Viewers Ignore Obama
February 1, 2013 by Chip Wood
Ratings plunge for Obama inaugural. Fewer than half as many Americans watched Barack Obama’s second inauguration on cable news channels as they did on his first Inauguration Day back in 2009. Four years ago, close to 17 million people tuned in to the special coverage on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News. This time around, fewer than 7 million Americans watched any of the coverage.
New York City surrenders to honkers. In a sign that it is abandoning the battle to stop New Yorkers from honking their car horns, the city’s Transportation Department says it is removing all of the “Don’t Honk” signs from the streets. City officials say that the move is part of an effort to “declutter” the streets of New York of signs that everyone ignores. There’s no word about what the city will do with all of the signs once they’re down. If they’re smart, they’d auction them on eBay, where they’d be sure to fetch a pretty penny.
Venezuela sinks to the bottom. In Hey, Phil, Move To Florida!, I listed the top 10 countries in the latest Index of Economic Freedom. Sad to say, the United States has fallen to the 10th spot on the annual survey. Still, that’s a whole lot better than the sorry situation in Venezuela. Pro-communist strongman Hugo Chavez has driven his country to its position near the bottom of the list. Only Zimbabwe, Cuba and North Korea rank lower.
Some folks will wager on anything. It should come as no surprise that more money will be bet on this Sunday’s Super Bowl than any other event this year. But what I didn’t know is that you can bet on almost any aspect of the game, including what color liquid will be dumped on the winning team’s coach. As I write, yellow is the favorite at 7-to-4, according to online sports book Bovada.
–Chip Wood
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