FALSE NUMBERS GAME
The Social Security System here in the United States is being misused by untold
thousands of people who possess false Social Security numbers.
The political people who should be doing something about this gross
misapplication of the system seem to be spending most of their time insisting the other
party is trying to kill the entire Society Security system. If anything, our Social Security
system is being eliminated from within. Increasing numbers of people are using bogus
Social Security numbers to get and hold employment and to gain other such acceptance
into our society.
No one that I have heard of, has denied that the nineteen Al Quida men who
committed the September 11th tragedy all possessed illegal Social Security numbers.
Workers all over the country, particularly in the poultry processing businesses, farming -
especially migrant types of farm operation, and others are guilty of knowingly accepting
false numbers. We are told that the departments computer are old and out-of-date often
and this is supposed to explain the whole miscarriage away, it seems.
Employers do not check Social Security numbers to determine if they are valid. I
can understand why this may happen when the employment market is tight, but I am
still waiting for some explanation of what becomes of funds which they, then, withhold
from the worker’s paycheck and forward to the federal government. Is it all stacking up
in some building in the district of Columbia, or ending up in a slush fund because no one
knows to whom it might belong?
I’ve never tried, but I’d be willing to wager that, if I, purposely used an incorrect
social security number on important papers or concerning a purchase, I would hear about
it. Yet, it seems we have no means of tracking down fake numbers and safeguarding such
funds as are being place in those accounts.
What about duplicate accounts? I’ve heard people brag about having a second
account or more. As lax as the system seems to be I cannot deny that some such
duplications do ,indeed, exist.
Before we succumb to political talk about “changes in Social Security” let’s police
the system we now have to see that the fake number accounts are eliminated and all
funds accounts for and properly applied to true, existing legal accounts.
I have been with the Social Security System since the day it started. I still use my
original card which is getting worn and discolored with the years, but it has served me
well and I can find no fault with the entire plan when we see it for what it really was and is
intended to be.
Methinks, the “rottenness “ is not all in Denmark. Much of it is to be found right here
at home.
A.L.M. July 7, 2002 [c471wds]
