Census Workers Sharpen No. 2 Pencils
Jul 31, 2020143.7K Shares6.8M Views
Expect some mild fireworks this morning as the House oversight committee is meetingto figure out what went wrong, so, so wrong, with plans for the 2010 U.S. Census
It wasn’t that the U.S. Census Bureau didn’t have a plan. They gave $600 millionto the Florida-based Harris Corp to develop 500,000 nifty hand-held computers. Census workers were going to carry the computers door-to-door and record information on all the people who didn’t fill out (and mail back) a census form. But as Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez glumly explained to a House appropriations subcommittee last week, Harris wasn’t making computers that Census Bureau employees were actually able to use.
So now there’s a new plan. The Bureau will hire an additional 600,000 temporary workers to knock on doors across the country, armed with paper forms and a writing implement. Those workers will fill the missing gaps of a census that determines federal and state funding as well as representation in Congress.
Will oversight committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) demand representatives from Harris go door-to-door themselves? Will ranking Republican Tom Davis (R-Va.) offer to lend state of the art computers designed during his IT company days? Stick with the streak for an update later in the day.
Dexter Cooke
Reviewer
Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
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