Usually SSN yes. In recent years airports and secure federal buildings are starting to require "real IDs" / star cards which are state IDs which meet federal identity verification requirements. I couldn't be bothered with all that since I already have a passport so my driver's license says "Federal Limits Apply".
For thinks like bank loans, state IDs are widely accepted.
OK this is just my unresearched opinion as an American but I really don't know what I'm talking about so keep that in mind and treat it as vibes more than research. It's messy and I haven't learned about any of it since highschool (and my highschool left a lot of important parts out):
A bunch of uninformed rambling
US states aren't thought of as countries for good reason, but in the country's legal framework that kind of how they work -- just with a lot of work to make borders almost a non-issue, shared citizenship, shared economy, etc. This means that historically a lot of stuff that would be associated with a country (ID, driving permit, residency, military) either only happens at the state level; or happens at both the state and the federal level.
In the constitution the federal government is supposed to stick to it's lane as well: any powers which aren't explicitly given to the federal government are reserved for the states (10th amendment). Though in practice the federal government has a lot of powers.
That's the background and helps explain both the lack of a (compulsory) national ID and how there can be state level election shenanigans:
For national ID this was indeed a conservative bugbear. They were essentially worried about the government building a dossier on them or something. I don't remember the details it's been a long time: Conservatism 15 years ago was an entirely different beast than it is today. It's kind of hard to even imagine if the conservatives still have the same fears today, if the liberals don't, or how it would actually play out. Congress being deadlocked for so long means it's hard to get a vibe on how things would shake out if they started actually passing lots of laws again.
Oh yeah did I mention congress is deadlocked? This both means that the US is essentially operating on decades outdated laws, and that the legislature's infighting has lead to a power vacuum that the executive and judicial branch have slurped up (which helps explain the current Elon Musk mess)
Anyway election shenanigans: States were historically supposed to be, well, states as in closely aligned countries and this was all set up in the days before fast and easy long distance travel and communication (did I mention America is really big?). This means that each state runs it's own election (which it can do in any legal way it pleases). The outcome of the election is one or more electors, and those electors are who actually send in their choice for president. There have been cases of "faithless electors" who vote for someone besides the party they represent. Oddly this hasn't really been seen as a big deal (since the parties choose the electors they tend to be pretty loyal).
The point of the previous paragraph is this is a mess. Like a real mess. It's law that made some sense 200 years ago (and maybe not even, they were kinda #yolo-ing the constitution at the time) but is really dated. This means there's lots of room for shenanigans. Can a state legally disqualify voters? Maybe? Sometimes? Kinda? They're not supposed to be like racist or anything, but determining that depends on a lot of details and shifting supreme court rulings.
Write a brief article titled "ICE Prosecutor Linked to Anonymous White Supremacist X Profile: Report"
The worst part is I can't tell if that's not meant to be taken literally or if it is.
Yeah, it's a lot easier to think of a potentially interesting premise than it is to sit down and actually write it out. Also if I'm gonna write something it'll be something I think is interesting rather than a prompt.
Writing Prompts:
OK OK you have a point, I hate all of these and I wrote them.
Yeah just saw that. It's messed up.
I told my job a couple weeks ago that I'm planning to move out of the US. They need me more than I need them so they might actually help with that; but even if a transfer works out I intend to get out this year one way or another, even if it means a study visa instead of a job.
Even if things magically turn around like some people think my mind is set. Irreversable damage has already been done in my mind. I said in another comment that I feel like a stranger in America now (this is, in a weird sense, kind of a freeing feeling).
Yeah I already have a lot of non-US stocks, and next week I'm going to rebalance to make them the majority.
I'm not a finance person. My uncle who's in the world of international corporate law thinks things will be fine so maybe I'm being a bit cautious but the way I see it there are a few big issues:
All of this also increases the risk of "black swan" events like pandemics, hacks, the US "investing" all the "savings" they "found" into cryptocurrency schemes, large-scale unrest, or god knows what else.
A lot of the reporting is using kids gloves instead of calling out the thinly veiled threats (god our media sucks), but anyone who can connect dots and read the tariffs + greenland + canada 51st state + panama + gulf of mexico news should be able to see Trump's hawkish expansionist dreams pretty easily.
Is this a matter of not following the news, poor critical thinking, or just so much stuff hitting the fan that it's hard to keep up?
Excuse me but I need the tech industry to hold up just long enough to fulfill my mid-life-crisis goal of moving to another country. Please refrain from crashing until then.
Thanks.