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.
