Quote for today…

I believe in annoyed at first sight. – Unknown

Welcome to “Thursday Numbers!” If you are a first-time visitor, this is the weekly column where I look at the numbers in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary sometimes sprinkled with sarcasm and humor.

Topics include – Mega Millions, COVID numbers, unemployment, Capitol riot sentences, homicide rate, Biden approval numbers, voting in Montana, interest rate, gas prices, and more!

1,020,000,000

That’s the estimated jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions lottery. (Source)

Great googly moogly…

1,028,819

That is how many people have died in the United States from coronavirus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 90,977,517 cases across the country so far. The first death in the USA was reported on February 29, 2020. (Johns Hopkins)

Last week, the death total was 1,025,741.

256,000

In the week ending July 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 256,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 10,000 from 251,000 to 261,000. The 4-week moving average was 249,250, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,500 from 240,500 to 243,000. (DOL)

Note: On Thursdays, this column is published right after 6:30 a.m. (Montana time), so I can post the latest unemployment numbers.

63

Mark Ponder, a 56-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., who attacked police officers with poles during the riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to 63 months (five years three months) in prison matching the longest term of imprisonment so far among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. (AP)

These sentences are a joke and not really a deterrence.

50

The homicide rate is increasing rapidly in the U.S., so much so that President Joe Biden has made tackling the problem a priority and spoke in his State of the Union address about his plans to reduce violence. Alarmingly, homicide rates have risen by an average of 18% in 50 of the most populated U.S. cities between Q2 2020 and Q2 2022 and are still rising. (WalletHub)

We hear a lot of talk about homicides in Chicago. Chicago was ranked #28. New Orleans came in at #1.

38.4

According to FiveThirtyEight.com, that is President Joe Biden’s current approval rating. (Source)

Last week, Biden’s approval rating was 38%.

18

Yellowstone County District Court judge Michael G. Moses has ruled that a law passed by the 2021 Legislature that would have forced county clerks to withhold absentee ballots from voters who would turn 18 by Election Day is a violation of the Montana Constitution. (Daily Montanan)

Good for Judge Moses. Why do Republicans want to make it harder to vote?

0.75

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a point for a second straight time in its most aggressive drive in more than three decades to tame high inflation. (AP)

0.084 – 11.27

That is the range of the price per gallon of gas around the world as of July 25, 2022. (Source)

In the USA, the average price per gallon of gas on July 25 was $4.60. The week before (July 18), the average price in the USA was $4.77.

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