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Did you hear about the New York multinational company that sought to dispatch a few dozen employees overseas only to discover that none of them had passports?

When it comes to carrying passports most Americans have been ambivalent at best. But in the post 9/11 world - the globalization of work is more prevalent - increasing numbers of Americans plan to travel abroad.  

The Passport office is overwhelmed - producing a half million passports a week. In 2008 the number of applicants could rise by 50 percent according to the Passport office.

Until recently, only about one in five Americans owned a passport. In the wake of stiffer federal security rules the numbers of passport holders are swelling to a still unimpressive one-in-four Yanks. Within four years, predicts Ann Barrett, the director of passport services, the number could rise to half of all Americans.

Should Congress bite the bullet and require Americans to obtain a passport? That’s been considered as a means of dealing with illegal immigration.  

What bothers me is that passports would be abused as a form of identification, just as social security numbers are now. We might be expected to carry passports with us to a job interview, a doctor’s office, a national park or Disneyland. Although it may provide societal benefits, a mandatory passport would be a politically unpopular move.