Heard the head honcho of the Census Bureau defending the fact that out of 600,000 people hired to finish the census "only" a few were found to be felons guilty of such things as assault, rape, theft, etc., etc. The conversation segued into what the 600,000 were doing and he proudly said that they were completing the count of the 47 million who did not return the census forms.
Now, if my hand held calculator is correct, that amounts to 78.8 households per counter and even if they were allowed one full hour to ask the basic questions and get to the next house or apartment, they could complete 8 in an 8 hour day which means they would have ample time to finish their jobs in two weeks. I ask you, have you heard anything about the terrific job they are doing? And shouldn't they have announced Mission Accomplished quite some time ago? Duh...
As for the Cap and Trade deal, is it only me who thinks the whole thing is a scam? I'm thinking they have taken the words "carbon footprint" and figured out how to put a price tag on something that actually doesn't exist? Can't you just see a bunch of guys sitting around a table figuring out how to sell this get rich quick scheme?
Point Two on the energy front: Has anyone ever figured out just how many windmills it takes to equal the amount of oil generated? The cost of those windmills plus the acres and acres of land on which to "plant" them must be astronomical given that there are only pockets of wind in each state where it makes sense to put up a farm.
All I can see coming out of Washington and the Democrats is spend, spend, spend. More stimulus funds to the tune of $55 billion was the latest number bandied about today. Pretty soon instead of indicating how they plan to pay for a bill, they should be indicating an approved line of credit if they can find a lender.
My vocabulary doesn't have words to describe their chutzpah and my chagrin.
God bless.......
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Obviously you've never done this type of job before. Theoretically, sure - one hour per form, 8 hour work days. But you're forgetting that these people you're trying to contact also work. So that limits the time you can speak with a lot of them to between 6-8 PM during weekday evenings. Then there are the people who are at home, but don't answer the door. Or the people who answer the door, but refuse to answer any questions. You end up going to the same house multiple times because you either cannot catch them at home, or they pretend they're not there.
Then you factor in the driving time - it's not as if each house is right next to each other, and you can walk. No, you're going to end up driving to each different house, unless you live in a city and can do some on foot. So it's far, far too simplistic to say, "Gee...it should only take 2 weeks!" There is NO way you could finish almost 80 forms in two weeks, even if every single person you spoke with was cooperative. Not possible.
People really don't have any idea how much work and effort has gone into this Census. I know it's easy to judge, but you really shouldn't in this case. While there will always be some bad apples to draw negative attention, for the most part the temporary Census workers are doing a great job. It's thankless work where you get berated, belittled, and have doors slammed in your face. Have a little compassion for them.
Besides that, if everyone had just completed their forms and mailed them back in the first place, then no one would need to personally visit houses to gather the information. If you want to blame someone, blame them.
Post a Comment