Despite a historic real-estate market upheaval that sent foreclosure rates skyrocketing and home values plummeting, percentage of homeowners who say they would buy their homes again, according to poll results announced by The Allstate Corp. and National Journal: 90

Percentage of Americans who say they would advise a friend or family member to buy a home as a long-term asset: 70

Source: The Allstate Corp.

In the U.K., estimated amount of money that women save annually by flirting with shop staff until they get a discount, according to a survey commissioned by the website promocodes.co.uk: $245

Ranks of cars, holidays, TVs, houses and clothes on the list of items that people most flirted or haggled for a discount on: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Including vouchers, haggling and flirting, amount of money that Brits say they are saving annually: $941

Source: Promocodes.co.uk.

On average, percentage of their time that managers claim to spend intervening in employee disputes and handling personality conflicts, according to an Accountemps survey: 18

Number of hours a week this represents: 7

Number of 40-hour weeks per year this represents: 9

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of parents who feel they should have primary responsibility for teaching their kids the basics of personal finance, according to a survey by T. Rowe Price: 86

Percentage of parents who say they are very prepared to discuss basic financial principles such as setting goals, the importance of saving, smart spending, inflation, and diversification with their children: 28

Source: T. Rowe Price.

Projected number of hot dogs that major league ballparks around the country will serve this season, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's 2011 annual report: 22,435,400

If laid end-to-end, that number of hot dogs would stretch from AT&T Park in San Francisco to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, but the real question is: How many times it would round the bases: 31,160

Ranks of Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium and Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park on the list forecast as the top hot dog consuming MLB venues in 2011: 1, 2, 3

Source: National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

Number of single people in the United States -- one-third of the population, according to Match.com: 150 million

Though women still expect men to make the first move and ask a lady out, percentage who would offer to pick up the check on a first date: 41

Percentage of women who prefer men to make the follow-up call after the first date: 48

Source: Match.com.

Percentage of American adults who are stressed by at least one thing at work, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Everest College: 77

Overall, percentage of adults who ranked low pay as the most stressful aspect of their jobs: 14

Percentage who cited commuting: 11

Percentage who say an unreasonable workload: 9

Source: Everest College.

Estimated number of feet of underground utilities in the United States, according to the Common Ground Alliance: 100 billion

Percentage of Americans planning to dig this year who will put their community's safety at risk by not calling 811 to learn the approximate location of underground utilities: 49

Frequency that an underground utility line is damaged by digging: Every three minutes

Source: Common Ground Alliance.

Percentage of consumers who reported that they worry that the organization they are sharing their personal information with could suffer a data breach, according to the results of the annual tax and identity theft survey by PrivacyGuard: 64

When a data breach occurs, percentage of respondents who are more likely to blame the institution that was breached: 44

Percentage who are more likely to blame the thieves that stole the data: 35

Source: PrivacyGuard.

Despite concerns about a possible nuclear disaster in the U.S., percentage of Americans who think nuclear power plants in the U.S. are safe, according to a Gallup Poll: 58

Percentage who say they are not: 36

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids." -- John Steinbeck

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

Estimated percentage of all Americans who have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives, according to research from the National Restaurant Association: 50

Percentage of adults who had their first job experience in a restaurant: 25

Percentage of restaurant managers who got their start as front-line employees: 80

Source: National Restaurant Association.

Percentage of Americans who date who say they used Facebook to snoop around a date's information and check out photos, according to Zagat's Dating and Dumping survey: 41

Ranks of through family and friends, online, random encounters, through hobbies and activities, and through work on the list of the best ways to meet someone: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Zagat.

Percentage of Americans who love their job who say it is because of the work that they do, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs-Randstad survey: 66

Percentage who say their co-workers are the reason they love their job: 11

Percentage who cite their employer as the reason: 10

Percentage who say the pay or salary: 9

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of Americans who were concerned about whether the government was watching them online, according to a survey by YouGov: 35

Percentage who were wary about the data that social networks collect: 15

Source: Opera Software.

In 2010, percentage growth in the number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more, not including a primary residence, according to Affluent Market Insights 2011, a report released by Spectrem Group: 8

Number of households this represents: 600,000

Total U.S. millionaire population today: 8.4 million

Percentage growth in the number of households with a net worth of $500,000 or more, not including a primary residence: 6

Total number of these households today, up from 12.7 million in 2009: 13.5 million

Source: Spectrem Group.

Percentage of mature workers who said the primary drivers for postponing retirement are financial restraints, according to a survey from CareerBuilder: 65

Percentage who said they need the health insurance and other benefits: 58

Percentage of respondents who said they stay because they enjoy their job: 39

Percentage who enjoy where they work: 36

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Year that the nation's first woman doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell, received her M.D. -- as the result of a joke, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1849

Finding it hard to get a job at established hospitals and clinics, year that she opened her own dispensary, which later grew to become the New York Infirmary for Women and Children: 1854

Year that she established a Women's Medical College at the Infirmary to train women physicians and doctors: 1868

Percentage of U.S. doctors who are women: 33

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Much to the chagrin of home improvement stores, percentage decline in the DIY home improvement market from 2005 to 2010, according to research from Mintel: 21

Percentage of DIYers who say they would like to undertake a major renovation or addition to their home, but they just don't have the funds: 28

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of in-market new car buyers who believe it would be valuable to require a dealer to provide a no-haggle upfront selling price, according to TrueCar's Online Automotive Buying Behavior Report: 90

Percentage of car shoppers who believe that they will not receive a fair price for their trade-in or that the dealer will make up for the loss through other services (financing, extended warranties, etc.): 82

Percentage of respondents who would likely use a car-buying service from a trusted organization to save time and money: 80

Source: TrueCar Inc.

Percentage of women who think a bad skin day is worse than a bad hair day, according to a CosMedix survey: 38

Percentage of women who fear being seen without makeup by their significant other: 22

Source: Cosmedix.

Idle Thought

"There is nothing like desire for preventing the things one says from bearing any resemblance to what one has in one's mind." -- Marcel Proust

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

Percentage of Americans who prioritize economic growth over environmental protection, according to a Gallup Poll: 54

In a 2000 Gallup Poll on the environment, percentage of Americans who favored the environment over the economy: 67

Source: Gallup.

Number of questions across five categories (American government, systems of government, rights and responsibilities, American history and integrated civics) that are asked in the U.S. citizenship test: 100

When the test was administered to 1,000 American adults, percentage who could not qualify to be a citizen of their own country, according to survey results published by Newsweek magazine: 38

Percentage who couldn't name the current vice president: 29

Percentage who were not aware that the U.S. has a capitalist economic system: 67

Source: Newsweek.

Percentage of working parents who are frequently burning a candle on both ends when it comes to juggling a career and kids, according to a national survey commissioned by Care.com Inc.: 44

Percentage of working parents who revealed that they are too stressed from managing their jobs and their families to go to the gym, call a friend or have sex with their spouses: 62

Percentage who reported that they would leave their current jobs for less or considerably less money if that would provide more flexibility in their lives: 25

Source: Care.com.

Percentage of Americans living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor who do not know "what to do in the event of a nuclear reactor emergency," such as the evacuation route and what other steps to take, according to a major new survey conducted by ORC International for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute: 52

Percentage of Americans who say they live within 50 miles of a nuclear power reactor: 24

Source: CSI.

Percentage of Americans who believe it is possible for a middle income family to save for a secure retirement, according to a Country Financial survey: 28

Percentage of respondents who indicate they are decreasing the amount they are putting away for their golden years: 43

Source: Country Financial.

Percentage of CFOs who cited time management due to competing priorities as their biggest work challenge, according to a survey developed by Robert Half Management Resources: 38

Percentage who said "keeping up with technology" is their biggest challenge: 30

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

While 28.9 percent of the nation's population was in poverty for at least two months between the start of 2004 and the end of 2006, percentage who were poor during the entire period, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau: 2.8

For those who were in poverty for two or more consecutive months from 2004 to 2006, median length of a poverty spell: 4.5 months

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of new-car shoppers who indicate that they plan to finance some or all of the cost of their next vehicle purchase, according to Kelley Blue Book: 66

Percentage of shoppers who say they plan to pay the entire cost of their next vehicle in cash: 34

Source: Kelley Blue Book.

Despite the fact that women tend to face higher health care expenses in retirement due to their greater longevity, percentage of women who think they will need to accumulate less than $250,000 for retirement, according to the 21st annual Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employment Benfit Research Institute: 35

Percentage of men who think the same: 26

Percentage of women who say they do not know how much they will need to save: 12

Percentage of men who say the same thing: 5

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of U.S. consumers who have already significantly reduced discretionary spending because of the increase in gas prices, according to the RBC Consumer Outlook Index: 32

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Idle Thought

"To know how to say what other people only think is what makes men poets and sages." -- Elizabeth Rundle Charles, writer

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