40 Million Americans Cannot Read

More than 1 in 10.

And this statistic only includes full US citizens. And then, only those who either answered honestly when asked or were judged by some "authority" to be illiterate are counted. Just based on what stats behind stats tell us, you could easily say the real figure's got to be closer to 1 in 5 people.

Take it then to the people who can read but.. hey... it's a challenge or just no fun, and what are we down to? I'd sadly guess that 2 in every 3 Americans do not have the critical skill levels needed (even on a base level) to read through a newspaper or non-fiction article and be able to recognize biases and blatant impossible or highly unlikely facts.

How many of the estimated 25-40 million documented and undocumented non-residents within the U.S. borders can read is a whole new level of question.

[Note to self: You didn't pick writing as a profession. It picked you... clean.]