I received a piece of mail today from the United States Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/. I forget that the Census Bureau is a part of the US Department of Commerce https://www.commerce.gov/. Well, my address was selected to participate in an American Community Survey https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/. It had a dire warning on the envelope that it is against the law not to respond.
So, respond I did. Tonight. On line. It was an interesting survey, asking about education, housing, utility and insurance coverage and cost. It asked some good questions about what the government should know about its citizens.
Interestingly, tonight, at the Catholic Charities Diocese of Lubbock board meeting, we heard a presentation by one of the local priests about charitable giving, charitable works, wealth and poverty. If I got his statistics correct, 1% of the world holds 50% of the wealth. And 67 individuals own as much as the poorest 1/2 of the world's population. The speaker made the point that the poor in the United States are still usually wealthier than the poor in many other parts of the world.
This should speak to us about the distribution of wealth in the world. And, with wealth comes power. And, this is frightening. It depends upon the character of who holds the wealth!
The survey asked questions about mortgages, home ownership, hot and cold running water and other indoor plumbing questions, amounts paid for utilities, insurance, health insurance coverage, vehicle ownership, education and employment. All measures of wealth.
I hope my participation in this survey makes a difference.
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