It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
 | Great News! Republican Party Paying Data Entry Techs a Living Wage |
It’s great to see the Republican Party embrace economic justice. I just received my copy of the Ask America 2007 Nationwide Policy Survey, and filled it out so that the Republican Party can find out what the American people think, and act accordingly! Funny thing, they asked for money three times in the mailing. But I’m sure that’s not the purpose! The Republican Party cares what I think!
But wait, it gets even better! In addition to a political contribution, the Republican Party asks if I could please send in “a check for $11 to help defray the cost of processing my survey.”
I thought this would be a great way to figure out how much they’re paying the data entry technicians to process this survey over at Republican National Congressional Committee headquarters. So I decided to process the survey myself. I opened the envelope, took out the survey, and entered the results in an Excel spreadsheet, then saved the file. I’m sure the pros over at RNC Central can do it more quickly than li’l ol’ amateur me, but that makes for a generous time estimate.
It took me five minutes. If there’s a $1 shipping fee, and $1 to pay for electricity (and these are overestimates), then the remainder of the “cost of processing my survey” must be the human capital of the data techs. $9 for five minutes is a very generous pay rate. That’s $108 an hour. Wow! They are so kind to the people who work for them.
You see, you complain about how the Republicans don’t like working folks? Bullpuckey! They’ve gone and paid $108 an hour to data techs so they can buy a new refrigerator every four hours and generate wealth across this great land of Ammmmmmmmerica. Hooray, Republicans!
Either that, or the Republicans are fibbing to their base in order to milk more money out of them. But surely it’s not that. Go, go, go Republican!
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Wow Jim, or maybe the Republican party knows that a vast majority of the mailings and surveys they send out are NOT going to have donations accompanying them when they come back. So, try coming up with the number of people on the Republican mailing list which is probably in the millions, then take an estimate of how many sent back $11 and how many didn’t, and then take the number of techs. Take the amount of money, divide it by the number of techs, and then divide it over however long it takes the multitude of people to collectively input all of the data and then compile understandable results (and the cost of whoever is salaries to oversee all of it), and I’m sure the number you come up with would be a lot lower.
But yeah, I doubt you want that number, after all, the DNC fanboy wants to make everyone except the DNC look bad, and making up numbers about how much Republican employees make (without doing the same loose math with Democratic employees) makes a LOT of sense.
Comment by Joseph — 11/6/2007 @ 7:39 pm
Why are you writing under my name? I would never write such a thing, especially given the quote. You are making me look stupid on purpose, and I can tell you I do not appreciate it one bit. Stop appropriating the Joseph identity.
Comment by Joseph — 11/6/2007 @ 8:07 pm
Wait. I am reading this post again. The phrase in quotes, “help defray the cost of processing my survey” clearly means that the Republicans are saying that the $11 is to help defray “the cost of processing my survey,” not the cost of multiple surveys. It also means that the $11 is represented as just “helping” defray the cost of the survey, which implies that the actual cost of processing is more. This is not right of the Republican Party to do. I am glad to clear this up.
Comment by Joseph — 11/7/2007 @ 10:33 am
Okay, first of all, I didn’t post number 3. Secondly, only a total idiot would assume that “processing my survey” means that $11 will be used, in isolation, for reading MY Survey, typing MY DATA into the computer, and that’s it. Your survey means NOTHING in isolation. You have to HIRE PEOPLE to go through all of them and input data, then you have to HIRE PEOPLE to take the other surveys and add them into the system, and then you need to HIRE PEOPLE to analyze and compile the data. All of that is “processing”, you take the survey and process it into concert with the other surveys. Do you really think that YOUR survey matters in the absence of all others? Processing involves ALL surveys, not just yours.
And again, it’s very clear the bias, since if you wanted to do exhaustive research, you’d include the DNC and Unity08 in your fault math for how much the parties pay people. But nope, DNC’s too perfect for Jim to touch.
Comment by Joseph — 11/7/2007 @ 11:37 am
Why are you continuing to post in my name, #4? I, Joseph, would never write such drivel. You are making me look stupid. Stop it, please. You have gone on for weeks now making me, Joseph, look unreasonable. I mean, of course “processing my survey” means “processing my survey.” This is ridiculous. And I have been getting increasingly upset with you posting under my name the innuendo about Jim working for the DNC. You can tell he does not by looking up DNC expense records. It is that simple. You make my other points look bad. Is that your strategy, “Joseph?” Others may have noticed the changes, too. This is reprehensible and must stop. Stop it, “Joseph” in #4. Just stop posting using my name.
Comment by Joseph — 11/7/2007 @ 12:02 pm
Yes, because normal, and intelligent people would assume that “processing” only takes into account receiving a survey, picking it up, reading it, and typing the data into a computer. You would never think about the rest of the costs inherent in aggregating the data from all surveys and coming out with an actionable result from it, and you would never assume, when presented with the cost of $11 a survey, that maybe there were other costs factored into “processing”.
And of course, only a DNC hack/fanboy would only focus on the wages paid to Republicans, and not also the Democrats.
I also love how it’s fine when someone enjoys posting using my name, but then a post gets deleted the name “Jim” is used to post.
Comment by Joseph — 11/8/2007 @ 3:56 pm
No, it’s not drivel, and stop posting in my name, “Joseph”. Post #4 means what I mean it to mean. Parse agains what I wrote:
Can you even read? Let me break it out for you:
You have to (1)HIRE PEOPLE to (2)go through all of them and (3)input data, then you have to (4)HIRE PEOPLE to (5)take the other surveys and (6)add them into the system, and then you need to (7)HIRE PEOPLE to (8)analyze and (9)compile the data. All of that is “processingâ€, (10)you take the survey and process it into concert with the other surveys.
So when Jim says:
he is assuming the survey is “processed” by only one person. In actuality, I have definitively proven by my unshakable logical analysis it takes ten people to do this. Seven people to do the actual processing and three additional people to hire them. So they are not making $108 an hour. They are making $10.80 an hour.
Stop trying to make me look like a buffoon.
Comment by Joseph — 11/8/2007 @ 5:17 pm