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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should Know

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Speaker 1: from house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant

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Speaker 1: A K A to eight six five four seven five

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Speaker 1: two three D. You can't get out you're so so

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Speaker 1: security number. I thought about that. I thought about what

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Speaker 1: if I like ended up when we were describing like

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Speaker 1: what the different numbers and were, I was like, well,

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Speaker 1: my why happened to be this one? If you listen

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Speaker 1: to the whole podcast, you can put together and so

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Speaker 1: security number. That's like, don't do that, Josh, don't. We

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Speaker 1: should probably beef out what I said anyway, because that

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Speaker 1: might be someone else's Social Security number. Yeah, I don't.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be responsible for that. Okay, we'll

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Speaker 1: go back and beat that out. That's really some c

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Speaker 1: o A right there. Why how do you know that

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Speaker 1: that person had been like, yes, you know, its called

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Speaker 1: me out Serial number one. I want a contest. I

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Speaker 1: can pay for my own hotel in Atlanta to go

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Speaker 1: see the guys, but just me so um, Jerry like that? Uh, so,

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Speaker 1: chuck ah, do you know much about social security? A bit?

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Speaker 1: You're about to chuck um. The Social Security Act is

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Speaker 1: created by our old timey forbears. Um basically created a scheme,

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Speaker 1: and not scheme in the way of like a carbon

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Speaker 1: trating scheme or something like that. I know you don't

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Speaker 1: like that word, but it's a legitimate word. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily mean something nefarious. But under this scheme, social security

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Speaker 1: um is given to retiring workers in the in the

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Speaker 1: form of a monthly payment, where basically it says, hey,

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Speaker 1: good job, you did a good job working. Go take

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Speaker 1: care of yourself. We don't want you to die on

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Speaker 1: the street. This should hopefully sustain you in your retirement years. Right.

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Speaker 1: This is before the advent of four oh one case

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Speaker 1: and the like this, this thirty five bucks a month. Right. Well,

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Speaker 1: the whole, the whole basis of it is that the

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Speaker 1: workers of today pay into the Social Security fund and

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Speaker 1: it is immediately taken and distributed dispersed two workers who

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Speaker 1: have retired today. Yeah, so the workers of today are

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Speaker 1: taking care of the workers of yesterday. That's the whole

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Speaker 1: point to what This has led some people to claim

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Speaker 1: that the Social Security program is nothing more than a

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Speaker 1: Ponzi scheme where you're taking the money of these people

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Speaker 1: to pay off other people for socialism. Even Oh, it's total,

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Speaker 1: totally different. It is socialism. Yeah, but people cry socialism

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Speaker 1: a lot these days, and they don't think about things

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Speaker 1: like social security in all the different ways we do

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Speaker 1: have socialism that people are like, oh, that's fine, right, sure, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but well but you can make a case that it

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Speaker 1: is a Ponzi scheme. But Stephen Goss, chief actuary for

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Speaker 1: the Social Security Administration, would take issue with that. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure he would. He would say it's not a Ponzi

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Speaker 1: scheme because the Ponzi scheme is not sustainable. Some might

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Speaker 1: argue that social security is not sustainable, and that is,

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Speaker 1: as we say here in the South, that's a whole

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Speaker 1: another show. Okay, well I want to talk about it anymore. Well,

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Speaker 1: what do you have some numbers on its sustainability? Well,

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Speaker 1: we can chat about it. Here's the thing. So if

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Speaker 1: you if you just if you had zero population growth,

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Speaker 1: this thing would work forever, right, and it would work

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Speaker 1: completely efficiently with no changes whatsoever. Unfortunately, we don't have

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Speaker 1: zero population growth, and we actually had a spike in

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Speaker 1: population that we know of as the baby boom, right,

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Speaker 1: which means that very shortly and starting now, I think

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Speaker 1: um more, there will be way more retired workers than

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Speaker 1: there are workers, Which means that the workers of today

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Speaker 1: are going to have a far greater burden placed on

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Speaker 1: them taking care of these retired workers than any other

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Speaker 1: workers ever have our will. But Stephen goss chief Actuary

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Speaker 1: for the Social Security Administration, says this will eventually work

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Speaker 1: itself out. The government has taken steps to address this.

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Speaker 1: And what is done is raise the amount of money

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Speaker 1: that people throw into this, and they're taking the extra

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Speaker 1: money and the government is buying treasury bonds investing in itself. Now,

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Speaker 1: here's the weird thing. When they come mature these bonds,

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Speaker 1: the government pays these things off with other tax money.

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Speaker 1: So the government is going to pay the Social Security

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Speaker 1: Fund back with other tax money. Now, this will drive

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Speaker 1: people crazy, conservatives, libertarians, umbers right leaning liberals, right fiscally

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Speaker 1: conservative liberals especially, But Stephen Gossa shares it's just a

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Speaker 1: little bump. We're probably not gonna have another population spike

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Speaker 1: for a while, and so security will go right back

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Speaker 1: to normal. It just yes for us right now, Right,

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Speaker 1: the other thing that I never really thought about is

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Speaker 1: it could not have been a sustainable program even to

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Speaker 1: begin with, because you start Social Security and when when

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Speaker 1: was it people started getting paying It paid out, you know,

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Speaker 1: a year later, two years later, and so they weren't

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Speaker 1: paying in that long. So immediately you've got a problem

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Speaker 1: on your hands because people are starting to get payouts

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Speaker 1: that didn't pay in for twenty years. Yes, that is

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Speaker 1: the case, but the payoffs were smaller at first. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but it still creates a bit of a wrinkle. I

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Speaker 1: think that would a wrinkle in time for the future.

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Speaker 1: I think so. But it was a hump that had

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Speaker 1: to be gotten over, and it was gotten over. Like basically,

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Speaker 1: the first people just got screwed. Yeah. Well, well but

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Speaker 1: they didn't pay in that much either though, So no,

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Speaker 1: and that's true, So they were rightly screwed. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: let's talk about the history of all this chuck. And

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Speaker 1: and by the way, I guess the takeaway from that

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Speaker 1: intro Social Security is considered a what upon CI scheme.

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Speaker 1: I think people are just sitting there like, I know,

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Speaker 1: all right, well you already you already blew the big

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Speaker 1: secret there the act of um it was coined. The

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Speaker 1: name social Security was coined by Abraham Epstein Um, who

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Speaker 1: led the American Association for Social Security. And they began

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Speaker 1: paying out in thirty seven, Like you said, yeah, just

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Speaker 1: just for workers. Right. It was the the the biggest

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Speaker 1: wage earner of a household, basically the dad um got

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Speaker 1: the money as the retiree. Yeah, and it was a

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Speaker 1: lump sum, right. They didn't pay it in monthly uh buckets.

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Speaker 1: Back then, tell him what the first guy who got

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Speaker 1: social Security got his slump sum? Yeah, his lumpsom was

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Speaker 1: uh was it seventeen cents in January nine, thirty seven.

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Speaker 1: He was the first guy that gets Social Security benefits

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Speaker 1: And I looked it up. That's two dollars and fifty

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Speaker 1: five cents in two thousand ten money. Oh well, so

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Speaker 1: even back then he was just like, hey, federal government

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Speaker 1: gets that in my pocket for you. Yeah. Um, Josh

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Speaker 1: just made an obscene gesture. We should just say that. Um.

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Speaker 1: In nine, just two years later, they added survivors benefits

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Speaker 1: and benefits two spouses and children. Uh flashboard of fifty six,

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Speaker 1: they had a disability of benefits. Sixty five, Medicare was

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Speaker 1: signed into law, and in sixty one the I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: In sixty two, the Civil Service Commission in the I

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Speaker 1: r S adopted the Social Security number as your official

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Speaker 1: federal I D number and taxpayer I D number, respectively,

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Speaker 1: which is a kind of a thing because the first

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Speaker 1: Social Security cards cifically said on them not to be

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Speaker 1: used as identification. Yeah, but they never made a follow

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Speaker 1: up law to enforce it, and so everybody's like, no,

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Speaker 1: this is perfect for identification. Yeah, I always, I'll always

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Speaker 1: remember it because of this card in my wallet. We'll

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Speaker 1: use the mark of the beast is identification. Um, the

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Speaker 1: first numbers, because this is not just about Social Security

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Speaker 1: but more about the numbers, which is more interesting than

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Speaker 1: I thought. Slightly. Yeah, um, it was. They were distributed

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Speaker 1: to the post office because they didn't have field offices yet.

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Speaker 1: So ye, post offices took the initial task. Two. Uh

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Speaker 1: type up. These cards are called typing centers. Yeah. So

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Speaker 1: basically this is, um, this is what I This is

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Speaker 1: the part I entitled bureaucracy. How right. Yeah. The Social

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Speaker 1: Security Um Administration contacted all employers in the United States

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Speaker 1: and said, hey, uh, this is a form SS four

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Speaker 1: and on it you just list the number of employees

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Speaker 1: you have working for you. Mail it back to us.

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Speaker 1: And so all the employers filled out I have fifteen employees,

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Speaker 1: and then mailed the S S four back to the

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Speaker 1: Social Security Administration. So Security Administration opened up the S

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Speaker 1: S fours and they said, okay, this employer has fifteen employees,

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Speaker 1: so we're going to mail him fifteen S S five forms,

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Speaker 1: which are basically signing up for your Social Security number. Right.

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Speaker 1: So they mailed the fifteen back, probably in one package,

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Speaker 1: to the employer, and the employer distributed them among his employees.

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Speaker 1: Employees filled out the S S five forms and they

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Speaker 1: sent them back to the Such Security Administration. Such Security

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Speaker 1: Administration said, okay, now we have these and we're going

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Speaker 1: to assign social security numbers. Right the um they said, hey,

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Speaker 1: go to your post office. The post office gave them

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Speaker 1: the social security numbers. The post office then sent that

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Speaker 1: duplicate form to the Social Security Administration, who created the

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Speaker 1: master file of all of these documents put together, which

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Speaker 1: was your so Security number file, and that was sent

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Speaker 1: to Maryland. Yes, and then in Maryland is where it

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Speaker 1: all came together. That's right. Uh, well what came together there?

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Speaker 1: The numbers, the numbering, the whole thing, your whole file,

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Speaker 1: the block the block file. That's right. So let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the first numbers. Since we're there. Who has it?

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Speaker 1: And is it zero zero one zero one zero zero

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Speaker 1: zero one? Is it the first number? No? Well we

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Speaker 1: should first say that no one knows for sure who

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Speaker 1: got the very first card in the very first number,

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Speaker 1: because they they reckon about several hundred thousand people applied

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Speaker 1: in that first November of ninety six. So I didn't

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Speaker 1: do the math, but there's some I'm sure you could

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Speaker 1: figure out statistically, and I'd be interested to hear how

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Speaker 1: to do this. But um, if a hundred thousand people

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Speaker 1: all got their card that day and the post offices

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Speaker 1: were open from like eight to five, how many people

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Speaker 1: or handed their Social Security number card um simultaneously that day?

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Speaker 1: How many first people were there? There's got to be

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Speaker 1: some awesome math equation to figure that out. Somebody should

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Speaker 1: do that for us. Since the UM so they don't

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Speaker 1: know officially who it was, but their first official record, uh,

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Speaker 1: they do know. UM it was a guy named John

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Speaker 1: David Sweeney Jr. And he had the social Security number

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Speaker 1: oh five five O nine O one and by oh

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Speaker 1: I mean zero of course or aught and he got

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Speaker 1: his because the head of the Social Security Administration took

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Speaker 1: it off the top of the stack, yeah, and said

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Speaker 1: this is the first one. That's right, So there you go.

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Speaker 1: But they did offer that to um oh no, sorry,

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Speaker 1: zero zero one number, the lowest number right on record.

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Speaker 1: Right before we get to there, though, John David Sweeney

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Speaker 1: ironically died before he could collect his uh social Security payments.

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Speaker 1: John David Tweeney is the one with the first security number.

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Speaker 1: So that is very ironic. That's the fact of the

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Speaker 1: podcast if you ask me. Yeah, because retirement age was

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Speaker 1: sixty five and he died at sixty one. Today they

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Speaker 1: handle it differently. It's a little confusing, but actually it's

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Speaker 1: not that confusing. You just have to be good at math.

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Speaker 1: Benefits are reduced by five nights of one per cent

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Speaker 1: for every month you retire before the age of sixty

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Speaker 1: five or rich person. Yeah, it's good for you. So um,

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Speaker 1: so back to the number one oh one or whatever. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the all time low number holder, who always will be

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Speaker 1: until we start recycling numbers if we ever need to,

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Speaker 1: We we may, we may. Her name is um Grace

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Speaker 1: d Owen. She is of Concord, New Hampshire, or conquered

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Speaker 1: okay um and uh yeah, because we always get mail

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Speaker 1: from people it's like, oh, you pronounced it Nevada, it's Nevada.

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Speaker 1: Or if we say Vada, they say, hey, you pronounced

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Speaker 1: Nevada incorrectly. It's Nevada. No, it is Nevada. But I

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Speaker 1: tell everyone that writes in from Nevada, only people from

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Speaker 1: Nevada say Nevada. Everyone else says Nevada, especially people in Missouri.

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Speaker 1: So um, Chuck Gracedo and of Conquord, New Hampshire got

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Speaker 1: the lowest number zero zero one zero one zero zero

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Speaker 1: zero one number. It was UM. And she got that

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Speaker 1: not because she was first in line, as we've said,

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Speaker 1: different guy got that low number. Uh, or a different

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Speaker 1: guy got the first number and it wasn't low. Um.

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Speaker 1: She got it because of where she lived. Originally, the

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Speaker 1: number scheming was based on well, the first two numbers

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Speaker 1: were based on the state you lived in, um and

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Speaker 1: starting northeast, moving westward, and so you had less than

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Speaker 1: fifty possible primary numbers, the first two first through renas. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well not even they didn't even have fifty at the time,

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Speaker 1: did they know? That's what I'm saying. So this is

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Speaker 1: a total waste of digits. They figured out very quickly,

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Speaker 1: so they started assigning them to zip codes instead. And

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Speaker 1: we should talk about these numbers. Do you want here?

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Speaker 1: Are we there now? Well, we are almost there. But

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Speaker 1: um you didn't mention that Grace Owen got that number.

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Speaker 1: They actually offered it as an honor to um John

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Speaker 1: g Winnt these Social Security Board chairman, and John Campbell,

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Speaker 1: the Federal Bureau of Old Age Benefits rep for the

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Speaker 1: Boston They offered them both the number oh one oh

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Speaker 1: one oh one and they no, no thanks. We are

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Speaker 1: true bureaucrats and that would be against the bureaucracy's rules.

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Speaker 1: That's right. And seventeen cents to Ernest Ackerman, the first

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Speaker 1: guy to get a payment. Yes, but um iidem A

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Speaker 1: Fuller made out like a bandit. This is exactly the problem.

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Speaker 1: This is not the problem. Mrs Fuller did good things

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Speaker 1: with her money. She brought herself in edzel Um, she

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Speaker 1: uh invested in um uh web band. She did great things.

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Speaker 1: She did um so id to a. Fuller retired in

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Speaker 1: November nineteen thirty nine, and she was the first person

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Speaker 1: to start collecting monthly benefits. So by the time she

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Speaker 1: by the time social Security payments or by the time

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Speaker 1: you had to start paying and because another fact is

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Speaker 1: that you can't opt out UM and the time she retired,

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Speaker 1: she contributed a total of twenty four dollars and seventy

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Speaker 1: five cents because of the Social Security scheme. UM. By

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Speaker 1: the time she died at age one hundred, nineteen seventy five,

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Speaker 1: she collected a total of twenty two thousand, eight hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty eight dollars and nine two cents. She made

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Speaker 1: out she wore like a bandanna around her face like

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Speaker 1: the rest of her life she did. Yeah, she was

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Speaker 1: a Social Security bandit. Okay, back to the numbers. Enough history,

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Speaker 1: I think so. Um So, the first three numbers they're

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Speaker 1: called what the area numbers, and like you said, they

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Speaker 1: were originally from northeast to west. So like if you

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Speaker 1: were if you lived in New Hampshire, um, you your

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Speaker 1: first three numbers were gonna be zero, zero one. Then

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Speaker 1: they figured out that, well that's stupid, like we're gonna

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Speaker 1: have fifty states tops, so there's a whole number that

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Speaker 1: we're not using. Eventually we're gonna need it. Because social

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Speaker 1: Security numbers aren't recycled, they're retired after the person dies, right,

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Speaker 1: that is true. So then they started assigning them to

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Speaker 1: zip code, so that started using up a lot more numbers, right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: zip code on the mailing address on the application form,

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Speaker 1: which didn't necessarily indicate your residents. It's just wherever the

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Speaker 1: mailing address was where you applied, right, exactly when you

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Speaker 1: were living. Uh right, And it doesn't, Yeah, it doesn't.

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Speaker 1: Mailing in residents is not the same address most times

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Speaker 1: it is, but even still, like the place where I

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Speaker 1: was born, it's not where I live now, so right,

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Speaker 1: So I mean you have a lot of um weird

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Speaker 1: numbers for the beginning in the early seventies, since seventy

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Speaker 1: two is when they started the zip code. So I

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Speaker 1: believe that I actually am one of the last years

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Speaker 1: since I was born in seventy one, last people to

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Speaker 1: get uh the one based on the state. Cool, so

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Speaker 1: I'm old timing, seriously, that is something. Um. The next

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Speaker 1: two numbers are group numbers, so you have your area

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Speaker 1: number and then the area numbers broken into groups zero

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Speaker 1: one through Yeah, and this makes sense. So the two

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Speaker 1: numbers in the middle are the you are that group

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Speaker 1: of that zip code or that state, depending on how

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Speaker 1: old you are. It was just a means to break

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Speaker 1: it up and make it simpler for accounting and filing

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Speaker 1: and all that stuff. Right, because instead of UM just

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Speaker 1: one group from an area, or what nine ninety nine

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00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,640
Speaker 1: possible areas, you now have nine groups of nine ninety

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Speaker 1: nine possible areas, nine nine groups each to allow us

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Speaker 1: for a lot more. Because the the eight ball that

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Speaker 1: the Social Security number UM is always behind is basically

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Speaker 1: running out of numbers. I don't think it will happen.

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Speaker 1: It will there well, eventually, but there's what they says,

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Speaker 1: a billion combinations. But consider this, there's been more than

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Speaker 1: four hundred million numbers issued since so what sixty five

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Speaker 1: seventy seven years? Right, I have a feeling that does

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Speaker 1: take into account the baby boom that ate up a

305
00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,359
Speaker 1: lot of numbers, But I mean I have a feeling

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Speaker 1: that we could we could reach that and what another

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Speaker 1: hundred hundred years, the US will be around I'm sure

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Speaker 1: longer than then, hopefully. Yeah, China is rising, well, it'll

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Speaker 1: be at the very least not in our lifetime. Oh no,

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Speaker 1: so who cares. I would have agreed with you had

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Speaker 1: you qualified it like that. Yeah, what they'll probably do

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Speaker 1: is UM and I'm guessing here, but they'll probably start

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Speaker 1: reassigning numbers from dead people, which will be weird. I

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Speaker 1: use so security number. Yeah, imagine they go back. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it would make sense to me that they would start

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Speaker 1: from the beginning again almost so like you're using someone's

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Speaker 1: number from and the year. Yeah, you got a stinky

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Speaker 1: old mothball number. It's like a wicker um wicker wheelchair

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Speaker 1: or something like that, like leather leg breaks is something weird,

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Speaker 1: like from the thirties. What are you talking about? You

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Speaker 1: know exactly what I'm talking about. Okay, the last four

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Speaker 1: digits are the serial numbers, and uh they number consecutively

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Speaker 1: from triple O one through So that's just saying, well,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna extend the number the possible numbers we can

325
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Speaker 1: come up with exactly. You've the more billion, and you

326
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Speaker 1: know what, you don't even necessarily have to recycle even

327
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Speaker 1: if you add like an extra attempt digit. How much

328
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Speaker 1: would that change everything? I mean, they have to rewrite

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Speaker 1: all their programming and all their accountings, and then we

330
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,080
Speaker 1: wouldn't have to recycle numbers. Good point they have. Luckily,

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Speaker 1: they have people much smarter than that's deciding how to

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Speaker 1: handle that. I don't know. We're pretty sharp, all right, Josh,

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Speaker 1: common questions, These are actually pretty good. Okay, Chuck, here's

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Speaker 1: a question for you. Does everyone have to have a

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Speaker 1: Social Security number? If you're over eighteen, then yes, you do. UM.

336
00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,280
Speaker 1: And you if you receive an income and you're over eighteen, UM.

337
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:47,400
Speaker 1: If you're interested in starting up a bank account, being

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00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,040
Speaker 1: a deduction on your parents, income taxes, all sorts of

339
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 1: things like that, metal getting medical coverage, taking advantage of

340
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,000
Speaker 1: government services, then you're gonna need that. So there's a

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00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,760
Speaker 1: lot of people who just you that that you have

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00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:07,320
Speaker 1: to have that. Practically speaking, you do, like any bank

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00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 1: can be like I'm not doing business with you, and

344
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,639
Speaker 1: then you say, okay, well I can't force you to

345
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,120
Speaker 1: by law, but I'll try your competitor, and you go

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00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,160
Speaker 1: on down the line and maybe you find a bank.

347
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Speaker 1: From what I understand, there's banks that are set up

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Speaker 1: in the Midwest, um for people who don't have Social

349
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Speaker 1: Security numbers, Like who've said I'm not gonna have one,

350
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Speaker 1: I don't trust the government, don't want to have a

351
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Speaker 1: serial number, and I'm not going to have this no,

352
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 1: but they're still paying in Oh yeah, yeah, I think

353
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 1: they're still paying in but they don't have a Social

354
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,119
Speaker 1: Security number, so that means they're not gonna get benefits

355
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Speaker 1: at the end. I don't think they think they're going

356
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: to get benefits anyway. I could get that, UM. But yeah,

357
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,400
Speaker 1: they don't have a Social Security number. I think there

358
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,120
Speaker 1: are there are people who don't pay Social Security as well.

359
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: It's like a whole Yeah, there's that's like a whole

360
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,640
Speaker 1: topic along the fringe of whether or not you need

361
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 1: to have one, whether or not you actually do have

362
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,920
Speaker 1: to pay in the constitution, a reality of it, all

363
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,439
Speaker 1: that stuff, but for all practical purposes, your life is

364
00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,479
Speaker 1: exponentially easier if you have a so Security number. Right,

365
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: And you also said you have to pay because you

366
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Speaker 1: can't tell the government, you know what, I'm setting up

367
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Speaker 1: for my own retirement and I want to take all

368
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Speaker 1: the available money that I make to do that because

369
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: my retirement plan is much better than whatever you yokels

370
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,879
Speaker 1: are working on. Yeah, because I mean, if you you

371
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,880
Speaker 1: have to pay in fifteen point three percent, I don't

372
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 1: know if that's current. I haven't looked, but as of

373
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,199
Speaker 1: the writing of this UM, this article, it was fifteen

374
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Speaker 1: point three seven point six paid by you out of

375
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,959
Speaker 1: your gross pay and seven point six five paid by

376
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:44,439
Speaker 1: your employer. It is staggering how much we pay in

377
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 1: taxes in this country. So if you took fifteen point

378
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,160
Speaker 1: three percent of your gross pay and put it into

379
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 1: a four oh one k over the same course of years,

380
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,679
Speaker 1: you would have so much more money. Yeah, barring another

381
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,119
Speaker 1: stock market catask t fee before you could get your

382
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 1: money out of your formal one k um, you would

383
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,480
Speaker 1: have way more than you have from the Social Security

384
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 1: Administration As as benefits. You know, what I'm meant to

385
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: look up is if the government uses this money for

386
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:18,120
Speaker 1: other things in the meantime or is it strictly like here,

387
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 1: it's in this little pool and all we're doing is

388
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: paying people out with it. Well, supposedly, before the baby

389
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: boom problem arose, it was going in and right back out,

390
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,879
Speaker 1: and I'm sure any surplus was invested in treasury bonds.

391
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,919
Speaker 1: Now um, all of the surplus is invested in treasury bonds,

392
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,479
Speaker 1: which is just such a shell game. It's so crazy,

393
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,640
Speaker 1: and no one has any idea if this is gonna work.

394
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,160
Speaker 1: I swear to God, I'm not paranoid, but don't live

395
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: in the Midwest. I'm not a fringe dweller. This is

396
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,120
Speaker 1: not something I like keep up with a lot um.

397
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,200
Speaker 1: I don't read World net daily. There's nothing like that

398
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,640
Speaker 1: in my life. But I'm telling you this is like

399
00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 1: there there's no guarantee that this social secure a UM

400
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 1: I guess bandage for the baby boom populations, like if

401
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: it's gonna work, it's it's really at the very least,

402
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,199
Speaker 1: it's interesting. Yeah. And the troubling, I would say, at

403
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,199
Speaker 1: the very least say, uh, they let you. They make

404
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: it real easy for you to slap a number on

405
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 1: your little brand new baby. Yes, do you have to

406
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: have a number for your child? Well, like I said,

407
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,080
Speaker 1: if you want them to get medical coverage and UM

408
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 1: open up a savings account in their name for like

409
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,320
Speaker 1: their future college or trade school or travels around the world,

410
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 1: or you want to claim it as a deduction on

411
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: your tax filing, Yeah, then they they're gonna need one,

412
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:37,920
Speaker 1: and they make it pretty easy on you to get

413
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 1: one for your new, little, uh smelly baby. They do again. UM,

414
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: I'm not a fringe dweller, but they have a very

415
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:50,640
Speaker 1: sinister sounding Enumeration at birth program that's pretty bad. Yeah.

416
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 1: It was started in UM and basically, it just made

417
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: it very easy for you to get a source of

418
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: security number for your infant as part of their birth

419
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 1: record forms enumeration at birth. You know, I used to

420
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 1: I think I mentioned this before. I used to carry

421
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: my card around in my wallet when I was a

422
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 1: teenager because I thought it was I don't know, I

423
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 1: thought it made me, uh legitimate or adult, like it's

424
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: interesting everyone else's everyone else is out drinking, and I

425
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 1: was like, no, no, I got my self a security card.

426
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,640
Speaker 1: It keeps keeps the urges away. Hey, speaking of Social

427
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: Security cards and wallets, do you want to talk about that, lady? Oh, yeah,

428
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: I can't. Yeah. This in uh nineteen thirty seven, dude

429
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: named Douglas Patterson had a wallet company. Yeah, he was

430
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 1: the vice president and treasurer of this wallet company, and

431
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,200
Speaker 1: he said, you know what we should do. We should

432
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,439
Speaker 1: include a fake Social Security card and every wallet, but

433
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 1: we'll make it look really, really realistic by copying yours secretary. Yeah.

434
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 1: He basically assigned these little fake cards, like you know,

435
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,159
Speaker 1: you get a picture frame with a fake picture in it.

436
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: They gave out wallet or they sold wallets with a

437
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: fake SOL Security card with a real number. I don't

438
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 1: know why he thought that was a good idea or

439
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: why she went along with it. What was her name,

440
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 1: Hilda Straighter Whitcher? She went along with this? Maybe she

441
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: didn't know, No, she knew she did. Yeah, um, and uh,

442
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 1: I guess she didn't feel like she could assert herself

443
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: at the time. But um, what over forty years something

444
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: like forty thou people used her social Security number? Yeah,

445
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 1: they gave her new and yeah, and people are still

446
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,360
Speaker 1: using it as as recently his nineteen seventies seven, there

447
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: were twelve people using that as their own because of

448
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: this wallet. Yeah. In in defense of the dude, he

449
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: did have the word uh, spitchammen on the bottom of it,

450
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 1: Spaceman specimen. But it was, you know, in small print,

451
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: and it looked like the real deal. It had the

452
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: little emblem that. Um who was the guy who designed that? Uh?

453
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 1: Fred Happele That's right? And what else did he design?

454
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: The flying Tiger's logo? Yeah? Which what was that? Like

455
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 1: a B two bomber logo? Well, who knows? World War two?

456
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: I guess, uh, some sort of gunner plane or something. Okay,

457
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,719
Speaker 1: that'd be my guess. The fighting hell cats. Yeah, finding

458
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: health fish, healthfish the health fish with the Simpsons. Okay, um, Josh,

459
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,960
Speaker 1: can you get a new number? Yes, but only in

460
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 1: very extreme cases like stalking, like talking, or fraud, a

461
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 1: bad case of fraud. I guess yeah. I would imagine

462
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: that the FBI can probably get you one if you're

463
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 1: part of the Witness Protection program. Oh sure, which we've

464
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: talked about. Yeah, you don't have to pay for that.

465
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:50,360
Speaker 1: There's no fee from the s s A. But um

466
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 1: you uh what what you should be wary of his

467
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,239
Speaker 1: companies that claim that they can get you a new

468
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 1: number to absolve your credit, Like, hey, have you let

469
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 1: an awful bad life become a new person, We'll get

470
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 1: you a new Social Security number, which is hilarious if

471
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:10,360
Speaker 1: you think that that's that's crazy. Following for that, it's

472
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: like buying an elevator pass in high school as a

473
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,720
Speaker 1: freshman or something like, Yeah, except way you worse when

474
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 1: you have a single floor high school, because I'm sure

475
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: they're like, not only do we charge you a feed,

476
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 1: but give us your so Security number because we have

477
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: to go in and like make sure that it's wiped out.

478
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: Right where are we here? Uh? You know? The title

479
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: of the section was why does it matter? If someone

480
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: knows my Social Security number, I think it's pretty obvious. Yeah,

481
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: identity theft it's a big problem these days. Back in

482
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 1: the old days it wasn't as much. It's actually gone

483
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: down since this article, what four thousand years what they

484
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,520
Speaker 1: said here, right SEV. Now, well that's the ones that

485
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: the FTC gets reports of, which are probably the lion

486
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,719
Speaker 1: share of them. But it was supposedly increasing like by

487
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: some crazy percentage year. It's it's up eleven. So it's

488
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: gone down. So I think people have just gotten scared

489
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: of it, more wary about it. But um, I mean

490
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 1: it's still obviously a pretty big problem. Part of the

491
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,600
Speaker 1: problem though, is that we shouldn't be using so security

492
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: numbers for identification for a reason. They're just way too

493
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:27,880
Speaker 1: publicly available. Even the last four digits, Um, don't use

494
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: that as like your pin number. No, But I mean,

495
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: even if somebody asks you your last four digits, how

496
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 1: many people do have your last four digits? How many

497
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: companies A lot? And they also have your birth date,

498
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: they also have where you're born, your mother's maiden name.

499
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like it's all out there, and

500
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: basically there's no really good scheme two. I guess uses

501
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: as a pass code as a past basically a way

502
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,959
Speaker 1: of saying I am me, because if we all just

503
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: relied on some other number or something like that, then

504
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 1: people could find that out. There's really no good way

505
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: to do it. But um, so security numbers are definitely

506
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: not the answer. Yeah. I always get a little creeped

507
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 1: out when some business, you know, what are the last

508
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: like Comcast or something like my cable company. We'll say

509
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 1: what are your last words of your social and I'll

510
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: spit it out and they'll go, okay, right. You can

511
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: say I don't want to tell you, I want to

512
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: answer everything else, and they'll they'll run you through your paces.

513
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: But they know it because they're asking you for identific

514
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: like for verification exactly because you've given it to them already. Um,

515
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: you don't. There's basically most companies don't have any legal

516
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 1: right to ask you what you're so security number is.

517
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: But they can also say, well, we don't trust you,

518
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: so if you don't give it to us when you

519
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: open your account or whatever, then um, you're out of luck. Um.

520
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:56,920
Speaker 1: With government agencies, you can ask for the UM Privacy

521
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: Act of nineteen seventy four, disclosure notice, which says like, hey,

522
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,080
Speaker 1: we have a legal right to ask you this, or

523
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,160
Speaker 1: we don't, and then you can say you can't ask

524
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 1: me that, bob. But um, all the protection advice I've

525
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 1: given here is pretty basic. You know, don't carry your

526
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: card in your wallet. Uh, cancel credit cards you don't use,

527
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: don't share what don't we just cancel credit cards you

528
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,560
Speaker 1: don't use. There are things you should do, like keep

529
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: an eye on your accounts, your credit card accounts, even

530
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 1: though you don't use them. But that's not necessarily good advice,

531
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 1: especially credit wise, because there's this thing called the available

532
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: credit to um debt ratio. It's one of the ratios

533
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: that they figure credit score with. And if you have

534
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 1: a clean credit card you're not using that has like

535
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: five or ten grand of available credit on it, that counts,

536
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: and that's that makes you very attractive to people who

537
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 1: are selling new houses or cars or whatever. So don't

538
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 1: necessarily go do that, keep them in a safe deposit box,

539
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 1: keep an eye on all your out even if you're

540
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 1: not using them. Yeah, boy, my credit rating is so

541
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 1: good right now. That's awesome, dude. It's like top five

542
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 1: percentile somehow, and that is I say that as a

543
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 1: testament to you out there who may have bad credit.

544
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: You can repair it over time. Yeah you you you

545
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: animially did good. Huh uh. Well, yeah, she's the one

546
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: that helped me get my good credit back. That's good.

547
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: That's CFO. Congratulations, man, it's a big deal. Thank you.

548
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 1: It is good. And my debts, you know, from the

549
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,479
Speaker 1: past were I don't want to get into it, but

550
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: they had less to do with me and more to

551
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: do with like books, Heroin, like bad roommates and getting

552
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 1: screwed over by you know, like, hey, you were supposed

553
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: to pay this Georgia power bill eight years ago and

554
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 1: it's still in my name and I didn't even know

555
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,280
Speaker 1: about it. That kind of thing, and just being lazy

556
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: in college. Yeah, I missed my credit card payment. No

557
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: big deal, I'll just pay it next month. I'm just

558
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 1: kidna go buy some Heroin instead. I know it's you're

559
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 1: doing in college, Chuck, not that, So I guess that's

560
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:08,040
Speaker 1: about it. Huh yeah. Um. One more piece of advice,

561
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: which is actually good. Every few years, go uh to

562
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 1: the ss A website and request a copy of your

563
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: earnings and Benefit Estimate statement. Yeah, have you heard of this? Before,

564
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: and I've never done it, and I'm gonna go do

565
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 1: it today. Alright, let's go do it together. We'll both

566
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 1: go do years together. We'll be like what. I've been

567
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: working since I was thirteen, so I imagine I'm doing

568
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 1: pretty good. Nice. Oh, we didn't talk about that. Um.

569
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: The system is waited. The whole reason it was instituted

570
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 1: was to help um, make sure that people don't fall

571
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 1: through the cracks or whatever, and to help the poor

572
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: more than the wealthy. Um. Although you get more money

573
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: out the more money you put in, right, which is

574
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: based on your income, so the money you make, the

575
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: more you ban. But it's also disproportionately waited so that

576
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 1: the people who are earning the least get a disproportionate

577
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,240
Speaker 1: amount out to help them correct amundo. Which is great.

578
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,200
Speaker 1: It's socialism at it's fine est, as you said. So

579
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 1: uh yeah, that's about it. That's social security numbers and

580
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 1: pretty much so security. I don't think I'm going to

581
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:24,919
Speaker 1: do that again. Hats off the FDR for ah new deal,

582
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 1: great society. UM, chicken in every pot that was hoover

583
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: a number on every forehead. Nice check, thank you. We'll

584
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:36,799
Speaker 1: end it with that one. If you want to know

585
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 1: more about social security numbers, you can read this exhaustive

586
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 1: article about them um by typing in social security in

587
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: the search bart how stuff works dot com, which means

588
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: it time for listener mail Josh, I'm gonna call this

589
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 1: following up on zero. That one got a lot more

590
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 1: uh attention than I thought. All the math nerds came

591
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:04,239
Speaker 1: out like zero, very happy that we did that. And

592
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 1: one such nern email this um, Stephen, and he says,

593
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: I think I might be able to put your mind

594
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 1: to rest on a couple of those zero properties. And

595
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 1: a lot of people try to explain this, and I

596
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 1: think he did the best. Uh first, dividing by zero,

597
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: I find it helpful to think of division as separating

598
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 1: objects into containers. See this guy is like talking up

599
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,879
Speaker 1: my alley. Yeah, I can visualize stuff a lot better

600
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,360
Speaker 1: this way. So, if you have five objects and five containers,

601
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: you would put one object in each container. You still

602
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: have the same number of objects, but divided evenly across containers. Now,

603
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: if you have five objects and no containers, in other words,

604
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,719
Speaker 1: dividing by zero, you still have all the same objects,

605
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: but they have not been put anywhere. You can't say

606
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,560
Speaker 1: that you'd put zero per container because it's not a

607
00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 1: lack of items, but rather a lack of containers. So

608
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,319
Speaker 1: dividing by zero means you have things but nothing to

609
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:08,799
Speaker 1: contain them. So our ratio cannot be formed makes sense? Right? Um?

610
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: As for the raising to the zero zero power, um,

611
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:17,440
Speaker 1: this is one because our basis of numerology is the

612
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:22,319
Speaker 1: number one. All things larger are functions of how many

613
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: ones it holds, and all things larger to find how

614
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 1: many need to be combined to form a one. This,

615
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,839
Speaker 1: combined with the fact that exponents don't describe a multiplication,

616
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,600
Speaker 1: but rather a number of times a base measurement will

617
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,280
Speaker 1: be multiplied by a factor, means that if the base

618
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: measurement is never multiplied by the factor, you're left with

619
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: the base alone. So there you have it. It's tempting

620
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: to think of these numbers as one to the power,

621
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,359
Speaker 1: but unfortunately this is wrong. You can keep go over

622
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: that again, now I can't. Uh. That is from Stephen,

623
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,440
Speaker 1: a junior software engine here. Thanks Stephen, so I will

624
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,439
Speaker 1: take him at his word. Yeah, he sounds like he's

625
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: gotta do. Yeah, the containers. That makes total sense to me. Now,

626
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 1: so there you have it. So Thanks Stephen, junior software engineer.

627
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:16,440
Speaker 1: We are looking forward to you becoming a senior software engineer,

628
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: likely in the near future. From your email. UM, and

629
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 1: if you have some sort of illumination UM about a

630
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 1: previous podcast, doesn't matter how old it is. We always

631
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: like hearing new stuff about old stuff. UM. You can

632
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:36,440
Speaker 1: send it in an email to uh well, first tweet

633
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 1: to us Okay, that's why sk podcast Facebook dot com,

634
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 1: slash Stuff as you know, and then the email Stuff

635
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:50,880
Speaker 1: podcast at Discovery dot com. Be sure to check out

636
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,080
Speaker 1: our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how

637
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising and

638
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Speaker 1: perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. Brought to you by the reinvented

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Speaker 1: two thousand twelve Camry. It's ready, are you