> > Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce,
>
> That's not entirely accurate, I've read. That statistic counts the number of divorces over a certain period of time and compares them to the number of *new* marriages during that same time. It does not count the marriages that neither began nor ended.
>
> Ga"I probably should have written this post when I was less tired; I'm not sure how much sense I'm making."halia

That's correct, I believe. Several years ago, there were about 2.4 million marriages and 1.2 million divorces-leading the census bureau to conclude that the current trend would be half of the marriages ending in divorce. That situation was hardly static, as it was quickly revised to 40%, and the divorces were divorces terminating from many years, whereas the marriages were just the ones taking place that year.

I've read estimates giving it around 22%, although I don't really know enough to confirm that figure. It's tricky estimating a complicated statistic about an constantly changing group of people. All a statistic can give you is a snapshot of a situation. At any given moment, 11% of all people who have ever been married are currently divorced, but that doesn't include remarried couples. One of the great things about statistics is that you can find the right set of data to say whatever you want it to, but getting at the reality is certainly trickier.

And about the 300 million figure, 200 million of that is additional federal spending, 100 million is coming from redirected spending from another welfare program.

Mark"Too many conflicted thoughts to talk about anything but data right now"N