LETTER: Securing Our Future | A Call For Antigua and Barbuda to Act Together on Social Security Reform

By E. P. Chet Greene

The warning signs flashing across global Social Security systems should alarm us all. Just last month, the U.S. Social Security Administration reported its trust funds will be depleted by 2035, forcing an automatic 17% benefit cut unless Congress intervenes. Closer to home, Barbados’ National Insurance Scheme required painful reforms after its reserves plummeted to just 1.5 years of coverage. These aren’t abstract concerns. They are urgent lessons for us here in Antigua & Barbuda.

Against this troubling backdrop, our government’s plan to sure-up the Social Security Scheme through strategic investment isn’t just prudent, it is an existential necessity. The issue of Social Security reforms is serious and requires an all of country responsible discussion. Instead of engaging in serious policy discussion, the opposition UPP has resorted to its traditional reckless fearmongering that has paralyzed reform elsewhere. The time for political games is over.

The numbers tell a sobering story and the global realities about Social Security schemes demand our sober attention.

In the United States Social Security’s trust fund reserves will be exhausted in 11 years, threatening $1.4 trillion in annual benefits, unless government intervenes.

The warning signs flashing across global Social Security systems should alarm us all. Just last month, the U.S. Social Security Administration reported its trust funds will be depleted by 2035, forcing an automatic 17% benefit cut unless Congress intervenes. Closer to home, Barbados’ National Insurance Scheme required painful reforms after its reserves plummeted to just 1.5 years of coverage. These aren’t abstract concerns. They are urgent lessons for us here in Antigua & Barbuda.

Against this troubling backdrop, our government’s plan to sure-up the Social Security Scheme through strategic investment isn’t just prudent, it is an existential necessity. The issue of Social Security reforms is serious and requires an all of country responsible discussion. Instead of engaging in serious policy discussion, the opposition UPP has resorted to its traditional reckless fearmongering that has paralyzed reform elsewhere. The time for political games is over.

The numbers tell a sobering story and the global realities about Social Security schemes demand our sober attention.

In the United States Social Security’s trust fund reserves will be exhausted in 11 years, threatening $1.4 trillion in annual benefits, unless government intervenes.

While the debate rages across the globe, closer home we should pay attention to the International Monetary Fund’s projections that Caribbean pension systems could face 15-25% shortfalls by 2040. These stories are sufficient for us to apply the adage, ‘a word to the wise is sufficient’ as we act with alacrity to fix and sure-up our own national scheme.

The government’s intervention seeks to move the viability of the Social Security administration beyond pure contribution dependency. It follows best practices and mirrors Singapore’s Central Provident Fund model that maintains 100% solvency through disciplined investing.

The UPP’s objections ignore both our regional reality and global evidence. Their adumbrations begs the obvious question- what is their alternative? In a matter so serious, silence or opposing for opposing sake is not an option. Theirs mirrors the irresponsible opposition seen in countries like Argentina, where political resistance to reform led to a pension system consuming 12% of GDP or Jamaica where delayed action forced painful 2014 reforms during crisis conditions.

We are now left to either embrace Leadership or descend into a Crisis. The government’s plan offers:

• Generational fairness, protecting both current pensioners and young workers;
• Economic stability, which will maintain benefit flows that support local businesses and protect beneficiaries of the scheme;
• Global credibility, in recognition of globally recommended best practices for small island states.

The UPP would have us repeat the mistakes of failed systems worldwide but Antigua and Barbuda deserves better. As the U.S. crisis proves, the cost of inaction is catastrophic benefit cuts. Our government’s measured evidence based approach provides the only responsible path forward.

The question isn’t whether we can afford to act but rather whether we can afford not to. For the sake of every worker, retiree and business in our nation, we must choose reform over ruin. Saving OUR Social Security system transcends narrow political considerations and must be embraced as a national strategic imperative.