Social Security Cards Explained

Americans love their independence. A nation of pioneers who live far from the watchful eye of the government. (except for all governments). For example, unlike other countries, Americans do not have a national ID card... ...and even the idea of ​​creating one is a popular topic in every election. The result is always the same: "We don't need an ID." But interestingly, US citizens do have this: a card with a unique number that many places will ask for as proof of who you are. This is the "Social Security" card and number... ...and it has become, so to speak, a unique ID/password, to identify citizens... ...but that was never really true for what it was designed for.

For Americans, it is extremely important to keep this number secret because it is the key for the government and banks to identify you as you... ...and losing control of it is the worst form of identity theft that can occur. . So how did Americans end up with a national identification number... ...that doesn't exist and a card isn't capable of identifying? It all started in the Great Depression long, long ago... ...when the government created the Social Security program; ... ...a kind of mandatory pension: citizens are obliged to pay during the period in which they work... ...and to withdraw money from it when they retire.

The idea is that even if you-from-the-past hasn't saved... for the last years of the future-you, the old, current self... ...you still have something to live off of. Thinking that

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security

is a benefit that the government gives you,... ...or that it is a bank account that is yours,... ...is... controversial, but whatever, this song was made ... ...to keep track of what you put in and what you take out. Well, because it's just a government program related to the period you work... ...all you had to do was apply for a card when you actually started working. But over time that has changed and the younger you are,... ...the more likely you are to have one from the moment you are born,... ...despite the uselessness of babies as working children.

Then why? What it boils down to is that Americans don't have a national ID card with a national number,... ...which makes it harder for institutions to control people's lives. With hundreds of millions of citizens, names and dates of birth that are not unique, people move, people get married, people change their names... And if you try to keep track of everyone,... ... like the US tax authorities do. I would like to do... ...that could be a big problem, especially in the days before computers. "Hey, wait a minute. Look at *this* number right here," the IRS said. "It is not intended to be used as an identification number," the Department of Social Security said. ""There are

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reasons why you shouldn't--" "Yoink!" For example, the tax authorities have made good use of the work that the Department of Social Security has done; ... ...linking all the working adults with a number, ... ...which made it easier to keep track of taxes... ...and strongly encouraged parents to obtain a number... ...for their children, by tying a reduction to it tax credits use trust,...

The US Internal Revenue Service told people: 1. We will give you a tax credit for each child you have and: 2. Write down how many children you have, ...please be honest; we have no way to prove it. Which is simply asking, no, begging people to lie. Whatever they did, on paper, they gave birth to millions of ghost children. a number was linked to a birth certificate... ...parents could get their tax credits... all these ghosts have been erased. This made the number a unique number... ...that all citizens had from the beginning, and that made it easy for many other places,... ...like banks, schools, businesses and homeowners. .. ...also use the number as a simple way... ...to monitor people, without creating your own system, ... ...and to make it possible to share information about people, between two institutions .

This is extremely useful for institutions, so... ...Americans' desire not to have a national ID card led... ...somewhat inevitably,... ...to using the closest thing available as a replacement. .. ...which was worse, because the

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security number... ...was never designed to be used that way, in the distant past. You can see that because there is no security. There's a neat trick that most ID numbers use... ...where they can check themselves to see if they're invalid. The easiest way is to make the last digits the sum of the rest. Many different ID

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and barcodes do this, because it makes it impossible... ...to enter incorrect numbers into a computer... ...and makes it difficult for scammers to guess the correct numbers.

That's how when you try to buy something online... ...by guessing a credit card number, the website knows it's wrong... ...before you even press 'buy'. But because the social security number started life... ...a long time ago, it's just a number... ...without any built-in self-verification security. In fact, if you were born before 2011, it's not that hard to guess the number: the first three numbers are the state where the parent applied for the card... ...and the last four numbers are just adding one, and the numbers in the middle follow a normal pattern. So you can take your number, subtract one and that's a valid number... ...of someone who was probably born in the same hospital as you,... ...at about the same time.

In other words, a scammer who knows the time and place of his birth... ...can probably look up the first five numbers in a table. Institutes ask for the last four numbers to identify you as you... ...which means it's not too difficult to gather your number... ...after a security breach or after connecting several pieces of a puzzle. The physical card doesn't help either: literally a piece of cardboard, depending on when it was issued, not even laminated. The Department of Social Security wrote... "Not to be used as identification" on the

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... ...as a futile attempt to prevent institutions from requiring the cards as IDs,... ....because there is no nothing on the card that could identify a person,... ...but they finally gave up and deleted those words,... ...because, unlike passports or driver's licenses,... ...you We can assume that all Americans have this one card.

All of this means that your Social Security card and number... ...probably have worse security than your library card,... ...although it is much more important. It doesn't serve as a secure number... it doesn't serve as a good identity document... ...but at least it's universal*, that's why people use it. Hello, star, my old friend. Of course not. In reality, this program is not universal: not everyone has a social security number... ...and not everyone contributes to the program. If you don't want to pay, all you have to do is: One: Never receive Social Security benefits... ...and give up any right to receive them in the future.

Which seems fair. You must also: Be a member of a religion opposed to the idea of ​​social security. Normally because it is a kind of insurance and insurance is a kind of game of chance. That's harder, but you can also... ...start your own religion, if you're serious about tax evasion. But your own religion must: Take care of its elderly and dependent members,... ...which means you have to copy a social security program or something similar for your religion. (although it is also against the idea of ​​social security) And if creating a contradictory religion doesn't deter you... Finally, it must have existed continuously since 1950.

Which indicates that this exception was written exclusively... ... for the Amish and Mennonites and will ruin your plans,... ...unless you want to make a significant change in your lifestyle. It doesn't end there: keep looking and you will find other very strange exceptions,... ...including some railroad workers, firefighters, police officers or teachers (but only in Chicago). Typically these are groups that long ago... ...were given the opportunity to opt out of the program when it was created. So nothing is obvious. And that is what happens with this social security card: it contains a national number for citizens who do not want to have it,... ...on an identity document that is not used for identification,... ...which is delivered to all citizens. -- except when it is not... ...for a universal program, except when it is not.