It's a good thing Ford investor didn't listen in 1903

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jul 23, 2006 | by Compiled by John MacIntyre

Year in which a president of a Michigan savings bank advised Horace Rackham, Henry Ford's lawyer, not to invest in his client's company, telling him, "The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty -- a fad": 1903

Amount of Ford Motor Co. stock Rackham purchased anyway: $5,000

Amount for which Rackham sold this stock several years later: $12.5 million

Source: Newsweek, Volume CXXIX, No. 4, Jan. 27, 1997, p. 86.

Rank of Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and London as the world's most expensive cities, according to a 144-city survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Rank of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami as the most expensive cities in the United States on the Mercer list: 10, 29, 34, 38, 39

Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Percentage of Americans who say one person can indeed make a difference, according to a survey sponsored by Kiwanis International: 86

Source: Kiwanis International.

Percentage of Americans who believe exercising at a health club would improve their overall health, according to a survey sponsored by The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association: 91

Percentage of people who say that exercising at a health club at least twice per week for 30 minutes for the next month would interfere with their other priorities: 42

Direct medical costs associated with physical inactivity in 2000: $76.6 billion

Source: International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.

Rank of Toyota, Wal-Mart, Honda, Apple/iPod, Chevrolet, Target, Sony, Home Depot, BMW and Verizon as the brands Americans are talking about most positively, according to "word-of-mouth brand mentions" recorded in April-May 2006 by TalkTrack: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Source: Keller Fay Group, TalkTrack.

Percentage of executives surveyed who said August is the best month for employees to take vacations, according to a survey for Accountemps: 36

Percentage of executives who said July is the best time: 21

Percentage who said December: 14

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of Fortune 500 companies that provide equal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of employees, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation: 51

Percentage of Fortune 500 companies that prohibit discrimination based on employees' sexual orientation: 86

Source: Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

John MacIntyre has been writing Figuratively Speaking since 1989. Contact him by e-mail at johnmacintyre@bwreastlink.ca