Percentage of Americans who say large banks and financial institutions have benefited the most from post-recession government policies, according to a Harris Poll: 69

Percentage of respondents who say wealthy people have been helped most: 59

Percentage who say government policies have done little or nothing to help the middle class: 71

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of global respondents who admit they say things in text/email that they would not say voice-to-voice or person-to-person, according to a poll conducted among adults in 25 countries by Ipsos OTX: 43

Percentage of respondents under the age of 35 who are considerably more likely, compared to those aged 35 to 49 (41 percent) and those 50 to 64 (26 percent), to text/email things they won't say out loud: 54

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Ranks of hard work (64 percent), experience (58 percent) and education (57 percent) on the list of factors that 20-somethings believe did or will help get that elusive, preferred job, according to a survey by the PNC Financial Services Group: 1, 2, 3

Source: Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of men and women who simply want their sex lives to be more playful and fun, according to a poll conducted for We-Vibe: 59

Source: We-Vibe.

Percentage of marketing executives at major retailers who will launch their holiday campaigns before Halloween, according to a survey from Experian: 49

Percentage of respondents who will offer a deal of the day: 28

Source: Experian Marketing Services.

Despite a recovery that economists say began in mid-2009, percentage of Americans who feel less financially secure now than they did five years ago, according to the Country Financial Security Index survey: 54

Rank of "a hit to savings" on the list of the biggest scars felt by Americans as a result of the Great Recession: 1

Source: Country Financial.

Percentage of Americans who describe their current employment situation as under- or unemployed, according to Mintel research: 31

Among those who are underemployed, percentage who have had to take a position at a lower skill level: 34

Source: Mintel.

Estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2012 -- children age 5 to 14 -- across the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau 2012 Population Estimates: 41.1 million

Number of occupied housing units across the nation in second quarter 2013 -- all potential stops for trick-or-treaters: 115 million

Percentage of households with residents who consider their neighborhoods safe: 93.3

Source: Census Bureau.

Percentage of all women across all age groups and geographies (urban, suburban, rural) who feel the most negative about their beauty on Mondays, according to a study from media planning agency PHD revealing the dates, times and occasions when U.S. women feel their least attractive, according to PHD Media: 46

Rank of Thursday as the day when women feel best; the workweek is winding down and they are emotionally preparing for weekend socializing: 1

Source: PHD Media.

Percentage of consumers who agree that it is important to eat healthy and pay attention to nutrition, up from 57 percent just three years ago, according to a survey by Technomic: 64

Percentage of consumers who agree that restaurants can offer healthy food without sacrificing taste: 65

Percentage of consumers who believe that fresh foods are healthier: 87

Source: Technomic.

Idle Thought

"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." -- Edmund Burke, statesman and writer

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

Percentage of people who go to work when they're sick, according to a survey by Kimberly-Clark Professional: 59

Percentage of respondents who said it was because they were too important to the business: 30

Source: Kimberly-Clark Professional.

Age at which American workers expect to retire, according to a survey from PNC Financial Services Group Inc.: 67

Percentage of Americans in their prime retirement planning years who believe they will need to work longer than previously planned in order to save enough to retire: 49

Source: PNC Financial Services Group.

Percentage of American men aged 35 to 55, with $100,000 plus in household income, an associate's degree or higher and an interest in relationships with women who would try or have already tried online dating because they are a single dad or divorced, according to a survey conducted for AnastasiaDate.com: 33

Percentage of men in this group who struggle when meeting women face-to-face for the first time: 54

Percentage of those who are struggling who say their biggest struggle is that they do not know how to start a conversation: 45

Source: Anastasia International Inc.

Percentage of Americans who are employed and/or their spouse is employed full-time who report they are much or somewhat better off financially today than they were one year ago, according to findings released by Purchasing Power: 44

Percentage who say they have trouble meeting monthly household expenses: 28

Percentage who say they don't have at least $2,000 in emergency savings for unexpected expenses that occur: 44

Source: Purchasing Power LLC.

Estimated number of child laborers worldwide today, a third fewer than in 2000, according to the International Labor Organization: 168 million

Estimated number of child laborers who are engaged in hazardous work: 85 million

Estimated number of child laborers who live in the Asia-Pacific region: 77.7 million

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

Ranks of princess, minion, dinosaur, gangster and Ewok on the list of this year's most popular Halloween costumes for dogs, according to Wayfair.com: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Wayfair.com.

In 2012, cumulative increase in the private holdings of the country's top 100 landowners to a total of 33 million acres, nearly 2 percent of U.S. land mass, according to the annual survey and ranking of the largest private landowners in the United States published by The Land Report: 700,000 acres

Ranks of Liberty Media Chairman John Malone and his 2.2 million acres, Ted Turner and his more than 2 million acres, the Emmerson family, Brad Kelley and the Irving family on the list of the largest landowners on the Land Report 100 list, which focuses exclusively on deeded acreage owned by individuals, families, family-owned companies and family-controlled foundations and excludes leased and public lands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Land Report.

Percentage of Americans who felt a room's decor can positively or negatively affect someone's mood, according to a survey conducted by Wakefield Research for HomeGoods: 93

Percentage of all respondents who felt that simple decor updates -- improved lighting, stylish organizational solutions, decorative accents -- could make them feel happier without breaking the bank: 99

Source: Wakefield Research.

Percentage of U.S. adults who said they would seek a second opinion for a major home repair and/or improvement, according to a poll by Harris Interactive on behalf of Invisalign: 70

Percentage who would seek a second opinion for a major car repair: 50

Source: Invisalign.

Percentage of parents with children between the ages of 5 and 17 in 11 countries who agree on the importance of talking with their children about drinking alcohol, according to a poll by Ipsos on behalf of Anheuser-Busch InBev: 91

Average age that parents believe is the appropriate time to start talking with their children about drinking: 10 years old

Source: Ipsos Global.

Idle Thought

"As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to live it more and more." -- Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)

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

Rank of New York City as chosen from a list of 48 major cities as the best place to do business, according to a global survey by Ipsos MORI on Global @dvisor, covering 18,147 people in 24 countries: 1

Rank of Zurich as the best place to live, according to the survey: 1

Rank of Paris as the best place to visit: 1

Source: Ipsos Mori.

Percentage of Americans who say they are "very happy," according to a Harris poll conducted in 10 major metropolitan markets: 33

Percentage of respondents in the Dallas/Fort Worth region who said they were "very happy," the highest among the 10 areas polled: 38

Percentage in the San Francisco market who qualified as "very happy" (least happy of the 10 areas measured): 28

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of 35- to 55-year-old U.S. males with $100,000 plus in household income, an associate's degree or higher, an interest in relationships with women and an openness to dating online who have the intention of finding a serious relationship, according to a survey conducted for AnastasiaDate.com: 70

Percentage of these men who are open to dating a woman outside the U.S.: 78

Percentage who would definitely or probably travel to see a woman from another country whom they met online and with whom they had a connection: 50

Source: Anastasia International Inc.

Percentage of insurers who estimated that insurance fraud costs represent 5 percent to 10 percent of their total claims, according to a survey of U.S. insurers by FICO: 35

Percentage who said the cost is as high as 20 percent: 31

Source: FICO.

Percentage of parents who admit to having driven without their child buckled up in a car seat or booster seat, according to a study by Safe Kids Worldwide: 25

In 2011 in the United States, number of children ages 12 and under who died in motor vehicle crashes: 679

Number of these children who were riding without a child safety seat or seat belt that could have saved their lives: 221

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide.

Percentage of Americans who shop for groceries on a budget and worry about going over it, according to a study by the American Marketing Association: 33

Percentage more a budget shopper will spend when using a smart shopping cart -- a cart that displays the total price of the goods in a shopping cart: 22

Source: American Marketing Association.

With cold-and-flu season on its way, percentage of Americans who are germ anxious, according to a study by Kimberly-Clark Professional: 33

Ranks of the average desk where many people eat their lunch and the break room on the list of office germ "hot spots": 1 (tie)

Average number of germs per square inch found in these places: 20,951

Percentage reduction in average hot-spot germ counts that is accomplished by practicing good hand and surface hygiene: 59

Source: Kimberly-Clark Professional.

Percentage of America's children under the age of 18 who live with at least one grandparent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 10

Estimated number of those grandparents who are responsible for the children's care: 2 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of document processes in financial services that are still driven by paper, according to an IDC Financial Insights Market Spotlight: 37

Source: Ricoh Americas Corp.

Rank of San Jose, Calif., with an average weekly pay of $1,464, high-income concentration of 42.8 percent and economic growth of 17.6 percent, on the list of the top cities for the promise of high-paying jobs, according to a study by CreditDonkey: 1

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Idle Thought

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words." -- Robert Frost

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