeceuticals Market, from Packaged Facts: $16 billion

Projected value of the market by 2012: $21 billion

Value of skin-care products alone in 2007: $8.9 billion

Source: Packaged Facts.

Rank of Caladesi Island State Park in the Dunedin/Clearwater, Fla., area on the list of America's Top Beaches for 2008, according to coastal expert Dr. Stephen Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach": 1

Ranks of Hanalei Beach (Kauai, Hawaii) and Siesta Beach (Sarasota, Fla.) on the list: 2, 3

Source: about.com.

Idle Thought

"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too." -- Christopher Morley, writer

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Percentage of "high performers" -- measured based on their annual job performance appraisal scores -- who say they are actively looking for other jobs, according to a study conducted by Leadership IQ: 47

Percentage of "low performers" who say they are actively looking for other jobs: 18

Source: Leadership IQ.

Estimated number of debit card transactions in 2007, according to a report by Packaged Facts: 28 million

Estimated total debit card dollar volume in 2007: $1.4 trillion

Source: Packaged Facts.

Rank of the U.S. health care system as the most unpopular, according to surveys by Harris Interactive that asked an identical question to a cross-section of adults in 10 developed countries about their respective health care systems: 1

Ranks of The Netherlands, France, Canada, New Zealand and Australia on the list of the most popular systems: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Percentage of Americans who believe that the American system "has so much wrong with it that we need to completely rebuild it": 33

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of new graduates who say they plan to begin looking for jobs and start their careers right away, according to a survey conducted by Capital One Financial Corp.: 51.5

Rank of a comprehensive benefits package (66 percent) -- including health care, 401(k), child care and domestic partnership benefits -- among the most cited factors influencing new graduates' searches for employment: 1

Ranks of starting salary (64 percent) and job location (60 percent): 2, 3

Source: Capital One Financial Corp. Contact Pam Girardo at (703) 720-2351, or e-mail pam.girardo@capitalone.com.

Percentage of U.S. workers who regularly attend after-work drinks with co-workers, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com: 21

Among those who attend, percentage who say they attend to hear the latest office gossip: 15

Percentage who say they go because they feel obligated: 13

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of advertising and marketing executives who said a colleague has tried to make them look bad on the job, according to a poll by The Creative Group: 50

Percentage of professionals sabotaged by a co-worker who said it's best to confront the offender directly: 70

Source: The Creative Group.

Ranks of pens, pencils or rulers (66 percent), paper, post-its or file folders (57 percent), and calculators, staplers or tape dispensers (11 percent) on the list of supplies most often taken by workers, according to a Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of workers who admit to having taken higher priced items such as laptops, PDAs or cell phones: 8

Source: Spherion.

Percentage of executives who feel that a good cover letter is valuable and can open doors, according to an OfficeTeam survey: 93

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of baby boomers who said retirement saving was the most important financial lesson they learned from their parents, according to findings of a study of generational differences in retirement planning conducted by Mathew Greenwald and Associates: 15

Percentage who believe they have done an "excellent job" saving for retirement: 21

Percentage who reported success in avoiding credit card debt: 57 (This is 24 percentage points lower than their parents' responses.)

Source: NAVA.

Percentage of American organizations that say their emphasis on improving employee productivity and efficiency has increased during the last year, according to a survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity: 59

Percentage that say they focus on increasing productivity to a high or very high degree: 49

Percentage of American employees who say their organization does not "get the most" out of its employees or are undecided: 51

Source: Institute for Corporate Productivity.

When factoring in inflation and increases in medical costs, percentage of their final pay at retirement that employees will need to replace, according to Hewitt's Total Retirement Income at Large Companies: The Real Deal report: 126

Traditional percentage pay replacement targets: 70 to 90

Source: Hewitt Associates.

Idle Thought

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." -- Oscar Wilde

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Percentage of employees with unbalanced diets who say they have high levels of energy, according to a survey conducted by ComPsych Corp.: 5

Percentage of workers with balanced diets who say they have high energy: 50

Of employees with healthy diets, percent who report having high levels of productivity: 73

Percentage of employees with unbalanced diets who say the same: 24

Source: ComPsych Corp.

Number of laptops that are reported lost or stolen each week at the 36 largest U.S. airports, according to a survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute: 10,278

Percentage that are not reclaimed: 69

Source: Ponemon Institute.

Percentage of their annual income that Chinese consumers aged 18 to 34 save on average, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch: 14

Percentage saved on average by Americans the same age: 9

Percentage of young Chinese consumers who are confident or very confident in their economy: 65

Percentage of young Americans who are confident or very confident in theirs: 21.8

Source: BIGresearch.

Percentage of business travelers who do not have trouble balancing work responsibilities with personal obligations and are using technology as a way to maintain their regular routines and stay in touch with loved ones, according to the results of a survey by Expedia Corporate Travel: 66

Percentage of travelers who establish a nightly ritual of calling their family every evening before they go to bed: 67

Source: Expedia.

Rank of lost productivity among the issues most impacted by employee turnover, according to a survey of U.S. executives conducted by TalentKeepers: 1

Ranks of diminished service quality, decreased employee morale, lost organizational knowledge and higher recruiting costs: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: TalentKeepers.

Percentage of sales organizations that say their sales forces did not meet last year's sales goals, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte and Oracle: 40

Percentage of sales organizations that say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their sales force performance: 49

Source: Deloitte.

Percentage of Americans who consider cell phones and other technology use to be the most dangerous distraction while driving, according to a Nationwide Insurance survey: 48

Percentage who cite our current societal mindset and busy, on-the-go lifestyles as the reason why people drive distracted: 35

Percentage of Generation X (aged 31 to 44) who admitted to driving while distracted: 80

Source: Nationwide Insurance.

Percentage of Americans who say they support the construction of new nuclear power plants in the U.S., according to a survey conducted by Zogby: 67

Percentage of respondents aged 18 to 24 who said the same, the lowest of any age category: 47

Percentage of respondents age 65 and older who said the same, the highest of any age category: 78

Source: Zogby International.

Percentage of Americans who say they snack in the car, according to a survey commissioned by Pepperidge Farm: 57

Percentage who admit they keep snacks in their desk at work: 55

Percentage who cozy up with their snacks in bed: 29

Percentage who will snack in a house of worship: 4

Source: Pepperidge Farm.

Idle Thought

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." -- J. R. R. Tolkien

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600