Democrats Said They Want to Fund Our Military. Itâs Time to Do It. During the Schumer Shutdown, Senate Democrats spoke repeatedly about how we must fund our military. Was that all just cheap talk? Read
An estimated 79 percent of the people in the Third World-- the 50 poorest nations -- have no access to electricity, despite decades of international development work. The total number of individuals without electric power is put at about 1.5 billion, or a quarter of the world's population, concentrated mostly in Africa and southern Asia. The 1.5 billion figure represents an improvement over previous years, but not because of any concerted effort to expand power connections.
As of late 2007, 16 percent of U.S. households had no landline whatsoever, compared to just 5 percent in 2004 [source: Associated Press ]. If that rapid trend of ditching landlines continues, half of the U.S. could be without one in about 10 years. Among the people who have landlines in the U.S., 13 percent nevertheless rely on their cell phones for the majority of their calls. Across the country, people are hanging up their home phones: 1  In New York state, the number of landline subscribers has fallen by 55 percent since the year 2000. 2  New Jersey landline subscribers have decreased by 50 percent.