Yes, My Sink Has A Faucet

That is my answer to Housing Question 8d of the American Community Survey.

What is that, you ask? The American Community Survey collects information about population and housing characteristics throughout the 10-year period of time between formal census studies. It is conducted by the U.S. Census bureau and for all practical purposes, it is a mini-census.

My initial reaction was that this is nobody's business, especially the government's. Upon further thought, I decided that I really didn't want to pick this particular fight with the government; I really had little to gain. Instead, I would fill it out and make the best of it.

The survey was quite interesting, in sort of a weird way. Some of the questions were truly baffling, while other questions were humorous. It is scary to think how the information would ultimately be used. If nothing else, the process provided some nice input for today's blog posting.

Some random thoughts:

---"The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting this survey and chose your addreess, not you personally, as part of a randomly selected sample." This wording seemed a bit strange as all the information that I had to provide was amount me and not my address.

---"You are required by U.S. law to respond to this survey." I'm not sure what I did to subject myself to this....except for the fact that I was born here.

---"The Census Bureau is required by U.S. law to keep your answers confidential." And what kind of guarantee do I have for this? With Tuesday's discussion of government espionage, you can imagine how much I trust the US government to protect my information.

---In the personal section the survey butchers the definitions of "race", "origin", "ancestry" and "ethnic origin".

In question 6 regarding race, there are 15 possible answers: White, Black, American Indian, Other and 11 different Asian choices. If we are to end racial tensions in this country, it might help if our governments stopped using terms like "white" and "black". And why are there 11 different Asian choices vs one catchall category of white?

The survey goes out of its way to make an arbitrary distinction between race and origin. Question 5 specifically addresses "Hispanic origin" and states that the suggested possible answers (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spaniard, etc) are not "races". Yet in question 6 regarding "race", suggested possible answers refer to people from specific areas (Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, etc.). This may all be nice in theory, but not in real life. My wife has both Filipino and Puerto Rican blood, so the survey specifically says that she is a Filipino of Puerto Rican origin.......this is really not accurate.

After the confusion with questions 5 and 6, several pages later, question 12 asks "What is this person's ancestry or ethnic origin?"

No wonder there is so much racial tension in the country.....and in the world.

---In question 8 of the housing questions, the surveys asks whether your residence has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, a bathtub or shower, a sink with a faucet, a stove or rang, a refrigerator, and telephone service from which you can both make and receive calls. I'm just wondering why.

---In question 23 of the personal section, the survey asks females between the age of 15-50 years old, if they've given birth to any children in the past 12 months. If you are 14 or 51 years old, the government doesn't want to know if you gave birth to a child. If anyone knows why the government would not want to know this information, please let me know.

---Questions 46-47 of the personal section ask a variety of questions regarding income in the past 12 months. There are specific inputs for wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, tips, self-employment income, interest, dividends, net rental income, royalty income, income from estates and trusts, social security, railroad retirement, supplemental security income, public assistance, welfare payments, retirement or survivor or disability pensions, Veterans' payments, unemployment compensation, child support and alimony.

Despite these very detailed categories, the survey specifically excludes capital gains. For many people, capital gains can be the largest item on their tax return. I can't help but think that by excluding some income items, the government will undoubtedly reach the wrong conclusions in many instances.

Rather than providing financial information in this format, it sure would be easier to get the information from tax returns. Does the government really expect people to collect information for the last 12 months from February to February? How about asking for calendar year information that ties to tax returns? Or how about asking for specific tax return information? Or even better, how about getting the two government agencies to talk to each other? What a novel idea.

---The icing on the cake: "The Census Bureau estimates that, for the average household, this form will take 38 minutes to complete." Just answering the financial questions makes this estimate a laughing matter. The government estimates for completing your tax return is hours for the easy returns and days for the more complex returns.