+ The cost of Information Overload to the U.S. economy is $900 billion annually, as of 2008. (Spira)
+ A mere 12% of the knowledge worker’s day is spent in thought or reflection. (Spira)
+ We spend 15% of the day searching for things and 20% in meetings. (Spira)
A recent study from the Fraser Institute claims that the notion that medical expenses spikes the U.S. bankruptcy rate is wrong because Canada has a higher bankruptcy rate than the U.S. and Canada has nationalized healthcare. However, over at Creditslip, they debunk this finding by showing that the study looked at only bankruptcy statistics from 2006-07 after the U.S. had enacted strict new bankruptcy filing rules. If ten years of bankruptcy filing data is reviewed, Canada has a lower rate for eight of those years including 2008.
The state of Florida published the top consumer complaints for 2008. This year they received 37,227 written complaints. More states should provide this kind of information.
The top ten complaints are:
#1. Do Not Call law generated 5006 written complaints
#2. Travel/vacation plans ranked second with 3,582 written complaints (not sure of the nature of these complaints)
#3. Telemarketers that did not relate to the Do Not Call list 2,542 complaints
#4. Credit/banking with 2,471 complaints
#5. Communications category with 2,370 complaints
#6. Price gouging with 2,291 complaints
#7. Motor vehicle sales with 1,754 complaints
#8. Motor vehicle repairs generated 1,672 complaints
#9. Landlord/tenant issues prompted 1,562 complaints,
#10. Construction issues with 1,216 complaints
The U.S. Census Bureau is a great resource for lots of macro-economic information. I have to admit that frequently the information is too macro to be useful to me. For business development purposes, some macro information is helpful but really only if its tied to specifics, like actual companies and that is not the mission of the Census Bureau.
I was interested in this new tool called “Business Dynamics Statistics” but turns out to be another geek-orama that I’m hard pressed to see how I’d use. Give it a try and let me know if can do something cool that I can use.
Come on, U.S. lets get better!
The March of Dimes is reporting on how well each state is doing towards the Healthy People 2010 goals. First off, the U.S. receives a “D” overall and some states get “F’s” like Texas.
Here is the chart.
Reading Tea Leaves by Randy Wilson 