For many years, Holiday Inn was my favorite hotel because I could count on the standards of that company. In 1983, Holiday Inn launched its customer loyalty program. Each participant’s unique loyalty program number was their Social Security Number (SSN).
In case you wonder, no, I was not a participant. My reason for not participating follows.
I recall one instance when a younger man checked in ahead of me. He verbally recited his SSN to the hotel clerk to garner his loyalty credits. Had I chosen to do so, I could have simply written down his SSN.
My parents experienced the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935.
As reported by History.com, the Act created “a federal safety net for elderly, unemployed and disadvantaged Americans. The main stipulation of the original Social Security Act was to pay financial benefits to retirees over age 65 based on lifetime payroll tax contributions.”
My wage earnings began early in my life. Mom wanted me to report every penny earned for a ‘great retirement.’
Regarding the wages I earned, History.com notes, “When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, it represented a major shift in labor policy. For the first time, the federal government set a minimum wage and established the principle that people—or at least those covered by the law—are entitled to at least a certain amount of pay for their work.
The federal minimum applies to U.S. workers who are employed by companies with revenues of at least $500,000, plus workers in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, government agencies, and those who are involved in interstate commerce in their jobs.”
In summary, most jobs available to minors did not qualify for the legal minimum wage. My older sister Jessie and I were not prisoners of poverty, we worked. I began mowing lawns at seven years of age. Along the way, there were jobs on a shrimp boat culling out shrimp from the tons of jellyfish and other sea creatures dumped from the net onto the boat’s deck, others here and there.
As a senior at Palacios High School, I worked at the local Texaco station. My hours were from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., Sunday night through Thursday night. On Saturday, my hours were 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. My wages were 65¢ per hour, grossing $7.80 per day, before taxes.
The singular purpose for the Social Security Number was to track lifetime earnings of participants.
What you do not know: “Only a very narrow set of government agencies and financial organizations are required to ask for a customer’s SSN by law. That list does not include landlords, cable companies, cell phone providers, or even credit reporting agencies, which all habitually request SSNs simply because a number is more precise than a name. Americans have repeatedly rejected the idea of instituting a formal national identification system when it was proposed for use in health care or to prevent illegal immigration. As a result, the SSN has become the national ID by default.” I add to the list of entities that ask for your SSN, churches.
SSN tracing, aka criminal background checks, do not predict future criminal behaviors. In fact, criminal background checks often deny employment of persons who have been convicted of crimes but have become outstanding Christians and trustworthy members of society. A ministry my wife and I have supported for about 40 years is led by the founder who has a criminal history and staff members with criminal histories but are all born-again, Bible teaching, disciples of Jesus Christ. This ministry is now in several states and has expanded its ministry to other countries.
A church in North Texas employed a young man as Youth Minister. That Youth Minister’s brother volunteered to work with him. Both underwent criminal background checks. Both were later discovered to be having sexual relations with the teenagers under their care.
Take a look at my Social Security Card. What do you notice?
- Look at the signature line: WORKER’S SIGNATURE. Social Security was created for low-paid hourly workers, not bankers or CEOs.
- What is the stated purpose for the SSN? FOR SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES.
- For what purpose was the SSN not created? NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION
- The prohibition against using the SSN for identification was removed from all cards, beginning in 1972.
Circa 95 AD, the Apostle John penned the Revelation. In Revelation 13:1-10, John describes an evil beasts rising from the sea. The following verses, Revelation 13:11-18, the other rising from the earth. This second beast, a man, will be known by his number 666. Focus on verse 17: “so that no one may buy or sell, except he who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
More Americans were familiar with the Bible at the time of the creation of the Social Security Administration. Contemporary Americans are not only ignorant of the Bible, but also ignorant of American history.
Americans of the Great Depression era suspected the SSN was a precursor to the “mark of the beast.” It was to allay the fear that added an assurance the SSN would never be used as personal identification. That promise was broken in 1972. Today, your SSN has become your primary personal identification number.
After Joe Biden’s Central Bank Digital Currency goes into full operation, how pevasie will the requirement to provide your SSN for identification be throughout all financial transactions?
Martin Luther King, Jr. warned, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.“
Alber Einstein opined, “The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance.“
Knowledge is power; ignorance is a choice.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 