Figures

October 9, 2006

$1.2 million

The number of motor vehicles thefts nationwide in 2005. That’s about 416.7 motor vehicles stolen for every 100,000 inhabitants.

$7.6 billion

The estimated total property losses due to motor vehicle theft in 2005. That’s an average of $6,173 per stolen vehicle.

800

The number of jobs GEICO insurance company announced it would add at its regional headquarters in Virginia’s Stafford County. The facility employs about 3,000 people and already is one of the Fredericksburg area’s largest private employers. Adding the staff will continue into the first half of 2007.

33

The number of its subsidiaries that American International Group used to donate a total of $335,000 to Republican Gov. George Pataki; $50,000 to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic front-runner for governor; and $25,000 to Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi, according to The New York Times. Using subsidiaries avoids the $5,000 corporate limit and, while legal, has been criticized by some groups. The contributions in 2003 to Spitzer were made before he investigated AIG and its then CEO, Maurice Greenberg.

700

The number of people in Virginia’s Fairfax County that would be killed if a bird flu pandemic occurred, according to a new government report. The Fairfax report presents a grim scene. A severe outbreak would infect nearly a third of the county’s population, sending thousands to local hospitals. As much as 40 percent of the county’s work force would be out of commission.

18%

The percentage cut in Massachusetts auto insurance rates proposed by Attorney General Tom Reilly. Reilly’s $180 a year saving per car is more than double what the State Rating Bureau of the Division of Insurance is urging: about 8.3 percent, or $85. Insurers have themselves indicated that a 3.7 percent cut is warranted. Commissioner Julianne Bowler must decide by Dec. 15 on new rates that will be effective as of April 1, 2007.

$2.75 million

The settlement agreed to with the estates of Lawrence and Judith Lewis of Moneta by Mark de Tournillon Sr., who pleaded guilty to causing the boat accident that killed a couple on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Most of that amount will be paid by insurance companies, but de Tournillon intends to pay $250,000 out of the proceeds from the sale of his business, Shoreline Marina.