Here’s a piece of America by the numbers.
So far this season the total attendance at major league baseball games is down more than 5 percent. Nineteen of the 30 teams are drawing fewer fans. If you look at the prices of tickets, add the hot dogs, drinks and parking, and then take into consideration the downturn of the economy, is anyone surprised? Depending on where you sit, the cost for a family of four at the ballpark can run almost three hundred bucks. For that kind of money I think we’ll stay home, watch the game on TV and send out for a pizza.
With so many empty seats being shown on television, the humiliated administration of the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium decided to cut the price of those exclusive expensive seats behind home plate for many games. Some of those $2,500 seats have been reduced to $1,250 each. Such a bargain. We’re still sending out for pizza.
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According to a new national survey, 74 percent of U.S. voters say that it is unlikely that there will be a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians within the next decade. Note the word ‘unlikely.’ Some 27 percent say it is ‘not at all likely.’ Is President Obama wasting his time and efforts?
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One of the big topics of the day deals with same−sex marriages. Quinnipiac polled more than 2,000 registered voters nationwide. By a margin of 55 percent to 38 percent, voters said that they did NOT want their state to permit same−sex marriages, but, by a margin of 57 percent to 38 percent, they favored civil unions that would provide marriage−like rights and benefits. Doesn’t that make it sound like they just don’t like the use of the word “marriage?”
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The economy has affected many things in this nation. Right now, 11 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 35 and 44, the age when one should be out on his own, is living at home with mommy and daddy.
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Early in February of this year, 42 percent of Americans still had a favorable opinion of General Motors. On March 9th that number was down 10 points to 32 percent. I wonder what the number is down to now.
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In the company’s most recent statement, Wal−Mart, the nation’s #1 retailer, announced that it opened 191 stores in Fiscal Year ‘09. It also stated that it will open 142 to 157 new or refurbished shops right here in the United States in Fiscal Year ’10 and will be hiring 22,000 cashiers, stock people, managers and pharmacists. Many of you cannot comprehend how and why Wal−Mart continues to successfully march forward during this recession. Those of us who shop there know the answer.
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And finally, I’d like to take my own survey. Please read the following:
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.”
