Want to Save Social Security? Adopt the Australian Retirement Model

Congressional Republicans need to take the lead on transitioning Social Security to a solvent retirement system—and reap the benefits with younger voters.

Social Security is insolvent. No one on either side of the political aisle disputes this, but few try to muster the political will to do anything about it.

Last month, President Donald Trump said his administration is looking “very seriously” at the Australian retirement model. Australia’s program was designed specifically for the type of demographic collapse the United States will experience this century. It is not only popular in the land down under, but wildly successful. Transitioning to this type of mandatory retirement plan would avoid payroll tax hikes, eliminate pressure to flood the U.S. with foreign workers to pay for Social Security, and ensure future Americans’ retirement is guaranteed. It’s also a good policy for a party trying to attract younger voters.

Social Security Will Not Survive the Century

The fatal flaw in the Social Security system was baked in at the start. Most Americans believe the program is essentially a personal bank account that they pay into and pull out of after reaching retirement age. Reality is much more liquid. Social Security remains solvent so long as people working now pay more into the system than is withdrawn from people retiring now. In other words, what individual retirees get out usually isn't equivalent to what they paid in—largely because inflation has devalued threefold the dollars today’s retirees paid. 

As a result, Social Security faces imminent insolvency due to the depleting Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund. Exacerbating the inflation problem is the shrinking worker-to-beneficiary ratio which has dropped tremendously since Social Security’s inception—meaning there are far fewer workers paying into the system compared to 90 years ago. The Baby Boomers’ retirement is narrowing that gap further at breakneck speed. 

The last year that the OASI Trust Fund collected more than it paid out was 2021. Last year’s Social Security Trustees Report showed the fund is projected to exhaust its reserves by 2033, and by the end of the century, its projected shortfall is $25 trillion. 

For comparison, in fiscal year 2025, the federal government only collected $5.2 trillion in revenue.

If nothing changes, the grandchildren of Americans retiring right now are guaranteed to not receive sufficient Social Security money to survive after retirement. That means we're facing the end of full benefit payments, breaking the program’s promise to future generations—unless action is taken to dramatically reform the system. 

Without those urgent reforms, Social Security won't survive the 21st century.