Blind Optimism

There is no gold standard. Many small countries base their money on
the dollar. Talk about the blind leading the blind.

When looking to who is directing the economy, look to the chairman
of the Federal Reserve.
:cool:

I was taught in elemetary school that our monetary base was moved to silver?

edit/ Oh wait I think that was the other way around, it was silver and was moved to gold in the late 1800s.

Here's an interesting read on that new "visitor"-tracking system, dubbed US-VISIT (gotta love the government's acronyms... US-VISIT stands for United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology).

- Price: at least $10 BILLION.
Although...

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When the government tells you that it might cost as much as $10 billion to design, build and deploy such a system, increase that figure two or three times because US-VISIT is as complex and risky a project as some of the biggest weapons procurement programs in the country's history.

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Nice Article but I don't agree with the comparrison to advanced weapons programs. Sure it may over run the initial cost as most projects but there is nothing risky or even inovative about it. Like I have stated in earlier posts, this has been used in my state for almost a decade. I have also run into its use on passenger ships several times over the years. It takes about 2 seconds and is OLD technology. You are being entered in and out of computer systems already in place. 27 countries are exept from this thing, provided you have a machine readable passport and only stay 90 days or less. I originally heard it was 28 countries but can only find a few ewferences, most reference 27? People make the assumption that the USA is leading the world in some kind of new process.

The verdict is still out for me on finger printing peaople traveling around the world. I am struggling with this. Does the American definition to a "write to privacy" include pretending to be someone else. One's passport identification number or visa has always been accociated with a person and then tracked, now there is more information added to that process. If you want to talk about the Bill of Rights, the info is already there in the computer itendifial traits such as a photgraph are already on the passport. 10 Billion is a lot of money though, I agree - I have researched many articles and some place it in the 400 million mark (about.com ) while others tout the 10 billion and more range. I would have to research actual contracts but that would be busywork for now. Outfitting 115 airports and 14 seaports with computer shouldn't cost 10 billion I would agree. I wonder how much the current computer system cost? For the record here are the countries that are exempt, no finger printing these guys and gals: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Singapore.

Canada and Mexico fall under entirely different rules.

Here are some of the reasons it is risky and innovative, RoadClosed:

- All data will be digital, while most current data is not.
- There is no biometrics application out there yet that can do what they want it to do within a reasonable amount of time. If it would take over 30 seconds to scan one "visitor", the project is doomed before it even starts..
- There are other speed-issues as well... For this system to be effective, it would have to check all major American databases (including the FBI's - in the past, that turned out to be pretty difficult). But there's more: it'd also have to check Interpol, foreign embassies,...

This is a summary from this article... Others can probably come up with even more arguments.

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All data will be digital, while most current data is not.

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The data: like your passport number, you name, place of birth, city address, etc., aren’t digitized and stored in databases already running? Your passport isn't capable of being scanned via electronic means using those little holes in it already? (I am using the US passport as an example) I am confused on the digital part? Sure I agree the photo and finger print aren't or weren't currently stored, but millions of drivers licenses are issued already, it's not new technology. I have seen it on passenger ships as long as 3 years ago. In fact they were scanning your print taking your picture and issuing IDs, much more complicated.

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There is no biometrics application out there yet that can do what they want it to do within a reasonable amount of time. If it would take over 30 seconds to scan one "visitor", the project is doomed before it even starts..

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I am holding my drivers license in my hand. :) As for the 30 seconds... read the country list a vast majority of travel will be from those countries, they don't have to comply. People from Pakistan are pissed I have read several of their newspaper articles. Except for them... 30 seconds and less isn't the issue, it's being on the list in the first place. ;)

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There are other speed-issues as well... For this system to be effective, it would have to check all major American databases (including the FBI's - in the past, that turned out to be pretty difficult). But there's more: it'd also have to check Interpol, foreign embassies,...

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Speed seems to be a focus factor here. This system was never designed to be instantaneous. That would definitely be a logistical nightmare. Even the article you posted mentions that data will be analyzed over time. The speed issue is only in capturing the data: photo, passport stuff and finger print. The scan against all those items mentioned isn't and was never intended to be real time. Only a few things could be checked in a reasonable amount of time, it only takes a few seconds to poll the national FBI crime list for example but I don’t even think they are doing that. Your second article hits right on the intended purpose:

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The program, known as United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) and announced last week, is designed to give the government a better picture of who is entering the country, while collecting biometric data that can be stored and used later to identify visa holders.

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Innovative?? Perhaps but my interpretation is the innovation lies in deploying the systems to around 130 locations. Corporate IT people do that all the time. I don't see that as DOOMING the system and I question the 10 billion price tag or attributing it to dramatic statements like “weapons programs.” Those are meant to "push buttons", I think. Heck retail outlets are doing it all the time, like SAMS club etc.