No one in the government is seriously penalized when Social Security numbers are stolen and misused; only the number-holders suffer.

Not only is privatizing Social Security not the solution to Social Security, it would exacerbate the problem.

I don't know of any bills we have. My pension and Social Security aren't huge, but between them we do nicely. We don't require a whole lot.

So there is a bookkeeping way to say that I am not using the Social Security cash flow, but the overall effect on the taxpayer and the economy is the same. The government is borrowing additional net money.

What was this individual's middle name, and by the way, oh, I need the social security number.

The Social Security numbers on the packages had no formatting that would make them stand out, and no one would have been able to easily identify them as a Social Security number.