Better Ways to Spend $14.5 BILLION

[nissangirl74]

In 2010, the government spent $14.5 billion to count 308,745,538 people.....inaccurately. It's so freaking retarded it makes me crazy. Just curious as to what you guys think that much money could have been better spent on.


*Feel free to be as serious, sarcastic, or outrageous as you want. This is purely a rant thread at the idiocy we are facing in terms of fiscal management.

http://www.genealogybranches.com/censuscosts.html


Discuss / rant / b**** / laugh....etc......

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Unlike most of the money Congress fritters away, the Census is constitutionally mandated. Also, I'm pretty sure it remarkably came in under-budget.

I think there are more pressing concerns.

[nissangirl74]

Unlike most of the money Congress fritters away, the Census is constitutionally mandated.

Do you think the results justify the cost?

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Unlike most of the money Congress fritters away, the Census is constitutionally mandated.

Do you think the results justify the cost?

If that's what it costs to have an accurate census of the United States, then yes. I'm sure it could have been done cheaper, but that this point I don't have the optimism to ever hope for an efficient government. So 14.5 billion it is.

[AZhitman]

Not the point.

In 1970, it cost $247M to count 203M people.
In 1980, it cost $1.1B to count 226M people.
In 1990, it cost $2.5B to count 248M people.
In 2000, it cost $4.5B to count 281M people.
In 2010, it cost $14.5B to count 308M people.

Do you know why we need an "accurate census"? What are the results used for? Is it worth $14.5 B?

Doesn't it seem odd that the # of people follows a pretty predictable pattern? Hell, I could generate a mathematical model incorporating KNOWN birth and death rates that would extrapolate out to THAT level of accuracy, and I'd charge a cool $1M for it.

Look at the $ spent. That's outpacing inflation like a motha. So, why the exponential increase? Better yet, why is there a Census budget of $1.02 BILLION for 2012? Are we counting anything?

[Jesda]

Census is a backhanded stimulus program.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Do you know why we need an "accurate census"? What are the results used for? Is it worth $14.5 B?

I think you missed my points. Yeah it's too much money, but what did you expect? I think there are much bigger fish to fry than Congress spending money on something it actually should spend money on. Better target of ridicule: damn near every other government program.

Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution says we need one. That's why. Also for gerrymandering.


Jesda is right about the 14.5 billion in spending this census being surprise welfare. Nothing new there, though.

[sbird1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wo ... le_objects

Build an airport, dam, highway system, badass hotel... anything really.

[hannibal]

Doesn't it seem odd that the # of people follows a pretty predictable pattern? Hell, I could generate a mathematical model incorporating KNOWN birth and death rates that would extrapolate out to THAT level of accuracy, and I'd charge a cool $1M for it.

Look at the $ spent. That's outpacing inflation like a motha. So, why the exponential increase? Better yet, why is there a Census budget of $1.02 BILLION for 2012? Are we counting anything?

Dont those birth and death rates come from Census data?

$1.02 billion is the price we pay to know Latinos are taking over the country...

[dre1507]

could have just given it to me.

[Encryptshun]

What non-partisan watchdog groups are investigating why the 2010 census cost so much more than the 2000 census? Please tell me at least one is, and that the audit is going be forensic and not political.

For example, postage increased by 33% between 2000 and 2010, so that's part of it. Cost of paper and printing rose roughly 20% between 2000 and 2010, so that's another part of it.. Federal minimum wage increased from $5.15 per hour in 2000 to $7.25 per hour by 2010, so that's about a 50% increase.

I'm not saying that there isn't a tremendous amount of waste in the process, but there's more to the truth than just banner statistics (despite what some who use headlines for political gain would have us believe).

[MinisterofDOOM]

I don't know anywhere near enough about what is involved with the census-taking procedures to say much about costs. But I do know that basically EVERYTHING a government does is in some way or another dependent upon accurate census numbers. So do it right or don't do it at all.

[Encryptshun]

As someone who has worked in the Procurement area for big companies his entire career, I can say, without a doubt, that a large portion of the monetary waste in government is (big surprise) the fact that they don't have a procurement process that is rolled out to all corners. Between politicians having a built-in conflict of interest, the DoD classifying every slush-fund program to avoid scrutiny, and the lack of any real C.I. or LEAN program for project management, I'd estimate the savings opportunity for any real reform to be at around 60%.

Unless you scope in entitlements, defense, and infrastructure contracts to some sort of fiscal management office, though, you're never going to get meaningful reductions in spending.

[numbnuts240]

$1.02 billion is the price we pay to know Latinos are taking over the country...

no te preocupes, you can be my lap dog.