Article posted Thursday, October 1, 2009 2:42pm

3

Average number of consumer electronic devices in each American household in 1980

25

Number today

15

Percent of household power used by consumer electronic devices

560

Number of coal-fired plants it would take in future years to satisfy the rising demand for such products

70

Percent less electricity a washer uses today than in 1990, thanks to federal efficiency standards. Consumer electronic devices are not subject to such standards.

66

Dollars, the value of the assets the U.S. Treasury Department received for each $100 it spent on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bailout banks

20

Million dollars, the fee paid to the Bank of New York Mellon to keep track of the TARP disbursements. The Bank of New York Mellon is one of the recipients of TARP funds.

8

Number of financial institutions that combined to receive 67 percent of bailout funds

2

Pages, the length of the “Application for TARP Capital Purchase Program,” most of it white space

8

Pages, the length of the 2010 Federal Application for Student Aid worksheet

Sources: New York Times; Vanity Fair; http://www.fafsa.ed.gov