American Community Survey - Has anyone had the pleasure?

POPASMOKE

POPASMOKE

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Received an ACS recently. The cover letter reads in part..."The information collected in this survey will help decide where new schools, hospitals, and fire stations are needed..."

The survey then goes on to ask such questions as:

How many times have you been married. :eek:
When do you leave for work.
All income sources and gross income for previous 12 months for all members of household.
Names, ages, birth dates, ethnicity, place of birth, and citizenship of all household members.
How many bedrooms.
How much you pay monthly for electricity, gas, water.
What is your monthly mortgage payment.
Payment on your 2nd.
How many rooms in your home.
Specific questions regarding disabilities, physical, mental, or emotional conditions.
Specific question regarding ethnic ancestry.
The specific subject you received a college degree in.

Just to name a few.

While big business no doubt benefits from having as much information about citizens as possible, many citizens are unwilling to give away their right to privacy. Hence, many are refusing to return the ACS. This automatically results in an additional ACS form being sent, followed by a series of phone calls. In 21% of the cases, an unannounced, personal visit from a Census Bureau representative follows in a final attempt to get the ACS completed. Often more than one visit takes place.
Click to expand...
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-acs-american-community-survey.htm

IMO, this is an invasive and privacy violating requirement. I fulfilled my constitutional duty with the census. Am disinclined to participate in this in spite of potential penalties.

Your thoughts?
 
Monkey

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I wouldn't fill the damn thing out. Let them come visit me. What are they going to do, pester me to death?
 
Don

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The comments are hee-lar-i-ous.

One said he'd fill it out if Obama produced his birth certificate. :ROFL:
 
Gregg

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Seems to me this is one of the first items that can be cut from the Federal budget.
Apparently they can levy a fine up to $5000 for failure to fill out the form. I'd like to see where this type of action is authorized by the Constitution. A census every ten years...

Of course, one could have fun with the form - "married 17 times, live in a 42 bedroom home, have no income..................... and graduated from college with a degree in constitutional law."
 
Gregg

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From the Census Bureau website:

"Data from the American Community Survey helps your community. The information that the Census Bureau collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services."

I suppose it's too much to hope that without the information gleaned from the Survey they couldn't spend the $400 Billion?
 
rugcat

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The intrusiveness of the census (which this is just part of ) is off-putting to be sure.

But don't forget, the point of this information is to figure out how to spend tax dollars in the most effective way possible, and to get programs and money where they're needed instead of where they're not.
 
PinkAmy

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POPASMOKE said:
IMO, this is an invasive and privacy violating requirement. I fulfilled my constitutional duty with the census. Am disinclined to participate in this in spite of potential penalties.

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I don't see how it is invasive and privacy violating when the survey is essentially voluntary. If anyone was fined for non-compliance, the ACLU would be all over it. If you don't want to give the information, don't. If you want to answer some of the questions and not others, don't. I'd probably answer most of the questions, because I want to be sure my needs are counted. I hesitate at answering money questions. At first the 'time leaving for work' seemed stalker-ish, but then I realized for traffic control and school busing, it might save a lot of time.
 
Cranky

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PinkAmy said:
I don't see how it is invasive and privacy violating when the survey is essentially voluntary. If anyone was fined for non-compliance, the ACLU would be all over it. If you don't want to give the information, don't. If you want to answer some of the questions and not others, don't. I'd probably answer most of the questions, because I want to be sure my needs are counted. I hesitate at answering money questions. At first the 'time leaving for work' seemed stalker-ish, but then I realized for traffic control and school busing, it might save a lot of time.
Click to expand...

As Gregg states above, there IS a fine for non-compliance. Anywhere from $100 to $5000. And the ACLU isn't all over it, to my knowledge.
 
the bunny hugger

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I wouldn't be surprised is, at the community level, rates of remarraige correlate with a need for certain services.
 
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