U.S. Social Security Collapses; BRICS Builds Their Alternative

By Rebecca Terrell

In June, the U.S. Department of the Treasury quietly released the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report, and its findings should have dominated every front page in America. Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will be depleted in late 2032, forcing an automatic 22-percent cut to retirement benefits unless Congress acts. The insolvency date was moved up by one year from the previous projection, indicating accelerating financial pressure on the unconstitutional program.

For the roughly 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security, this means a significant income loss starting in six years.

Demographic shifts have promoted the deterioration. In 1940, when Social Security began, there were 159 workers for every one retiree; in 2026, the ratio is 2.7 to one. Because of artificial birth control, legalized abortion, and the aggressive promotion of non-childbearing lifestyles, America’s demographics have skewed beyond recognition.

There is no relief in sight. Economists calculate that a payroll tax increase of 4.25 percentage points would be needed if reform starts in 2026. Delaying action until 2034 would require a tax increase of 4.90 percentage points.

As usual, Congress has remained silent in response to the largest financial cliff facing American retirees in the program’s history. Instead of addressing the unconstitutionality of Social Security and abolishing this federal tax masquerading as insurance, its only response has been a bill requiring Congress to vote on a plan, not a plan itself. Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano, asked during a House subcommittee hearing about possible benefit cuts in 2032, said that it’s up to Congress to solve the issue. So while Congress is passing bills requiring itself to eventually consider ideas, the agency responsible for Social Security is pointing at Congress.

On the other side of the globe, a related incident occurred that caused barely a blip in American media. BRICS labor and employment ministers adopted a joint declaration at their meeting in Hyderabad, India, last month. They committed to closer cooperation in areas such as labor, including expanding their social-security coverage. (BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies that is working to shift away from the U.S. dollar as the primary global reserve asset and away from reliance on Western financial institutions.)

A highlight of the meeting was the launch of BRICS CONNECT, the BRICS Cooperation Network for Capacity Building, Employability, and New Skills and Technologies — a flagship initiative of India’s presidency aimed at strengthening capacity building, knowledge sharing, and technical collaboration among BRICS nations.

The juxtaposition is ironic. The United States, which created the modern social-security model the world largely copied, is six years away from automatic benefit cuts affecting 70 million retirees, with no serious plan in motion and a legislature that has spent 2026 focused on an unauthorized war in Iran; the One Big Beautiful Bill, which raised the national debt ceiling by $5 trillion; and a string of scandals regarding foreigners in the country bilking Medicaid, Social Security, and a host of other entitlement programs to the tune of billions. Meanwhile, a bloc representing more than half the world’s population is actively constructing new institutional frameworks for social-security and labor-market reform —  frameworks explicitly designed to operate outside Western-dominated institutions.

Published with permission of thenewamerican.com