On Saturday in DC I find myself being bombarded with statistics.  How many people will be here, how many police, how much it’s costing.  Here’s a first glance, with due nod to Harper’s Index. 

$0 – Official cost of a ticket to attend the Swearing In of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

$750 – Cost of a ticket at greatseats.com to stand on the Mall at the Swearing In. 

$2975 – Cost of a ticket on StubHub.com to attend the Illinois Inaugural Ball. 

 

$3 – Cost for an Obama Inauguration commemorative denim pencil.

$10 – Cost for 3 “Obama, 44th President” Winter Caps sold today on the streets of DC.

$28 — Cost of Obama/Biden navy T-shirt on barackobama.com. 

Undisclosed — Amount the Smithsonian Institute paid for Obama HOPE painting by Shepard Fairey (above).

$2.3 million — What the New York Times Co. has made so far on Obama Commemorative Merchandise.

$45 million – Estimated total cost of the Obama Inauguration

$1.6 billion — Estimated total money spent by all candidates on the Presidential Election of 2008.

$590 billion — Total cost of war in Iraq to date.

$590.1 billion – Total cost of war in Iraq one hour from now.

$?? trillion — Cost of the financial bailout

 

10000 – Estimated Number of Buses expected in Washington on Inauguration Day

40000 – Estimated number of police working the Inauguration.

240000 – Number of tickets to the swearing in.

4 million – Estimated number of people expected to attend the Inauguration.

5 billion  – Number of people estimated by Huffington Post who might watch the Inauguration. 

6.7 billion – Total population of the world. 

 

 

Jim McDermott writes about pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack.