Who’s the Man?

Our federal government is collecting millions of dollars for social security numbers that do not match any known record and supposedly keeping this money in a suspense account. We figure that account is right next to the social security trust fund account. Right. In any case the SSA sends out thousands of letters every week, commonly referred to as “No-Match Letters,” telling employers that that social security number they were given by their prospective employee does not match any known record. Many times, clerical errors, misspellings, slipped digits and the like are to blame. Eventually many are fixed. Employers were admonished in the past that no-match letters did not mean anything as far as the employee’s immigration status. But sometimes the social security number provided by that bright eyed new employee is one they made up or got from a friend. Now these no-match letters have become an enforcement tool in the battle against businesses employing the 12 million or so people the feds couldn't be bothered to find after their visas expired. Homeland Security now uses no-match letters as proof of a business’ knowing employment of illegal aliens. The state has always used businesses as their enforcement arm; what do you think payroll tax withholding is. So we guess the strategy our government is now using is that they can starve out the 12 million people they let slip in. Good plan; let’s ensure they are unemployable so that they can become wards of the state.

-- Paul Marotta