Then and Now

Here are some interesting statistics looking at the change from September 11, 2001 and September 11, 2011:

• Afghanistan's GDP has risen by 645% from $2.46B to $18.33B
• Iraq's GDP has risen by 473% from $18.94B to $108.42B
• Gold has gone up by 582% from $271.40 per ounce to $1,851.00 per ounce
• US National Debt is up 154% from $5.77B to $14.69B
• Gasoline (avg price in the US) is up 137% from $1.51/gal to $3.58/gal
• The number of unemployed in the US is up 107% from 6.77M to 14.01M (unemployment rate is up 94% from 4.7% to 9.1%)
• Government spending as a percentage of GDP is up 28% from 33.05% (of a GDP of $10.29T) to 42.46% (of a GDP of $15.23T - a rise of 48%)
• The number of Americans on foodstamps is up 157% to 45.8M
• and if you were a savvy investor, Silver is up 890% from $4.18 per ounce to $41.40 per ounce
• and finally, the number of super-informative, amusing blogs written by the collection of 6 unique and distinct authors on a variety of topics is up by (Dr. Evil voice) one million percent - from 0 to 1.