The magnitude for trying to create an administrative system and make it functional for 140 million people (in Social Security) could be done, but it will take years. The federal thrift program is having problems and that's a lot fewer people.

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 those Social Security cash flows are being used to do today is to pay down federal debt. If the government chooses to not use those trust fund dollars, if they do end up with a shortfall, then what they'll do is go into the public market, and sell debt to raise cash, and use the Social Security money to pay off other debt,

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.

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.