Percentage of Americans who believe in God, according to a Harris poll: 82

Percentage who said they believe in a heaven: 75

Percentage who said there is a devil: 60

Percentage who said there is a place called hell: 61

Source: The Harris Poll.

Amount consumers are expected to spend this holiday season, despite near-record credit card debt levels, according to WalletHub: $1.1 trillion

Number of people who will have holiday debt into February: 55 million

Source: WalletHub.

In 2018, percentage increase in the price index of the gifts in the holiday classic "The Twelve Days of Christmas," according to economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management: 1.2

According to this year's survey, current price tag for these gifts: $39,094.93

Cost to a very thoughtful true love to buy the whole shebang -- from a single partridge to 12 drummers drumming for each verse (that's 364 separate pieces of Christmas joy): $170,609

Cost of nine ladies dancing: $7,552.84

Cost of 10 lords a-leaping: $10,000

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Number of real Christmas trees that were purchased in 2017, according to the National Christmas Tree Association: 27.4 million

Average price paid: $75

Source: National Christmas Tree Association.

Percentage of employers who plan to give gifts to workers, according to the Advertising Specialty Institute: 42

Percentage of companies who anticipate that they will provide gifts to prospective and existing clients: 37

Source: Advertising Specialty Institute.

Percentage of student loan borrowers who would rather receive a student loan payment instead of a gift this holiday season, according to a survey by Ameritech Financial: 70

Percentage of student loan borrowers who are planning to skip a payment to help cover their holiday spending: 40

Source: Ameritech Financial.

Date that Radio City Music Hall opened with a troupe known as the Roxyettes, according to Radio City Music Hall data: Dec. 27, 1932

Year they officially they became the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes: 1934

Since the Christmas Spectacular's opening night, number of women who have shared in the legacy by performing as a Rockette: 3,000 plus

Number of people who have seen the Christmas Spectacular since the New York holiday tradition officially began: 75 million plus

Source: Radio City Music Hall.

Amount of the recent Mega Millions record jackpot (won by a single ticket purchased in South Carolina), according to Ipsos research: $1.537 billion

Percentage of people who bought tickets for the jackpot who say they didn't start playing until the jackpot reached at least $1 billion: 30

Percentage of these who say they didn't buy until the jackpot reached its peak of $1.6B (the highest advertised amount): 50

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of women who are willing to shop around for deals and use coupons (compared to 53 percent of men), according to a survey by Bankrate.com: 62

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Percentage of the top retailers who said they've seen an increase in employee turnover since the beginning of 2018, according to a survey conducted by Korn Ferry: 29

Of all retail positions, rank of part-time hourly store employees on the list of workers with the highest turnover rate: 1

Percentage of respondents who say that in 2018 they gave wage hikes to existing employees to put their salaries on par with increased starting wages: 34

Source: Korn Ferry International.

Idle Thought

"Patience is also a form of action." -- Auguste Rodin, sculptor

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

Percentage of all Americans who have felt pressured to spend more money on holiday gifts than what they are comfortable with, according to a survey by Bankrate.com: 45

Estimated number of Americans (13 percent of gift-givers) who are willing to boycott gift-giving altogether: 31 million

Percentage of gift-giving Americans who are willing to re-gift presents this holiday season: 22

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Average cost of this year's Thanksgiving Day feast for 10, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation's 33rd annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day table: $48.90

Source: American Farm Bureau Federation.

Percentage of Americans with high financial confidence who say the holidays are their favorite time of year, according to an annual holiday survey by SunTrust Banks, Inc.: 64

Source: SunTrust Banks Inc.

Estimated number of fatalities, with another 49,400 serious injuries, in car crashes during the Thanksgiving Day holiday period, according to projections by The National Safety Council: 433

In 2017, rank of Thanksgiving on the list of the deadliest holidays on the roads, trailing only the Fourth of July: 2

On average, percentage of deaths during the Thanksgiving holiday period that involve alcohol-impaired drivers: 33

Source: National Safety Council.

Percentage of retailers who agree that deals and discounts are more effective at driving purchases during the holidays than other times of the year, according to a survey by RetailMeNot.com: 95

Ranks of lowest price on the gift, free shipping, or the best sale or discount throughout the season on the list of reasons consumers say they will spend more money on a particular retailer's site: 1, 2, 3

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Aggregated amount spent on gift cards over the past year, according to a survey by Packaged Facts: $42 billion

Amount spent on gift cards given to others: $25 billion

Amount spent on gift cards given to themselves: $14 billion

Amount spent on gift cards given to people by their employers: $3 billion

Source: Packaged Facts.

On Black Friday 2017, amount that American shoppers spent online, according to a survey by Genesys: $5 billion

On Cyber Monday, the record-setting amount spent in web-based sales: $6.59 billion

Source: Genesys.

Projected percentage increase in retail of this year's holiday sales over last year's shopping season, according to Deloitte's annual retail holiday sales forecast: 5 to 5.6

Expected total holiday sales between November and January (seasonally adjusted and excluding motor vehicles and gasoline): $1.10 trillion

Source: Deloitte.

Percentage of consumers who will shop online and in department stores this holiday season, according to survey by the National Retail Federation: 55

Percentage who will go to discount stores: 51

Percentage who will go to grocery stores: 44

Percentage who will go to clothing stores: 33

Percentage who will go to electronics stores: 24

Source: NRF.

Average retail credit card APR (annual percentage rate), almost five percentage points higher than the average overall card APR (20.82 percent), according to a new report from CreditCards.com: 25.64

Source: CreditCards.com.

Idle Thought

"The cardinal doctrine of a fanatic's creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God." -- Andrew Dickson White, co-founder and president of Cornell University

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

Percentage of Americans who plan to brave the Black Friday crowds and visit physical stores, according to a survey by Genesys: 37

Percentage who agree that despite the appeal of the price reductions, physical stores are far too busy: 67

Source: Genesys.

Ranks of Netflix, Prime Video (Amazon Prime), Hulu, HBO Now and Starz on the list of the top subscription streaming video services in the U.S. market, according to Parks Associates: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Parks Associates.

Across 24 countries, percentage of adults who have started a business, according to an Ipsos Global Advisor survey: 28

Of countries surveyed, ranks of Mexico, India, Saudi Arabia, China and South Africa on the list of countries where consumers rate highest on entrepreneurial spirit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Ipsos Global Public Affairs.

Annual cost of "lack of sleep" in societal expenses, according to a National Safety Council report: $410 billion

Source: National Safety Council.

Projected amount that 4- to 14-year-olds will earn over the course of 2018 (an average of $8.35 a week), according to a study by RoosterMoney: $434

Amount they'll get in cash gifts this Christmas: $56

Percentage of it they'll save (in stark contrast to the adult saving rate of 6.6 percent): 38

Source: RoosterMoney.

Percentage of consumers who have abandoned a medication prescribed by their physician because it was too expensive, according to a survey by DrFirst: 50

Percentage of consumers who say their physician advised them about medication costs or offered lower-cost therapeutic alternatives: 44

Source: DrFirst.

Percentage of consumers who plan to spend the same or more on gifts this holiday season than they did in 2017, according to a study by The Harris Poll conducted with OpenX: 80

Source: The Harris Poll.

Percentage of U.S. employees who have dealt with issues negatively affecting their mental health, according to a survey commissioned by the American Heart Association: 76

Percentage of all employees who agree that mental health is as important as physical health: 96

Estimated number of U.S. adults who experience mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness: 43.8 million

Source: American Heart Association.

Average surcharge assessed by an ATM owner for an out-of-network transaction, according to the Bankrate.com checking account and ATM fee study: $3.02

Fee charged by the account-holder's own bank for using another institution's ATM: $1.66

Total average cost of an out-of-network ATM withdrawal: $4.68

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of store credit cards with 0% introductory APRs that have deferred interest, according to a WalletHub study: 85

Percentage of people who do not know how deferred interest works: 82

Of the people who understand how deferred interest works, percentage who think it is unfair: 79

Source: WalletHub.

Idle Thought

"The same people who can deny others everything are famous for refusing themselves nothing." -- Leigh Hunt, poet and essayist

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