Percentage of Americans who believe that having a secure job is by far the most important requirement for being in the middle class, easily trumping homeownership and a college education, according to a Pew Research poll: 86

Percentage of respondents who say health insurance is an essential ticket to a middle-class life: 66

Percentage who say the same about owning a home: 45

In 1991, ranks of homeownership (70 percent), two or more cars (48 percent), a college education (46 percent), stocks, bonds or other investments (41 percent), and a white-collar job (33 percent) on the list of what Americans thought it took it to be in the middle class: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends.

Estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2011 -- children ages 5 to 14 -- across the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 41 million

Number of occupied housing units across the nation in 2011 -- all potential stops for trick-or-treaters: 115 million

Number of costume rental and formal wear establishments across the nation in 2010: 1,634

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of millennials who agree with the statement "If taxes on business profits were reduced, companies would be more likely to hire," according to a survey of adults ages 18 to 29 for Generation Opportunity by the polling company Inc./WomanTrend: 69

Percentage of millennials who agree with the statement "the economy grows best when individuals are allowed to create businesses without government interference": 65

Percentage of millennials who prefer reducing federal spending over raising taxes on individuals to balance the budget: 65

Source: Generation Opportunity.

As the "bring your own device" (BYOD) trend sweeps across the business world, percentage of employees who consider the ability to be "tracked" through a number of technologies built into most of the popular smartphones an invasion of their privacy, according to the results of a survey for Fiberlink: 82

Percentage of respondents who would not give their employer access to view what applications are installed on their personal device, considering it to be private information: 76

Percentage who are concerned to extremely concerned about their employers tracking websites they browse on personal devices during non-work time: 82

Source: Fiberlink.

Ranks of Wenzai Huang of China ($1 billion net wealth, and gifting 5.97 percent of net wealth), Hans-Werner Hector of Germany ($1.8 billion net wealth, and gifting 3.53 percent), and Terrence Pegula of the U.S. ($3.3 billion net wealth and gifting 3.03 percent), on the list of the top 20 emerging mega donors, according to Wealth-X: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of this list of emerging mega donors who are American: 20

Number of the top 20 next mega donors who come from India and China: 7

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of U.S. adults who agree that renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, should be a bigger part of America's energy supply in the future, according to a poll conducted on behalf of Sungevity: 89

Percentage of respondents who expect their elected officials to support solar energy initiatives: 80

Percentage who believe, regardless of who is in office, the White House and other official federal and state residences should use solar energy: 81

Source: Sungevity.

Percentage of Americans who will hand out candy this Halloween, according a survey by the National Retail Federation: 72.2

Percentage of respondents who will carve a pumpkin: 46.3

Percentage who will visit a haunted house: 20.8

Source: National Retail Federation.

Percentage of consumers who are planning to spend the same or more on holiday shopping this year than in 2011, according to the results of PriceGrabber's first holiday shopping survey: 62

Percentage of consumers who planned to start their holiday shopping in September: 17

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Number of U.S. adults (32 percent) who believe homeowners should be able to strategically default on their mortgages without any consequences, according to a survey conducted online by JZ Analytics on behalf of ID Analytics: 68 million

Number of Americans (13 percent) who would likely strategically default on a mortgage: 28 million

Number who know someone who has strategically defaulted on a mortgage: 36 million

Source: ID Analytics Inc.

Percentage increase in the total acreage owned by the 100 largest private landowners in the past five years, up from 27.2 million acres in 2007 to 32.3 million in 2012, according to a survey published by the The Land Report: 18.6

Source: Land Report.

Idle Thought

"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work." -- Robert Orben

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

In 2010, percentage of all households that included married couples with children, down from a high of 44 percent in 1960, according to a Population Reference Bureau report: 20

At the peak in 1960, percentage of all households that included married couples: 75

Today, percentage of all households where people live alone: 27

Source: Population Reference Bureau.

Number of times more likely hiring managers are to hire a mature worker 50 years old and older than a millennial, according to a survey from Adecco Staffing U.S.: 3

Percentage of respondents who say they view mature workers as reliable: 91

Percentage who consider them professional: 88

Source: Adecco.

Estimated average cost to a middle-income family to raise a child from birth through age 17, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: $235,000

Percentage of families who are stressed about money: 80

Percentage of moms who are concerned about not having enough money to raise their children, a 10 percent increase from 2011: 70

Percentage of couples who admit they argue about money, according to BabyCenter's 2012 U.S. Cost of Raising a Child report: 70

Source: BabyCenter LLC.

Although it's been 45 years since Herbie hit the big screen in "The Love Bug," number of motorists who have been proposed to behind the wheel, according to research from Allianz: 1.9 million

Percentage of people who have offered relationship advice in the car: 20

On the nation's highways, number of motorists who have had the brakes put on their relationships and been dumped while in the car: 2.3 million

Source: Allianz Life Insurance.

Percentage of people who plan to don a costume on Halloween, up from 33.4 percent in 2009, according to the National Retail Federation: 40

Percentage of people donning costumes who will dress up their pets as well: 12

Percentage who will throw/attend a party: 33

Source: National Retail Federation.

Percentage of Americans who don't want to compromise on the quality of the food they buy regardless of current food prices, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Whole Foods Market: 73

Percentage of Americans who prefer to buy natural and/or organic foods over conventional foods if prices are comparable: 71

Percentage who are devoting more than a quarter of their grocery dollars to natural and/or organic products: 27

Source: Whole Foods Market.

Ranks of University of Virginia, University of Southern California, University of Florida, University of Texas and University of Wisconsin on the list of Top 10 Party Schools for 2012 as released by Playboy magazine: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Rank of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, N.Y.) on the list of the country's "Worst Overall Party Schools": 1

Source: Playboy.

Percentage of Americans who approve of the U.S. government's drone campaign targeting extremist leaders and groups in nations such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, according to the Pew Research Center: 62

Of the 20 countries surveyed, number where more than half of respondents disapproved of the drone strikes: 17

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Year that one of America's favorite singing cowboys -- Gene Autry -- was born, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1907

Estimated number of movies he made, besides making hundreds of recordings over his career of some 70 years: 100

Number of stars -- for radio, television, motion pictures, recording and live performance -- he has on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the only entertainer to achieve this: 5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

When asked how they save on hotels, percentage of travelers who say they book rooms far in advance, according to a survey conducted by GO Airport Express: 45

Percentage of respondents who use organizations' membership discounts, such as AAA and AARP to reduce hotel costs: 31

Percentage who use online services such as Priceline.com: 26

Source: GO Airport Express.

Idle Thought

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." -- Oscar Wilde

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

Ranks of food preparation/service workers, scientists, sales representatives, marketing/public relations professionals and nurses on the list of professions with the highest proportions of workers stating they are less productive without coffee, according to a survey commissioned jointly by Dunkin' Donuts and CareerBuilder: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Although most employees report not being heavily involved in office politics, percentage who have observed political maneuverings on the job, according to a Robert Half survey: 56

Ranks of gossiping (54 percent), flattering the boss to gain favor (20 percent) and taking credit for others' work (17 percent) on the list of observed political maneuverings: 1, 2, 3

Source: Robert Half.

Number of people who commute on bikes nationwide, according to a study of the U.S. Department of Commerce's 2010 American Community Survey by BikeGuard: 731,268

Percentage of bicycle commuters in Washington, D.C. (the highest): 3.13

Percentage of bicycle commuters in Arkansas (the lowest): 0.06

Source: BikeGuard.

Percentage of Americans who say that labor unions are necessary to protect the working person, according to a survey by Pew Research for People and the Press: 64

Percentage who say that "labor unions have too much power": 57

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Ranks of money and parenting/discipline differences on the list of reasons most parents fight, according to a survey by YourTango.com: 1, 2

Ranks of "parental fighting" and "parents who disrespect each other" on the list of the most toxic actions for kids to witness: 1, 2

Source: YourTango.com.

Percentage of Apple fans who said they would rather lose their wallet than their iPhone, according to the results of a poll by ProtectYourBubble.com: 51.7

Percentage of Apple iPhone 5 customers who have previously purchased three or more earlier model iPhones: 40.6

Source: Protect Your Bubble.

Percentage of teachers who have given food to a student they thought was hungry, according to research commissioned by Nutella: 77

Percentage of moms who claim they have let their children go to school at least once a week without eating breakfast: 7

Percentage of children who teachers believe come to school without eating breakfast based on the behavior of kids in the classroom: 29

Source: Nutella.

In 1920, estimated number of farms in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 6.5 million

Today, with advances in agriculture, estimated number of farms providing food for a population three times that of 1920: 2.2 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage more likely that "showroomers" (consumers who browse for items in-store before using their smartphones to find a lower price online) are than a non-showroomer to participate in a travel reward program membership, according to a study from Aimia: 67

Percentage more likely that showroomers are than non-showroomers to participate in a retail reward program membership: 20

Source: Aimia.

Percentage of affluents (annual incomes of $100,000 plus) who read at least one of the 150 measured and reported print publications (143 magazines and 7 national newspapers), according to the Ipsos MediaCT's 2012 Mendelsohn survey: 82

Number who downloaded a newspaper app, up from 3.6 million in 2011: 5.9 million

Source: Ipsos MediaCT's 2012 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey.

Idle Thought

"Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight." -- Henry R. Luce

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