Belaboring a point here (shocking, I know) but I'm sure one response to the question of why we aren't using electronic machines is that it's too expensive for state governments to afford. Well, the Brazillian machine costs under $1000 a piece. There are approximately 3112 counties in America. Let's assume that the machines cost exactly $1000. Now let's suppose each county will need approxiamtely 20 machines to cover their population (some will need more, some will need less but it should balance out). For the whole nation, it would cost approximately $62,240,000 to upgrade. That's $1,244,800 per state (holding all else equal) or .00318% of the federal budget (if the states let them pay for it). Spread that over 4 years, and each state annually needs to set aside $311,200 if it wants 20 machines per county. Or, if the feds pay, it's .000008% of the annual budget ($15,560,000 per year). Now there are other costs associated with the process, and a small learning curve, but if people in the deepest region of the Amazon jungle can use these things, I think even our most underprivileged counties can handle it.
- posted by levinson @ 12/19/2000 04:02:00 PM