It took only a few minutes after The Wall Street Journal published an online story about unemployed census workers when the trolls started coming out to play. They immediately began bashing the three of us featured in the story because we were unfortunate enough to get canned from our professions and have to find alternative jobs. But rather than rage against these anonymous idiots, I chuckled. I mean, they're hilarious!Bill Trask said: "Oh drat... now these out of work ACORN enthusiasts may have to go out and get a REAL JOB... but wait... they don't have too, Obama will give them more money - (they just have to wait until their census counts are tabulated.)"
Now I'm an ACORN enthusiast? Well, that sounds about right considering my mom's maiden name is ALCORN. And what would you consider to be a "real" job?
Shrini Kulkarni said: "The salaries for the Census workers are paid by the Federal Government which goes on the national deficit. How can this be a good thing for the economy? It seems that this census is just another white elephant Obama wants to showcase in his radically left winged vision of the nanny state."
The Census is Obama's white elephant? Haven't they been counting Americans since our founders wrote the Constitution? And I guess the Bush Administration had nothing to do with the planning during the first eight years of the decade.
David Shellenberger said: The headline has it wrong: ending employment of government workers cannot come fast enough. The funds spent on government employment deprive taxpayers of better use of their own money.
Well, thanks for your vote of confidence, Dave. Nothing like kicking an unemployed man when he's down!
Andy Dulina said: I find it ironic that the people chosen to be interviewed for this article all came from "blue" states. Hey folks, how's that change y'all voted for workin' out for ya??
What would you say if I told you that I live in a "red" congressional district. And if he read the story, he would have noticed that the first interviewee lost his job in January 2008.
Politics aside, census data is so important to the many people who are interested in genealogy. Most often, the old census reports hold the only keys to unlock the mysteries of our pasts. I for one think it's vitally important to maintain these records.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Scott. From genealogy (72 years from now) to schools to hospitals to municipalities to roads, the Census is very important. The process could probably be streamlined, but the cost doesn't undermine the importance.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to find the stupidest people in the world, just look at comments on online news stories. The comments on stories posted on Yahoo are especially retarded.
ReplyDelete(South Park voice): THEY TOOOKURJOBBSSSS!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the census is important, but could DEFINITELY be streamlined. Apparently these commentators are not fans of the Constitution (of course, neither was I during the amendment regarding prohibition!) as census is mandated!
The Census definitely can be streamlined, but I bet a lot of complaints are from the 30 percent of households that DIDN'T fill out the forms in the first place. It apparently costs the federal government $85 million for every 1 percent of the population that didn't mail back the form. Many of these people have no one to blame but themselves.
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