What happens when the US runs out of SSNs? - eviltoast

SSN numbers are good for 999,999,999 people alive or dead. At some point the US will hit that, right? Do we start reusing numbers? Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

  • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Probably recycle the oldest ones because those people will be long dead by then.

    But let’s not kid ourselves, everyone paying into SS right now is never going to get the benefit of it because it will have collapsed.

    • stinerman [Ohio]@midwest.social
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      1 month ago

      It can never collapse unless Congress votes to make it collapse. Even in the future once the trust fund is spent down, benefits will be reduced to what comes in from current workers. That’s not the full amount but it will be something. I think something like 70%.

      So it’s not going to collapse unless you think that anything but full benefits is a collapse.