Census: American Community Survey

[Kat Kanning]

OK, Russell made a wiki page:

http://www.soulawakenings.com/underground/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=Monthly+US+Census

[jgmaynard]

I LOVE Mike's sticker!

One time, when I was 18, I got a survey from the military, and it said "This paper is government property, and MUST be returned under federal law". So, I returned it. Shredded, of course, in the pre-paid return envelope.

JM

[Grunt]

Im confused, dont they have to amend the constitution or state constitution to go below the 10 year census limitation?

[Russell Kanning]

You would think. 

[Kat Kanning]

Im confused, dont they have to amend the constitution or state constitution to go below the 10 year census limitation?

How long has it been since the feds paid any attention to the consitution?  Hell, they think it's a "Fluid document" for pity's sake.

[Erethizon]

When I receive my census in the mail, I'll be printing this out, taping it to the envelope, and sticking it back in the nearest USPS drop box.

This deserves a stamp. 

[Kat Kanning]

The Government's Appetite For Nosy Information
by Phyllis Schlafly   Mar. 15, 2006

While the Patriot Act and NSA wiretapping have received enormous attention and criticism from the mainstream media, another federal agency has been quietly gathering far more personal information about Americans than those laws ever can. And this unreported project affects thousands more people.

Our inquisitive federal government has been demanding that selected U.S. residents answer 73 nosy questions. They are threatened with a fine of $5,000 for failure to respond.

When I first heard about this from a reader in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I thought it might be a joke or an anomaly. But when another in Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula received the same questionnaire, I realized something is going on nationwide.

These nosy questionnaires come under the friendly name "American Community Survey." But this is not a Gallup or a Harris poll; the interrogator is Big Brother Government with the power to compel and computerize your responses.

The Constitution authorizes the government to take an "enumeration" every tenth year in order to reapportion the seats in the U.S. House to accord with the "respective numbers" of each state's population. The Constitution thus authorizes a count of persons; it doesn't authorize the government to find out with whom you share your bed and board.

Beginning only in 1960, the ten-year census-taking significantly changed. The government began sending a long form with many questions to a limited number of persons, randomly selected, and a short form with only six questions to all other U.S. residents.

The government is now jumping the gun on the 2010 census, and without public announcement is already sending out an extremely long form, starting with a few thousand mailings each month to a handful of residents in widely scattered small towns that don't generate national media. Recipients can't find neighbors who received the same mailing, so it's difficult to avoid the impression that the project was planned to avoid publicity and citizen opposition.

The one filling out the new long form is labeled "Person 1." That person is required by law to list the name of every other person in the household, giving his or her birth date, sex, race, marital status, and relationship.

Other persons can be husband, daughter, grandson, in-law, etc. Others can also be "unmarried partner" (defined as a person "who shares a close personal relationship with Person 1") or "roommate (someone sharing the house/apartment but who is not romantically involved with Person 1").

Person 1 must answer 25 questions about his residence and the size of the property. What kind of a home, apartment or condo do you live in, when was it built, when did you move in, are you operating a business in your home, how many rooms and how many bedrooms do you have, what kind of bathroom and kitchen fixtures do you have, and what is the market price of your residence?

The survey asks how much you pay each month for electricity, gas, water, rent, real estate taxes, fire or flood insurance, plus six very specific questions about your first and second monthly mortgage payments. There are questions about your telephone and automobile, and about how many months of the year you and others occupy the residence.

The survey then gets really personal, demanding the answers to 42 questions about you and about every other person who resides in your household. Person 1 is used like a private investigator to extract the information from everybody else, and warned that if anyone doesn't want to answer your nosy questions, you must provide the name and telephone number of such person so Big Brother can follow up.

The information demanded for you and every other person includes very specific questions about what kind of school you and each other one attended and to what grade level, what is each person's "ancestry or ethnic origin" (no matter if your ancestors came here hundreds of years ago), what language you speak at home, how well you speak English, where you lived one year ago, what are specific physical, mental or emotional health conditions, and whether you have given birth during the past year.

More questions demand that you tell the government exactly where you are employed, what transportation you use to get to work, how many people ride in the vehicle with you, how many minutes it takes you to get to work, whether you have been laid off or absent from your job or business, how many weeks you worked during the last year, what kind of a job you have (for-profit company, not-for-profit company, government, self-employed), what kind of business it is, exactly what kind of work you did, what was your last year's wage or salary, and what was your other income from any other source.

The Census Bureau warns: "We may combine your answers with information that you gave to other agencies." (Does that mean IRS? Social Security? New Hires Directory? Child support enforcement? Criminal databases? Commercial databases?)

The questionnaire promises that it will take only 38 minutes to answer these questions. Of course, that low-ball estimate doesn't include the hours that it takes to collect the required information from so many different sources.

[aries]

I wonder if they require a response if you're illiterate.

I wonder because I read an article in my sociology class the other day about adult illiteracy, and how a lot of people are illiterate and still manage to function in society.

[Russell Kanning]

Well .... they need this info to centrally plan our society ... give them a break.

[Kat Kanning]

Census Bureau gets personal

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060305/NEWS/603050311/1001/BUSINESS

JON WALKER
jwalker@argusleader.com

Article Published: 03/5/06, 2:55 am
The government already knows who makes how much money.

Now it's asking who has a barbershop in the basement, who's in law school, and who has trouble dressing, bathing or remembering where he left his car keys.

Some Americans recall such details from the long form of the U.S. census questionnaire that hit a minority of households in the nation's head count every 10 years.

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But now the Census Bureau, backed by money Congress approved last year, is asking those questions annually to make the results more timely. The answers help the government hand out money for its programs and let communities see how they're growing in terms of wealth, poverty and lifestyle.

Glen Tschetter, 81, a retired automotive wholesale worker, thought the questionnaire was junk mail when it arrived at his Sioux Falls home. When he studied it, he liked it even less because it seemed too personal.

"They wanted to know if you had any stocks or bonds, how much you made last year, how much you got from Social Security," he said. "I don't think it's anybody's business."

He showed it to his pastor, the Rev. Chris Franklin of First Christian Church, who said, "I thought it was a scam."

Officials acknowledge the concerns. Pat Rodriguez, data technician for the Census Bureau in Denver, said people worry about the validity of the survey, particularly in an age of easy identity theft.

"Some of these questions don't even seem to be legitimate, but when you look at legislation, it makes sense because it applies to local community needs and funding," Rodriguez said.

The Census Bureau promises confidentiality for individuals, but details those individuals supply coalesce into massive data devoured by city planners, researchers and publishers of almanacs. The new survey should make the effort more useful, officials said.

"The census comes out every 10 years and the data get old quickly. People are always looking for more current information," said Nancy Craig, information specialist with the State Data Center at the Business Research Bureau at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

The Census Bureau will continue its national head count in years ending in zero, following the constitutional requirement to measure the population every 10 years.

In the past, most Americans received a short census form to complete, but a random group received a long form with extended questions. The long form now gives way to the community survey.

As with the old system, the new survey will reach a minority of the population. Instead of a 1 in 6 chance of receiving the long form every 10 years, a resident now has a 1 in 8 chance of receiving the American Community Survey every five years. The bureau will contact 250,000 households a month, 3 million a year, with addresses supplied by the postal service. In South Dakota, 184 households will receive the questionnaire this month. That number will grow as the government expands the program geographically, Rodriguez said.

Current events could create even more uses for the more up-to-date information gleaned by the new survey. The American Community Survey can be used, for instance, to examine the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the population, Department of Commerce economist Keith Hall testified at a federal hearing in September.

Julianne Fisher, communications director for U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, said Friday that Johnson's office had received no complaints from South Dakotans concerning the survey. The Census Bureau has a variety of data-collecting projects going from time to time, a number that tops 100.

"The questions sometimes do feel a little intrusive, but it's not being matched with anybody's name," Fisher said. "The information is a good way to gauge how communities are changing."

Rodriguez said people refusing to complete the community survey could face fines of $100 to $5,000. The Justice Department decides whom to penalize. "I don't know if it ever happens," she said. "We're not out to prosecute anyone."

Reach reporter Jon Walker at 331-2206 or 800-530-6397.

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/index.html

[Kat Kanning]

Uncle Sam wants your data - all year 'round

Sacramento Bee | January 11, 2005
By Dorothy Korber

In fast-growing regions like Sacramento, decade-old population statistics are about as relevant as Y2K survival kits. So, with the last U.S. census growing staler by the day, the federal government is embarking on a massive new survey that will collect demographic data year-round.

It's a historic shift for the U.S. Census Bureau, since the American Community Survey will replace the old "long form" questionnaire that went to one household in six in the 2000 census.

This month, 250,000 households across the nation will receive the first batch of surveys. Every month another quarter-million households will be polled. In a 10-year span, about one in four households in America will be surveyed, said Ken Bryson, a program analyst for the bureau.

Results for states and cities of 65,000 or more will be tallied annually, beginning in 2006. Information on smaller towns will be released beginning in 2008.

"Congress asked us to provide information that is more timely," Bryson said. "Sacramento is a prime example of why this is needed. It's amazing how much Sacramento has changed just since the 2000 census. And that change doesn't get measured if you're getting data once every 10 years."

Some things will not change. When the next decennial census comes around in 2010, the nation's people will still be counted the old way. But this time every household will receive the same "short form" questionnaire, which asks only name, age, sex, ethnicity and whether the residence is owned or rented.

This formal head count is required by law as the basis for political redistricting.

But the long form's more detailed questions - which delve into income, commute times, education level, birthplace, and even household plumbing - will now be asked in the American Community Survey.

"It's all the same stuff we asked in the long form," Bryson said. "And it's all important. Income data, for example, is used to allocate federal funds to school districts in high poverty areas. The question about plumbing is used to determine the number of older people who live in inadequate housing and may be candidates for assistance."

If you get the survey packet in the mail, he said, federal law requires you to respond. If you don't, expect another packet, reminder postcards, telephone follow up, and possibly even an enumerator at your door.

As with the decennial census, individuals' identities and information, by law, will remain confidential.

Not everyone will be covered by the community survey, Bryson said. Homeless people without a residential address, for example, won't be reached.

And this year residents of group quarters - such as prisons, nursing homes and college dormitories - will be excluded, but they will be added in 2006.

State and local demographers say they are thrilled by the prospect of fresh data from the ongoing survey. But they also expressed some qualms.

"We're really excited about getting new data every year," said state demographer Mary Heim. "In a place like California, which is changing all the time demographically, an annual survey is a great thing. We know there is growth, but we don't necessarily know the makeup of that growth. We'll definitely see the way trends are going."

Heim said she is concerned that federal funding for the community survey is to be allocated annually. "It's a battle the census bureau will have to fight every single year," she said. "We've got to make sure the survey stays robust."

The omission of group quarters this year, she said, was a result of short funding.

Another problem Heim sees is the discrepancy between the census bureau's estimate of California's population and the state's larger estimate.

"We think the bureau underestimates the California population by about 1.9 percent. We're trying to work with them on that," she said.

Demographer Gillian Biedler looks at regional population trends for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. Like Heim, she said she is excited by the new national survey.

"It will be a huge help," Biedler said, "especially in this region that's growing so quickly. Around here, data from 2000 is ancient history. If I can use data from 2005, 2006, 2007, everyone will benefit from it. And it's always fun to get a new tool."

But Biedler also had a caveat.

"We know that there are groups that are chronically undercounted - the homeless population and the migrant population," she said. "This survey leaves out some people we need to be very concerned about. We have to be careful to take that into consideration."

[Pat McCotter]

Rodriguez said people refusing to complete the community survey could face fines of $100 to $5,000. The Justice Department decides whom to penalize. "I don't know if it ever happens," she said. "We're not out to prosecute anyone."

If they are not out to prosecute anyone, why the penalty?

[KBCraig]

I received a long form for the 2000 census. I was single then, so I filled in "1", left the rest blank, and sent it in.

Months later, a Census enumerator knocked on my door and said she needed some more information. I told her she already had all the information I was obligated to provide. "But sir, you're required by law..."

I held up my finger and said, "One. That's all you need to know." Then I shut the door as she was sputtering, completely bewildered that someone wouldn't be eager to give up personal details. Living by myself, I didn't have much to tell. It still wasn't any of their business.

Kevin

[Kat Kanning]

Good job!!