Perhaps peopleâ??s future benefits could be salable, pooled and then traded as asset-backed securities. No fix of any type seems on the horizon, however, so before the Ponzi scheme implodes, maybe an institution would be willing to buy on an individual basis (even if only for pubicity, either for itself or for the 800 lb gorilla nobody is discussing).

Ensign and DeMint are being dishonest in saying that illegal aliens are criminals, let alone felons.

I was letting that go until the part about stolen Social Security numbers. Isn't identity theft a felony?

I will acknowledge that having a law and expecting that the law is enforced can be considered "statist", but surely such a designation would sweep up all those to the right of anarchists.

Let me try one more time. It is illegal to employ an illegal immigrant. Any SSA tax paid is paid as part of an illegal transaction. So to say retroactively that the illegal transactions are now okay seems a bit odd to me. Let alone the nightmare of trying to sort out SSA taxes associated with false or stolen SS numbers.

So this is a bit like saying it would be unconscionable for people who hijacked an airplane to not get the frequent flier miles. That is supposed to be a benefit reserved for those who play by the rules.

This issue is so strange. The illegal immigrant has to be just as astonished as the average US citizen. Bleeding heart liberals-it's all their fault. I AM SERIOUS! And there aren't any conservatives with balls to do anything about it (except Ensign, and Bush seems to be growing a pair).

But why doesn't the SS administration fund an immigration team in LA and San Diego to search for these SS illegals, and deport them? It would cost a lot less than the benefits, and so SS gains a lot of money, we get rid of illegals, but no one "denied" them benefits.