Significant Digits For Monday, March 30, 2015

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$19.99

Jay-Z is launching Tidal on Monday, a music streaming service that claims higher resolution music in exchange for a higher-than-industry-standard cost. While competitor Spotify charges $9.99 per month, and future rival Apple was reportedly rebuffed in its attempt to charge an even lower monthly fee, Tidal will charge $19.99 per month. [USA Today]

34 percent

The percentage of Republicans who believe President Barack Obama is an imminent threat to America, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll. He’s more threatening to American life than Russian president Vladimir Putin — 25 percent of Republicans said Putin was an imminent threat. [Reuters]

53 percent

After a weekend of basketball, only four teams remain. The University of Kentucky is favored by the FiveThirtyEight model to win it all, with a 53 percent chance. On the women’s side, the University of Connecticut continues to be vastly favored, with an 80 percent chance of taking it home. [FiveThirtyEight]

59,000 ex-bankers

It’s not a great time to be a banker. (Well, relatively speaking.) A data analysis from Reuters found that U.S. and European banks cut 59,000 jobs last year. [Reuters]

$2 million

That’s the total amount of contributions from the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee to about 100 representatives and senators over the past decade. One reason it’s difficult for schools to oversee and rein in fraternities is that the groups are very entrenched in politics and existing power structures. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

2.8 million barrels

Daily oil output of Iran, down substantially from its peak production in 1974. As relations between the U.S. and Iran approach a thaw — or, I don’t know, a slight defrost, kind of hard to consider what’s going on a thaw — energy companies are salivating at the prospect of drilling there, despite the need for steep investments to get production where it could be. [Bloomberg Business]

$54 million

DreamWorks Animation finally got a win, as “Home” lead the box office this weekend with $54 million domestically. [Buzzfeed]

$350 million

One initial estimate of the total amount the Germanwings airline will have to pay out to families of those killed in last week’s crash. [New York Times]

$4.5 billion

New drugs to treat Hepatitis C are costing Medicare a fortune. The drugs can cost $1,000 per day, and last year Medicare spent $4.5 billion on the new drugs, up from $286 million the previous year on the existing drugs. [ProPublica]

$5.4 billion

Legislators and the Governor have reportedly figured out the New York State budget! There isn’t a final number yet, but a deal has reportedly been cut on how to divvy up the $5.4 billion in settlement money acquired from financial institutions involved in the 2008 financial crisis. [New York Times]

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