The census & Content of character

[ScarletB]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

My reaction exactly.

As a mortgage lender I have to ask those ethnicity questions every day of my life so I don't even notice it anymore.

That's one of the reasons the race question is on the form. From the census website:

Uses of the Data
Information from this question is used to:
•Assess home mortgage lending patterns of financial institutions to meet the credit needs of minorities.
•Meet legislative redistricting requirements.
•Monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions.
•Assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks.

Race shouldnt have anything to do with any of that.
1 - You either qualify for a home mortgage on your ability to get and maintain credit. It doesnt matter if your black, white and purple if you cant get credit you cant get it. As someone whos credit score is probably in the gutter I wouldnt be irritaed if I couldnt get a loan. I know I had debt that im digging out of. I would lend me money either.
2 - Redistricting requirements- again this should have nothing to do with race. this has to do with population. So another B.S. excuse by the goverment for information.

3 - I actually have no idea what that one means

4 Assess racial disparities with health and enviromental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

That's not necessarily true, in some cases minorities who DO qualify have been turned down more often than non-minorities. No one gets on our case for turning down anyone who isn't qualified no matter who they are. In VT we have very few minorities in most of the state so they pay a lot more attention when one gets turned down, and if there was good reason for the decline there's no penalty or pressure to make the loan. It's just a safeguard so there isn't prejudicial lending. I've been doing this for 25 years and it's always been the same.

[green1]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

My reaction exactly.

As a mortgage lender I have to ask those ethnicity questions every day of my life so I don't even notice it anymore.

That's one of the reasons the race question is on the form. From the census website:

Uses of the Data
Information from this question is used to:
•Assess home mortgage lending patterns of financial institutions to meet the credit needs of minorities.
•Meet legislative redistricting requirements.
•Monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions.
•Assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks.

Race shouldnt have anything to do with any of that.
1 - You either qualify for a home mortgage on your ability to get and maintain credit. It doesnt matter if your black, white and purple if you cant get credit you cant get it. As someone whos credit score is probably in the gutter I wouldnt be irritaed if I couldnt get a loan. I know I had debt that im digging out of. I would lend me money either.

2 - Redistricting requirements- again this should have nothing to do with race. this has to do with population. So another B.S. excuse by the goverment for information.

3 - I actually have no idea what that one means

4 Assess racial disparities with health and enviromental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

Race shouldn't have to do with any of that, but unfortunately, in this day and age, it still does.

Which goes back to the "Content of my Character" quote from MLK Jr.

[backstreets77]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

My reaction exactly.

As a mortgage lender I have to ask those ethnicity questions every day of my life so I don't even notice it anymore.

That's one of the reasons the race question is on the form. From the census website:

Uses of the Data
Information from this question is used to:
•Assess home mortgage lending patterns of financial institutions to meet the credit needs of minorities.
•Meet legislative redistricting requirements.
•Monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions.
•Assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks.

Race shouldnt have anything to do with any of that.
1 - You either qualify for a home mortgage on your ability to get and maintain credit. It doesnt matter if your black, white and purple if you cant get credit you cant get it. As someone whos credit score is probably in the gutter I wouldnt be irritaed if I couldnt get a loan. I know I had debt that im digging out of. I would lend me money either.
2 - Redistricting requirements- again this should have nothing to do with race. this has to do with population. So another B.S. excuse by the goverment for information.

3 - I actually have no idea what that one means

4 Assess racial disparities with health and enviromental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

That's not necessarily true, in some cases minorities who DO qualify have been turned down more often than non-minorities. No one gets on our case for turning down anyone who isn't qualified no matter who they are. In VT we have very few minorities in most of the state so they pay a lot more attention when one gets turned down, and if there was good reason for the decline there's no penalty or pressure to make the loan. It's just a safeguard so there isn't prejudicial lending. I've been doing this for 25 years and it's always been the same.

So its a Cover Your A** kinda thing with the mortgage stuff.

[ScarletB]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

My reaction exactly.

As a mortgage lender I have to ask those ethnicity questions every day of my life so I don't even notice it anymore.

That's one of the reasons the race question is on the form. From the census website:

Uses of the Data
Information from this question is used to:
•Assess home mortgage lending patterns of financial institutions to meet the credit needs of minorities.
•Meet legislative redistricting requirements.
•Monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions.
•Assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks.

Race shouldnt have anything to do with any of that.
1 - You either qualify for a home mortgage on your ability to get and maintain credit. It doesnt matter if your black, white and purple if you cant get credit you cant get it. As someone whos credit score is probably in the gutter I wouldnt be irritaed if I couldnt get a loan. I know I had debt that im digging out of. I would lend me money either.
2 - Redistricting requirements- again this should have nothing to do with race. this has to do with population. So another B.S. excuse by the goverment for information.

3 - I actually have no idea what that one means

4 Assess racial disparities with health and enviromental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

That's not necessarily true, in some cases minorities who DO qualify have been turned down more often than non-minorities. No one gets on our case for turning down anyone who isn't qualified no matter who they are. In VT we have very few minorities in most of the state so they pay a lot more attention when one gets turned down, and if there was good reason for the decline there's no penalty or pressure to make the loan. It's just a safeguard so there isn't prejudicial lending. I've been doing this for 25 years and it's always been the same.

So its a Cover Your A** kinda thing with the mortgage stuff.

Exactly

[ph4ever]

I'll be having an ACORN employee knocking on my door attempting to get the form completed as expected. My race is American too. I'll be Pennsylvanian when they show up if they want me to be more specific. There was a time that one of the races only counted for a fraction of a whole person so I understand why race (actually color) was important then, but now since we are all counted as whole people (even the illegals) race doesn't matter.

I know someone that took work for the census - not because they were an ACORN member but because they were out of work and working for the census is better than no work at all.

[JollyMon66]

They really just want to count the people who live in the house. That's all. If you don't send in the form, someone will come to your door and ask you personally. It's just a count of people. The forms that went out when I worked for the microfilming center in Indiana in 1970 had about 12 pages and asked all kinds of personal questions. What a pain and an invasion of privacy. You don't have to answer anything but how many people live there. They hire people to go out and knock on doors if they don't get a form back from an address, which costs us taxpayers more money. I suppose they can ask your neighbors and get an estimate.................I don't know what they do in that case.

Wow microfilm. We had i guess a version of that in school called micro fische. Now taht im older and the internet is a staple I look back and think that was like the first internet. youd go to the library and look for magazine articles all over the world and print it out.

I haven't thought of microfilm in a long time. I remember a discusion an annoying co-worker was always ready to have...how to pronouce "microfische". Was it pronounced with an short i or long e sound? Oh who cares..working with it was a pain in the butt. The lamps in the machines made me hot, the motor hum gave me a headache, the print paper curled up on you...and the stupid sheets were always out of order so you couldn't find anything anyway. Sure glad we now have computers that only crash when you are working on something important

[backstreets77]

They really just want to count the people who live in the house. That's all. If you don't send in the form, someone will come to your door and ask you personally. It's just a count of people. The forms that went out when I worked for the microfilming center in Indiana in 1970 had about 12 pages and asked all kinds of personal questions. What a pain and an invasion of privacy. You don't have to answer anything but how many people live there. They hire people to go out and knock on doors if they don't get a form back from an address, which costs us taxpayers more money. I suppose they can ask your neighbors and get an estimate.................I don't know what they do in that case.

Wow microfilm. We had i guess a version of that in school called micro fische. Now taht im older and the internet is a staple I look back and think that was like the first internet. youd go to the library and look for magazine articles all over the world and print it out.

I haven't thought of microfilm in a long time. I remember a discusion an annoying co-worker was always ready to have...how to pronouce "microfische". Was it pronounced with an short i or long e sound? Oh who cares..working with it was a pain in the butt. The lamps in the machines made me hot, the motor hum gave me a headache, the print paper curled up on you...and the stupid sheets were always out of order so you couldn't find anything anyway. Sure glad we now have computers that only crash when you are working on something important

Computers that crash. Never.I never had my Dell go down and lose my entire library of almost filled 60 gig I POD.I wouldnt know such things you speak of.(yes im still bitter over that) Now papers out of order from microfishe what a b****.LOL.

[Bicycle Bill]

I

I checked "other" for everyone in my household and wrote in "American".


Just a small rant.

That's funny - kinda of like the times I wrote "YES" on forms that asking about sex...(meaning male or female). I've also been know to give 555-1212 for my phone number. Usually the teenagers at the counter don't get it which makes it even funnier.

Oooohhh I like the phone number gag i may have to borrow that.

Make up a Zip code when asked at places like Best Buy, too. Just don't give 90210; most kids know that one.

-"BB"-

[Coconuts]

4 Assess racial disparities with health and environmental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

Nothing, strictly speaking, but if you have 1000 people who live in an area and 50 get [cancer, autism, whatever non-communicable disease], it would be very helpful to note that 48 of the fifty are [insert ethnicity here] and in X age group. Or that there are 10 ethnic groups in a disease prone area, and the disease rates are the same across all of them in children, or any other combination you can think of. It's not like towns survey for the information themselves, it comes from the census.

[green1]

4 Assess racial disparities with health and environmental risks. Whats that have to do with a numeric count of the people of this country.

What a joke.

Nothing, strictly speaking, but if you have 1000 people who live in an area and 50 get [cancer, autism, whatever non-communicable disease], it would be very helpful to note that 48 of the fifty are [insert ethnicity here] and in X age group. Or that there are 10 ethnic groups in a disease prone area, and the disease rates are the same across all of them in children, or any other combination you can think of. It's not like towns survey for the information themselves, it comes from the census.

That information cannot be delved from the census. Disease data is collected by hospitals and collated, I guess, by the CDC or some other government agency.

[JollyMon66]

I

I checked "other" for everyone in my household and wrote in "American".


Just a small rant.

That's funny - kinda of like the times I wrote "YES" on forms that asking about sex...(meaning male or female). I've also been know to give 555-1212 for my phone number. Usually the teenagers at the counter don't get it which makes it even funnier.

Oooohhh I like the phone number gag i may have to borrow that.

Make up a Zip code when asked at places like Best Buy, too. Just don't give 90210; most kids know that one.

-"BB"-

BB - that's a good idea too. When I was in college (a few years ago) stores like Sears would show up on campus and give you six pack of Coke to fill out a credit app. They never looked at them...they just went in the box. We used addresses like 1313 Mockingbird Lane and 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue so we wouldn't get follow up mail. Fun times...........

[chippewa]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was on the Daily Show tonight and was asked about that. He said studies have shown that the advance mailing increases the return rate somewhere between 6 and 12 percent. And for every percent, the taxpayers save $85 million. In a nutshell, those not responding still have to get counted, but it costs a whole lot more than a stamp to hire a census worker and have them make home visits.

[Elrod]

True story... A few years ago, MrsTwain was writing a check and they asked her for her employer's information and her occupation before they would accept the check. Annoyed by this, she proudly told them that she was a stripper and that she worked at Baby Dolls. I hate it when they ask for all that information just to write a check. In truth, she's a stay-at-home mom.

I used to have fun telling people my work telephone number when I wrote a check.

[gingerbreadman]

Constitutionaly all you have to do is write how many people live in your house. Id have to look up what article that is i forget off hand. But it basically states that every ten years that there will be a numeric count of the people. And far as im concerned numeric means how many people live in my house. The goverment has no buisness with any other questions. Im sure as hell not telling them how much I make and if my house in owned rented or mortgaged.
Sorry ill get off my soap box.

Oh really? Then I guess you don't pay income taxes or file tax forms?

[gingerbreadman]

Personally, I'm more annoyed that the government spent tax dollars on a letter we received about 10 days ago telling us to look for the up coming census mailing. GUESS WHAT Congress - those who aren't going to send the census form back aren't going to read that letter either......that's my vent for the day.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was on the Daily Show tonight and was asked about that. He said studies have shown that the advance mailing increases the return rate somewhere between 6 and 12 percent. And for every percent, the taxpayers save $85 million. In a nutshell, those not responding still have to get counted, but it costs a whole lot more than a stamp to hire a census worker and have them make home visits.

Excellent point! So if we want to save the government money, we should quit posting and send our census forms in ASAP!!!!!

[gingerbreadman]

Sorry to hear everyone is having so many problems!

Filled mine out tonight and all they asked on the form was... "who lives there?"

No problem!

Did not need to report that income BTW! .... Authorized or not!!!

[The Remittance Man]

I'll be having an ACORN employee knocking on my door attempting to get the form completed as expected.

ACORN what ACORN they no longer exist right. Oh wait some of them are just rebranding themselves a new name. Ill be Pennsylvanian with you too.

You are both aware that there is no evidence ACORN is guilty of any wrongdoing, aren't you? I'm guessing you are, since neither of you actually said they've done anything wrong, but...

[phjrsaunt]

Thank you for having a civil, adult conversation. That is all. Carry on.

[backstreets77]

I'll be having an ACORN employee knocking on my door attempting to get the form completed as expected.

ACORN what ACORN they no longer exist right. Oh wait some of them are just rebranding themselves a new name. Ill be Pennsylvanian with you too.

You are both aware that there is no evidence ACORN is guilty of any wrongdoing, aren't you? I'm guessing you are, since neither of you actually said they've done anything wrong, but...

Actually I am aware theres wrong doing.There has been video evidence of it. I havent time today to look for it but I will but I believe they are under investigation in Nevada for voter fraud. And possibly 1 or 2 other states. What I am not aware of is if these cases have either been brought to court yet or thrown out.

I usually dont spout off unlees ive seen or read something so if I am incorrect on stuff I read in passing I apologize.

[backstreets77]

Constitutionaly all you have to do is write how many people live in your house. Id have to look up what article that is i forget off hand. But it basically states that every ten years that there will be a numeric count of the people. And far as im concerned numeric means how many people live in my house. The goverment has no buisness with any other questions. Im sure as hell not telling them how much I make and if my house in owned rented or mortgaged.
Sorry ill get off my soap box.

Oh really? Then I guess you don't pay income taxes or file tax forms?

I should have elaborated more on that. The cenus depatment doesnt need to know how much I make. If one hand of the goverment want to know that, they ask the other hand cause they already have it.

Im sorry im just getting really frustarted with te goverment lately and all the knew proposed taxes that i am hearing about. I live in PA. Where Fast Eddie Spendell wants to lower the sales tax to 4 % Awsome right No he wants to expand taxes to ther goods that have never been taxed. I wish I was at work I have the article some where on what goods but I dont right now.
We All need a break I think from everything going on. Thank God its concert season. Then I can gripe about icketmasters service charges