US Census and Government Waste

The census as it is now is unconstitutional. So if you're ok with the census then it's almost like being ok with the constitution being ignored/null/void. That's just wrong on so many levels...
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I'll humor you: how is it unconstitutional?[/QUOTE]

I'd like to know too. Maybe he just means the expanded ones?
 
got ours today. filled it out, except my gf put her race as "american". im listed as hispanc/non latino white or some garbage like that. but she wanted to be a smart ass.
 
[quote name='Korben']The census as it is now is unconstitutional. So if you're ok with the census then it's almost like being ok with the constitution being ignored/null/void. That's just wrong on so many levels...[/QUOTE]

I don't think "unconstitutional" has been a valid argument for something in years.
 
I got mine in the mail yesterday. No intention of filling it out. If I can't get around to cleaning my cat litter box out, how can I do a census?
That would cut into my BFBC2 time too.
 
I got mine yesterday too. I can't believe its intrusiveness. How many people are in the house? Their names? Races? BIRTHDAYS?!

Personally I do not want the government to have the kind of information that Chuck E. Cheese does. Who knows what they'd do with it.
 
[quote name='SpazX']I got mine yesterday too. I can't believe its intrusiveness. How many people are in the house? Their names? Races? BIRTHDAYS?!

Personally I do not want the government to have the kind of information that Chuck E. Cheese does. Who knows what they'd do with it.[/QUOTE]

You'll get a coupon card good at any "Sonic" nationwide.
 
WE DON"T HAVE A SONIC IN MY TOWN!!!!!! Must be a conspiracy.

My wife and I filled it out first night, mostly out of curiosity as to why Uncle Bob is so scared. Pretty harmless.
The key issue for us will be actually getting it to the mail box to send back out.
 
I don't think you linked to the actual forms (or I missed it) - you can look at pdfs of them both here: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/acs_2010.htm

The ACS is the census + 3 pages on housing (21 questions) + 4 pages of personal details (42 questions, per person).

All very mundane shit, a lot of which almost everybody here has put into a random online survey for $1 (or free).
 
[quote name='mykevermin']The worst part about the ACS is the pressure of having a gun held to your head while you answer the questions.[/QUOTE]
I cried in front of my girlfriend. I've never cried in front of her. But what can you do? It was a loaded gun pointed at my head. Sometimes a man cracks under pressure.
 
Well I didn't get the ACS, so I don't get to make the life-altering decision about whether or not I'll tell the government that I have running water.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']I got mine in the mail yesterday. No intention of filling it out. If I can't get around to cleaning my cat litter box out, how can I do a census?
That would cut into my BFBC2 time too.[/QUOTE]

You might as well fill it out now. If you don't, they will track you down and harass you until you do. It's a federal crime not to respond. I doubt they'd prosecute, but why tempt it?
 
Quit my job at the Census Bureau 2 months ago. All this crazy hysteria is pretty unfounded.... I hated my job, the inefficiencies, and the massive amounts of wasted resources going into the project, but that doesn't mean I don't see its purpose. I don't like Obama either, but people who want to take every little opportunity to bash him don't have a leg to stand on when he really does something screwed up.

Although, I will say this. That stuff they tell illegal immigrants (you can't and won't be deported for answering the questionnaire) is not true. The LCO's (Local Census Offices) will tell you anything to get you to answer and send back your form. They get rewarded for being faster than other LCO's and so they try some funny tactics. Anyway, thanks to the FOIA, that information is accessible to INS and DHS (etc) and they will most likely act on information given "freely" as any law enforcement officer will.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I cried in front of my girlfriend. I've never cried in front of her. But what can you do? It was a loaded gun pointed at my head. Sometimes a man cracks under pressure.[/QUOTE]

Are you sure you didn't cry because uncle sam wants to know how many pots you have to shit in?

Truth be told, I'm a little disappointed I didn't get in on the ACS. I just have the boring old even-glen-beck-would-fill-it-out census.
 
What are some questions you find intrusive? Find some examples you find intrusive and post them here. I suspect there's nothing (sans name, address, phone number, SS# etc.) that I wouldn't be willing to answer here on the forum, much less in an e-mail. And I have no problem putting that info on a survey.
 
Spaz linked to the full ACS above (I assume, I'm on my mobile, so I can't say for sure - if he didn't, I'll pull it up when I get home.) I want you to fill out the entire thing - every question - honestly. Then e-mail it to me.

That simple.
 
I'm not taking the time to do that to prove a point to a tin foil hat wal-mart loony.

Post an example of a question or two you find invasive that you wouldn't want to answer yourself. Or GTFO.
 
You missed the point that giving information to one person (or entity) isn't the same as giving it to anybody. I'll give my credit card number to amazon, not some random stranger.

I'll answer any of the questions you think are intrusive, but I'm not giving you my name or address.

I'm white, male, 23, not hispanic, live in an apt building, I guess 5-9 in the particular building, built in 93 I think, moved here 07-2009, 3 rooms I guess (one is big and open), 2 bedrooms, yes I do have running water, etc., 2 cars, gas fuel.

That's the first page of housing and the regular census part there.
 
I'll make this deal a little more even.

A few months ago, I received the ACS. I still have it sitting in a drawer and currently have no intentions of filling it out.

If any one of you, someone who has already replied about how awesome the ACS is, is willing to answer all the questions and send them to me in an e-mail, then i will take the time to fill out - honestly and with my own information - the ACS form I received.

SO, basically, you won't be wasting any time by doing this - it'll almost be like you got the ACS form yourself (i.e.: you answered the questions and the government gets a filled out form).
 
[quote name='UncleBob']I'll make y'all a deal - whomever is willing to answer all the questions on the ACS in an e-mail and send it to me ([email protected]) can tell me how non-intrusive and safe the ACS is.

Who's in?[/QUOTE]
Posts like like this just give that much more insight into the mind o' Bob.

edit- And how would you even know any of us answered truthfully? :lol:
 
Spaz - Oh, you don't like giving your info to a random stranger?

You must know a lot of people! I wasn't aware you were on a first-name basis with your postman, all the people at your post office, the people at posts between your home and the data processing center and the people that work at that data processing center.

Man, that's quite a Christmas card list.
 
I just said I gave my info to Amazon, I've also given my info to the over 100 people on this site that I've traded with, restaurants, other online stores, regular stores, etc. I give my info to strangers all the time, not random strangers.
 
[quote name='Foxtrot0245']Quit my job at the Census Bureau 2 months ago. All this crazy hysteria is pretty unfounded.... I hated my job, the inefficiencies, and the massive amounts of wasted resources going into the project, but that doesn't mean I don't see its purpose. I don't like Obama either, but people who want to take every little opportunity to bash him don't have a leg to stand on when he really does something screwed up.

Although, I will say this. That stuff they tell illegal immigrants (you can't and won't be deported for answering the questionnaire) is not true. The LCO's (Local Census Offices) will tell you anything to get you to answer and send back your form. They get rewarded for being faster than other LCO's and so they try some funny tactics. Anyway, thanks to the FOIA, that information is accessible to INS and DHS (etc) and they will most likely act on information given "freely" as any law enforcement officer will.[/QUOTE]

Wow must be that crazy huh? I applied for that job back in Dec, only to get a call back in Jan to fill out my forms (after the test)...never got a call back..so I doubt I got the job since the thing already started. So where you interviewed or they just said come on in and we will pay you XX.XX an hour.
 
Here's page 2 of housing, let me know when I get to something intrusive:

electricity - $58, gas - $100, water - incl in rent, other shit - $0, no food stamps, no condominium, rented, $980/no meals

That's actually all of housing for me there since I rent.
 
Well if more people around you are like you Bob, you'll lose one (or more) of your congressman. Hopefully you have a batshit one that you can't stand ;)
 
Sadly, we won't lose our Senator - the one put into office by our wonderful ex-governor right before he was forced out for selling the seat to the highest bidder.
 
Person page 1:

my name, born in US - VA, citizen - born in US, no school, BS, psychology, English/German?, no other language, no - lived in VA

Since that was short, page 2:

Insurance through employer - nothing else, not deaf/blind, no/no/no, no errand diff., never married, no grandchildren, never in military
 
the only thing I've left out is my name, address and former address, everything else doesn't apply

EDIT: oh, well, I didn't clarify where my gas fuel came from, it's the first one, not a tank - a series of tubes.


page 3:

yes, my apt, worked from home, no/40-47ish, 40 hrs per week

page 4:

private for-profit, amerisci, asbestos/microbiology testing, other?, IT, fixin them com-puters, ~$17k-20k/not doing the math right now/salary is $30k, no, like $5, no, no, no, no, no, ~$17k-20k + $5

Done.
 
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Anyway, got my Census today, no ACS.

Took less than 2 minutes to fill out and seal in the envelope, will mail it out tomorrow. Completely painless.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']Wow must be that crazy huh? I applied for that job back in Dec, only to get a call back in Jan to fill out my forms (after the test)...never got a call back..so I doubt I got the job since the thing already started. So where you interviewed or they just said come on in and we will pay you XX.XX an hour.[/QUOTE]
No, I worked FT for them (not on a temporary basis). I helped to recruit (test) people to come in on a "6 week basis" and trained them.... then watched them get laid off en masse after 1-2 weeks of work. Some people even quit their old job to come over and subsequently get fired (in effect).

BTW, I got hired in Nov. 2008 and there was no interview. I took the test in July of 08, got a perfect score, and was called Nov. 7th and told that I would be in training on Nov. 13th or they would find someone else.
 
To play the ACS game (only leave out name, address, phone number etc.)

Page 1
1 person in my household

Page 2-4
N/A as they're for additional people in the house hold.

Page 5
1. A building with 5-9 apartments
2. No idea when it was built
3. Moved in July 2009
4-6: N/A
7. 4 rooms (not counting the bathroom)
8. yes too all of the items
9. 1 car
10. Natural gas from underground pipes for heating

Page 6

11a. Electric bill was $55 or so last month
11b. Gas bill was around $60 last month
11c. Water is included in rent/condo fees
11d. Don't use kerosene or any of the listed fuels
12. No foodstamps
13. No condo fee since I rent from the owner (don't know what they pay)
14. Rented
15a. Rent is $950 a month
15b. No meals included in rent
16. I'd guess it would sell for around $150K based on other listings in the community
17. No idea what the property tax is since I don't own the place
18. No idea about the fire/flood insurances costs. I pay $120 or so a year for renters insurance

page 7
19a. NO (so skip b and c)
20a. No (so skip to d)
21--N/A

Page 8
Name omitted
7. Born in WV
8. US citizen
9. N/A
10a. Haven't attended school in the past 3 months
11. Doctorate Degree
12. Criminology and Criminal Justice
13. White, American
14. No, don't speak another language
15a. No did not live in this address one year ago
15b. prior address omitted, lived in MD last year

Page 9

16. Insurance through employer
17a. Not deaf
17b. Not blind
18a. No issues with concentration, memory, decision making
18b. No difficulty climbing stairs
18c. No difficulty dressing or bathing
19. No difficulty doing errands alone
20. Never married
21. N/A
22. N/A
23. N/A
24. No, haven't give birth
25a. No grandchildren
26. Never served in military
27. N/A
28. N/A

page 10

29. Yes I worked for pay last week
30. Not giving address of employer on here
31. Get to work by car
32. Only me in the car most of the time
33. Hard to answer as I don't leave work at a set time since academic jobs are so flexible
34. My commute usually takes 15-20 minutes
35-38. N/A (for unemployed folks)
39a. Yes worked 50 or more weeks counting paid time off.
39b. 52 as I had no unpaid weeks off
40. Hours worked per week varys alot, anywhere from 40-70+ depending on what's going on. Probably average 55 or so for the year if I had to guess.

Page 11
41. State goverment employee (university)
42. Not giving the university name on here
43. Higher education
44. Other
45. Research and teaching
46. Research and teaching
47a. Too hard to figure past 12 months income from today. Will make $65K or so this academic year (Aug 2009-July 2010). Don't have any other sources of income, so the rest of 47 is n/a.
48. Same as 47a.


And that's all. I don't see the big deal. Other than my name, address and employers name/address there wasn't anything I hesitated to post on this public forum. And all that stuff I'd be 100% fine giving to the government (they have it all anyway) or on a private research survey.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']I'm amused by those who just prove my point by not filling out all of the information.[/QUOTE]
by not putting his name, addy, and phone number? I'm pretty sure there's a difference between putting it on a survey to send to the goverment, and posting it on the internet.
 
What you're saying is that there are people out there you don't trust.

Likewise, there are people out there I don't trust.

Trust is something earned.
 
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