Austin Residents and Census (Commerce, Howe: lawyer, public school, taxes)

[Mdlx]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

Well then that answers that, I stand corrected. Thanks for doing the research. I have already sent my form in, so didn't have it in front of me, thanks for taking a look for us.

Yeah I just wanted to make sure the correct information was out there.

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by Mdlx

Yeah I just wanted to make sure the correct information was out there.

As do I, especially since the form can be considered confusing and it gets even worse when conspiracist theorists purposely put out misinformation because they have a political axe to grind. I make mistakes quite often. I should have just looked up the information before I posted, like I did on my previous post concerning the "constitutionality" of the census. I just honestly couldnt' find the full census form online, only the 10 questions. The "get started" section wasn't listed.

I just took it as a lesson, always look up something before you post it as a fact. You would think since I am so critical on that subject I wouldn't have run afoul of it. Thanks for keeping me honest!

[Paulmmm]

Here's a copy of the census form (pdf). I recommend you bump the viewing percentage up to 100% when you get there, so you can read it more easily.

http://www.census.gov/schools/pdf/2010form_info.pdf

[tongpa-nyi]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

E. A large portion of Austin's population is made up of students and this is not there permanent home. As directed to by the census, they will ignore the census form when it is sent to them because their parents/guardians will be listing them on the census form at the residence they originate from. So if you send 80,000 census forms to the apartments surronding UT, you are going to get about 0 back. And that is good, b/c it means people are reading the form.

You've gotten some conflicting responses to this point and I'm confused about it myself. There are many variations (shades of gray) regarding where people actually live and what they call their "primary residence." With the state capital being here, that would further complicate things. It's easy to see how Austin would have more problems than a typical city given the rapidly changing population and the number of part time residents.

But I still maintain it's the slackers!

[austinizer]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Just saw a news report that Austin lags the national average in submitting the census forms.

I think Austin should be cut some slack because in 2005 we were the test city for the 2010 census for the entire country, so we have to go through this process twice.

The race question also caused some confusion and arguments in our household. We changed our minds a couple times, good luck to the Census folks with figuring out our response.

I don't think the federal government should have any business collecting race information on every person. If they want to know the racial makeup of the country, do this in a test study with statistical sampling of volunteers. Same with age, home ownership, etc.

[XLadylawX]

I gotta ask. How do you all know who is living in your house on April 1st? Isn't that merely a prediction? I filled mine out but I thought I had to wait until April 1st to submit it.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by XLadylawX

I gotta ask. How do you all know who is living in your house on April 1st? Isn't that merely a prediction? I filled mine out but I thought I had to wait until April 1st to submit it.

Yeah, I picked one up from one of my vacant properties. It phrases a question about a future date in the past tense. Inspiring.

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by austinizer

I think Austin should be cut some slack because in 2005 we were the test city for the 2010 census for the entire country, so we have to go through this process twice.

The race question also caused some confusion and arguments in our household. We changed our minds a couple times, good luck to the Census folks with figuring out our response.

I don't think the federal government should have any business collecting race information on every person. If they want to know the racial makeup of the country, do this in a test study with statistical sampling of volunteers. Same with age, home ownership, etc.

Fun fact, the US Census has collected information on Race since the first census in 1790.

Do people have problems answering the census because of paranoia? If so, what are you paranoid about?

Oh well. If anyone is wondering why the census asks each question, feel free to look it up.

The Questions on the Form (Text Version) - 2010 Census

It's not like the government keeps the reasoning behind the questions secret.

Now if you go to your local library and check out The Catcher in the Rye, well then WATCH OUT! Big Brother gonna get you.

[austinizer]

JayBrown80,

Thanks for the fun fact, but I don't think its 220 year history gives the question any more credibility. If you look at the history of this census question, it's quite apparent that it was to count "free white males," "free white females," "all other free persons" and "slaves." Slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person. I thought the US has moved on beyond this period of its history?

I think in the government's reasoning that you linked, it's quite disturbing that the race data is required for congressional districting. I'm sure the intent may be to create evenly race-distributed congressional districts, but in practice congressional redistricting has led to deeply divided political representation where nothing meaningful can get done.

I don't have any problem with the government collecting data on me, but I question why I am required to provide much of the information asked. I agree with persons being counted for distribution of federal funds and representation. However, everything else could be done reasonably accurately (and more often than every 10 years) with statistical sampling (of volunteers) rather than requiring a response from everyone. OK, so the government has race-based policies, whether I like it or not; but why should a requirement for me as an individual result to disclose my race? Why not include a question on my health to implement healthcare policy, or my occupation to implement labor laws, or my citizenship to implement immigration laws, or my IQ to implement education reform, where do you stop? Why do 5 minutes of the survey have to be spent answering questions that have nothing to do with counting people? To put it in perspective, that's one million hours of time lost for the nation which would take a statistical data collection agency much less time.

Here and here is a nice collection of some historic census forms. It looks like at times, people had it worse than today which random unrelated questions. "How many radios do you have?" "Are you able to read and write?" "Are you blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, or crippled?"

I'm surprised the 2010 census didn't include a question on how many iPhones are in each household.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Austinizer: [quote "Are you blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, or crippled?" [/quote]




Geeze, can I answer two out of three ain't bad? (without thinking Meatloaf?)