another back to the dark ages bill: A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data -Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week. The bill would abolish the Current Population Survey, which is used to compute the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate. We wouldn’t have an unemployment rate if Duncan and his cosponsors get their way.That means no CPS, but also no Economic Census, which tracks the state of every economic industry every five years; no Census of Governments, another quinquennial survey tracking state and local governments; and no economic indicators on everything from home ownership rates to international trade figures. It also means no more American Community Survey, the largest between-Census survey the bureau conducts, which provides more accurate poverty, income, education, health coverage and other statistics than the Currency Population Survey can. What’s more, it means that all the surveys the Census conducts for other government agencies will be done with. That includes the National Crime Victimization Survey, one of the best data sources we have on crime rates; the American Housing Survey that the Census conducts for HUD; the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife conducted for the Department of the Interior; the Annual Survey of Jails; and various other data it provides to the Departments of Education, Transportation, Justice and more.
I have been hit between the eyes with an eighth-grade math insight on how unbearably New York mayor Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk intrudes into the free lives of Black and Hispanic males: 700,000 stops per year equal 7,000,000 over 10 years. Blacks and Hispanics make up 4 of 8 million city residents — 2 million of whom are male — about .5 million are of the 14-35 likely police stop age — which averages out to 14 stops (and 7 frisks) over 10 years for every minority male if all stops were of Blacks and Hispanics — let’s drop that to 12 stops (and 6 frisks) every 10 years!
“another back to the dark ages bill:
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data -Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week. ”
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data
“Last Congress, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.), who co-sponsors Duncan’s bill, sponsored his own bill to make the ACS voluntary. That passed the House, as did another amendment from Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) to eliminate the survey altogether.
Poe’s spokesperson, Shaylyn Hynes, told the Wall Street Journal, “He thinks that it is invasive and unnecessary for the government to ask about mental disabilities in your home, personal financial information, if you have a toilet and what time you leave for and return from work each day.”
. . .
Andrew Coulson at the Cato Institute opposes the survey on privacy grounds. “The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects [Americans] from government searches unless there is some compelling reason for them. But the reasons for making the ACS mandatory are not at all compelling,” he writes. “Medical and social science researchers manage to deal with their inability to forcibly assign subjects to treatment and control groups.””
Happy MayDay. Remember Haymarket Square!
another back to the dark ages bill:
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data -Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week. The bill would abolish the Current Population Survey, which is used to compute the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate. We wouldn’t have an unemployment rate if Duncan and his cosponsors get their way.That means no CPS, but also no Economic Census, which tracks the state of every economic industry every five years; no Census of Governments, another quinquennial survey tracking state and local governments; and no economic indicators on everything from home ownership rates to international trade figures. It also means no more American Community Survey, the largest between-Census survey the bureau conducts, which provides more accurate poverty, income, education, health coverage and other statistics than the Currency Population Survey can. What’s more, it means that all the surveys the Census conducts for other government agencies will be done with. That includes the National Crime Victimization Survey, one of the best data sources we have on crime rates; the American Housing Survey that the Census conducts for HUD; the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife conducted for the Department of the Interior; the Annual Survey of Jails; and various other data it provides to the Departments of Education, Transportation, Justice and more.
I have been hit between the eyes with an eighth-grade math insight on how unbearably New York mayor Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk intrudes into the free lives of Black and Hispanic males: 700,000 stops per year equal 7,000,000 over 10 years. Blacks and Hispanics make up 4 of 8 million city residents — 2 million of whom are male — about .5 million are of the 14-35 likely police stop age — which averages out to 14 stops (and 7 frisks) over 10 years for every minority male if all stops were of Blacks and Hispanics — let’s drop that to 12 stops (and 6 frisks) every 10 years!
“another back to the dark ages bill:
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data -Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week. ”
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data
Posted by Dylan Matthews on May 1, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/a-new-gop-bill-would-prevent-the-government-from-collecting-economic-data/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein
“Last Congress, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.), who co-sponsors Duncan’s bill, sponsored his own bill to make the ACS voluntary. That passed the House, as did another amendment from Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) to eliminate the survey altogether.
Poe’s spokesperson, Shaylyn Hynes, told the Wall Street Journal, “He thinks that it is invasive and unnecessary for the government to ask about mental disabilities in your home, personal financial information, if you have a toilet and what time you leave for and return from work each day.”
. . .
Andrew Coulson at the Cato Institute opposes the survey on privacy grounds. “The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects [Americans] from government searches unless there is some compelling reason for them. But the reasons for making the ACS mandatory are not at all compelling,” he writes. “Medical and social science researchers manage to deal with their inability to forcibly assign subjects to treatment and control groups.””
[Speechless.]