Percentage of Americans who see a secure job as a requirement to be considered as part of the middle class, according to a Pew Research Center survey: 89

Percentage who said the ability to save money is essential: 86

Percentage who considered having the time/money for a vacation is a requirement: 45

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

Percentage of Americans who say that lying to one's spouse or partner about forgetting an anniversary is sometimes OK, according to a poll by Ipsos: 33

Percentage who say lying about an affair is sometimes or often OK: 14

When it comes to the big stuff, percentage of men, compared to 92 percent of women, who find lying to one's spouse or partner to be never OK: 81

Percentage of men who admit they may have told a lie in the last week: 32

Percentage of women who say that they also may have told a lie in the last week: 23

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of adults who report money as the No. 1 source of significant stress, according to an online Harris Poll for the American Psychological Association: 67

Ranks of work and family responsibilities: 2, 3

Source: American Psychological Association.

Percentage of advertising and marketing executives who rated previous experience as the most important factor when hiring entry-level creative talent, according to research from The Creative Group: 34

Percentage who rated interview performance as the most important factor: 28

Percentage who rated resume as the most important factor: 22

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage of people who say they appreciate unexpected kindness from strangers even more than when friends and family do the same, according to a survey by Skout: 62

Ranks of leaving a more than generous tip for your waitress, paying it "backward" at a coffee shop or drive-thru, and hugging a friend when they least expect it on the list of the 10 most meaningful random acts of kindness, according to how meaningful they are: 1, 2, 3

Source: Skout.

Amount of money in $100 bills (and even more in smaller bills) that the United States flew to Iraq during the period from the invasion in 2003 to the government handover in 2004, according to research by Convergex: $12 billion

Total weight of the shipments, moved directly from the New York Federal Reserve to JFK Airport and then by cargo planes to Iraq: 363 tons

Amount of money that a 5-inch Halliburton aluminum briefcase will carry in $100 bills, weighing a very comfortable 22 pounds without the requisite courier handcuff: $1 million

Source: Convergex.

Year that the first green jacket was presented to the Masters champion, according to Wallet Hub: 1949

Cost of producing each green jacket: $250

Price paid for Horton Smith's green jacket, sold at auction in September 2013: $682,000

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of Gen Xers who are highly confident they will have enough money to support themselves through retirement, according to a report from the Insured Retirement Institute: 24

Percentage of Gen Xers who have not tried to determine how much they need to save for retirement: 58

Percent who plan to keep working until at least age 70: 24

Source: Insured Retirement Institute.

Between 2007 and 2015, percentage of growth in the number of pet owners in the United States for which millennials (those aged between 20 and 35) were responsible, according to information from Packaged Facts: 43

Total amount that millennial pet owners spent on their pets in 2014: $10.6 billion

Percentage of all pet owners who are millennial pet owners: 31

Source: Packaged Facts.

Despite it being roughly six months since the Oct. 1 deadline for U.S. merchants to upgrade their payment terminals as part of the country's shift to smart-chip credit cards, percentage of retailers who have not updated the terminals in any of their stores, according to research from CardHub: 42

Percentage of retailers who have experienced data breaches in the past five years who have not updated their point of sale terminals: 43

Percentage of people who don't care if a retailer's payment terminal is chip-enabled: 56

Source: CardHub.

Idle Thought

"One does not advance the swimming abilities of ducks by throwing the eggs in the water." -- Eduard Douwes Dekker, novelist

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

Amount of money that Americans racked up in credit card debt during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to WalletHub's 2015 Credit Card Debt Study: $52.4 billion

Amount owed by the average household with credit card debt -- a mark last reached in 2007 during the ramp up to the financial system's 2008 collapse: $7,879

Source: CardHub.

Date that one of the most distinctive and near universal American colloquialisms -- the affirmation "OK" -- was first published in a Boston Post story with a brief definition: March 20, 1839

Year that the paper folded, after 125 years of publication: 1956

Today in the U.S., estimated number of weekly or other newspaper publishers still doing OK in this digital age: 7,500

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of workers who would trade wages to get more health benefits, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute survey: 12

Percentage who would rather have fewer health benefits and higher wages: 20

Percentage of workers who are satisfied with the health benefits they currently receive: 66

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Percentage of students and parents who report high stress over college applications, according to the Princeton Review's 2016 survey: 72

Percentage who say college is worth the worry: 99

Percentage who say that earning a college degree will potentially help them land a better job and income: 44

Source: Princeton Review.

Percentage of Americans who believe that the American economy is rigged to help the rich and powerful, according to findings from an Ipsos poll: 66

Percentage of Americans who also believe that the middle class is dying: 68

Percentage of Americans who say that traditional politicians no longer care about the average American: 68

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of Americans who know someone who uses online dating, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center: 41

Percentage who know someone who has met a spouse or long-term partner via online dating: 29

Of those Americans who have used online dating, percentage who agree it is a good way to meet people: 80

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

Annual amount of money made by romance/erotica literature, the highest amount of any book genre, according to research by Adam & Eve: $1.44 billion

Percentage of the market held by this genre: 40

Percentage of the market held by religious/inspirational: 20

Percentage held by mystery/crime: 20

Source: Adam & Eve.

Percentage of CEOs, CFOs and senior-level CPAs who said the outcome of the 2016 presidential election is a consideration or factor in their company's business planning for the next fiscal year, according to a survey by the American Institute of CPAs: 64

Percentage who plan to continue hiring at their current pace: 25

Percentage who said they will defer hiring until after the election: 13

Source: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Percentage of smartphone owners who are using their phones at least occasionally while driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: 67

Percentage of all motor vehicle crashes resulting from distracted drivers: 16

Percentage of fatal crashes: 10

Percentage of injury crashes: 18

Source: AutoMD.com.

Percentage of respondents who say women are not advancing in the workplace due to cultural and societal norms, according to a Mercer survey of more than 500 groups and businesses located worldwide: 25

Percentage of respondents who say women are not advancing in the workplace due to women and gender diversity not being viewed as key business strategy: 21

Source: Mercer.

Idle Thought

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." -- Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist

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

Average student athlete's annual compensation in tuition, room and board, according to WalletHub's March Madness by the Numbers study: $120,000

Average salary of big-time college coaches: $5 million plus

Amount paid by CBS/Turner to acquire the TV rights for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament from 2011 to 2024: $10.8 billion

Estimated amount wagered on the 2015 tournament: $9 billion

Estimated amount illegally gambled on the 2015 tournament: $7 billion

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of CFOs who say they are much more open to negotiating non-monetary perks compared to one year ago, according to a survey by Robert Half: 9

Percentage of workers who want telecommuting options: 23

Percentage of workers who want non-traditional work hours: 21

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of Americans who say choosing locally grown/sourced items is an important factor in their purchasing decisions, according to a Harris poll: 50

Ranks of sugar content, fat content, sodium content and calorie count on the list of important considerations in choosing one item over another: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: The Harris Poll.

Median sale price of a new single-family home in 1967, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: $22,700

Price in 2016: $282,800

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of college students in the United States, according to IBIS World: 20 million

Amount of spring break spending in 2016, according to IBIS World: $1.7 billion

Percentage of students who book hotel rooms for $100 or less, according to Priceline: 43

Source: IBIS World.

Percentage of American workers who say they have virtually no money in savings and investments, according to EBRI's Retirement Confidence Survey: 57

Percentage of workers who report savings of $25,000 to $49,999: 9

Percentage who report savings of $100,000 to $249,999: 10

Percentage of workers who have savings of $250,000 or more: 14

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of human resource managers who said they would consider rehiring a former employee who left their company on good terms, according to a new survey from Accountemps: 77

Percentage of workers who said it is very likely they would ever apply for a job at a previous employer: 17

Percentage of workers who said the primary reason they would not apply for a job at a previous employer is because they didn't like management: 23

Percentage who said they didn't like the corporate structure: 14

Source: Robert Half.

Percentage of Americans who deem driving while extremely over the legal limit for alcohol use is very dangerous, according to an Ipsos Survey: 93

Percentage of Americans who classify taking a selfie while driving as being unsafe: 92

Percentage who say the same of texting while driving: 91

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of global citizens who agree that law-enforcement agencies should have a right to access the content of their citizens' online communications for valid national security reasons, according to a poll undertaken by the Centre for International Governance Innovation and conducted across 24 countries: 70

Percentage of respondents, including 60 percent of Americans, who think that companies should not develop technologies that prevent law enforcement from accessing the content of a user's online data: 63

Source: Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Percentage of U.S. broadband households that now own a smartphone, according to Parks Associates mobile research: 86

Year that U.S. carriers started to do away with the once-familiar two-year contract, which tied consumers to a two-year phone upgrade cycle: 2012

By the third quarter of 2015, percentage of mobile consumers who had a contract, down from almost 70 percent at the end of 2011: 51

Source: Parks Associates.

Idle Thought

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge." -- Bertrand Russell

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