Social Security Collapse: 138 Billion Yuan Lost, No Jobs Left, People in Despair!

In China, as the economy continues to deteriorate, many people are choosing to stop paying social security. With widespread unemployment and shrinking incomes, most can no longer afford the payments, especially when social security itself has become a high-risk gamble. Man, today I finally decided to stop paying social security. The speed at which Shenzhen raised its social security payments this year is simply unbearable. Social security isn't just a number, it's an invisible weight crushing us. When my daily income and expenses can no longer sustain this burden, should I be investing in the future or simply surviving the present? Man, I was born in 1990. I'm 35 this year, still far from retirement. Meanwhile, the retirement age keeps rising. Paying into social security feels like gambling with my future. If I can't even be sure when I'll be allowed to retire, why keep throwing money into this black hole? Medical insurance and social security costs soar every year, but wages can't keep up. This is not security, it's a slow bleed. Man, is paying into pension insurance even worth it anymore? I stopped my payments today, not because I can't afford them, but because I'm convinced I'll never get that money back. Right now, I pay 2,600 yuan a month, the minimum for employees in Beijing. I have no company to share the cost, it's all on me. I would still need to pay for another 10 years, shelling out over 300,000 yuan even without future increases. With the way premiums rise every year, the real cost would be close to 400,000 yuan. And after all that, I'd have to wait until over 60 to even touch a pension. Someone did the math, it would take 12 to 15 years just to break even. Most people don't even live to 80. Why should I spend my best years feeding a system rigged against me? After a long struggle, I made my choice. Stop paying and instead buy critical illness insurance for myself. Man, yesterday I made a major decision. I ended the flexible employment social security plan I had paid into for five years. Every month, I paid over 1,500 yuan for social security and medical insurance, the lowest tier. Together with my wife, we were burning nearly 40,000 yuan a year. For what? If I stopped paying, I could actually use that money, take a break, live a little, breathe. Now, they've even pushed the pension age to 65. I'm not sure I'll even make it to 65. Why endure all this suffering just to chase a promise I may never see? Living into my 50s would already be a victory. A young man also explained why he stopped paying. Man, I work in Guangzhou. The minimum social security payment for enterprise employees here is about 1,800 yuan a month. If you join, your company covers about 1,200 yuan and you pay the rest. But now, the minimum payment period has been raised from 15 years to 20. Frankly, I have no idea how long I can stay employed. Sooner or later, almost everyone faces a midlife crisis at work. And if I lose this job, who's to say I'll find another employer willing to cover social security? More urgently, I need cash now. People drowning in mortgages and car loans can barely breathe each month. Some are behind on Huawei payments. Some rely on small loans just to survive. Who can afford social security with a salary of just a few thousand yuan? It's a luxury we can't afford. We have to focus on the present. And third, look at the retirement age, 63 for men. Honestly, will I even live that long? Their reasoning is brutal but clear. They pour money into the system, yet it's a question whether they'll even live long enough to see a return. Worse, after years of contributions, the retirement age keeps getting pushed back. Meanwhile, when the CCP is financially desperate, it robs the public without shame. In 2023, local governments drain social security reserves, forcing the China Social Security Fund to dump assets worth 120 billion yuan, rattling market confidence. Simply put, people no longer trust the CCP to guard their future. According to official CCP data, the China Social Security Fund lost 138.09 billion yuan in 2022 alone, with a dismal investment return of negative 5.07%. The truth behind these losses is obvious to anyone willing to look. Corruption, mismanagement, and betrayal. In China, the truth has come to light. The Social Security Fund, money scraped from the pockets of the people, has been gambled away in the stock market. Man, oh my god, the social security I paid was actually used to speculate in stocks. I understood it clearly. They took our hard-earned money, meant to guarantee our future, and threw it into the stock market casino. And when they lose, who pays for the losses? United States. I didn't even want to speculate in stocks, yet they forced me into it by stealing my social security and pension funds. Some people say it bluntly. If they make a profit, they pocket it. If they lose, the people bear the cost. Social security premiums keep soaring while our money is being gambled away. Tell me, brothers, am I wrong to be furious? On April 22, 2025, the Wall Street Journal revealed a staggering truth. Over 40% of China's flexible workforce, delivery drivers, live streamers, small business owners, have abandoned the pension insurance system altogether. Why? Because they're forced to shoulder both employer and individual contributions. Together, it drains about 20% of their monthly income, a crushing burden for workers already struggling to survive on unstable pay. Man, why are young people refusing to pay into pension insurance? It's simple. They're broke. Every penny they earn barely covers rent, mortgage, kids, daily living. Where's the money for social security? Everyone wants security when they're old. But reality is cruel. I was born in the 1980s. I know this system locks away your money for 20, 30 years, years you may not survive. For young people facing risks now, this insurance solves nothing. Liu Xin, a 29-year-old delivery driver in Chengdu, told the Wall Street Journal he pays about 1,400 yuan in social security monthly, almost two weeks' worth of food. He didn't sugarcoat it. I don't believe I'll see a penny of that money after 40 years. In today's collapsing economy, young workers have little left after social security deductions drain their wages. Woman, I just got off work, and my boss told me my social security contribution was deducted. From my 2,500 yuan salary, 1,800 yuan was ripped away, leaving me with only 700 yuan. I work 22 days a month, meaning each day's labor is worth barely 30 yuan. What's the point of studying law in this country? You might as well shut down the law schools. Law students are treated like garbage. Xu Zhen, a capital markets expert, told overseas Chinese media that this wave of young people refusing to pay is nothing short of a rebellion, a brutal awakening to reality. Xu Zhen said, young people no longer believe the CCP system will secure their future. They just want to survive today. Song Tao, a U.S.-based law PhD, added, high-ranking CCP officials pocket hundreds of thousands of yuan in pensions every month while the grassroots are squeezed dry. How can this not breed rage? He cited a shocking case. A party secretary of a high court in Shanghai lived in an ICU for years, burning through tens of millions of yuan in social security funds. When the scandal broke, public anger exploded. The bottom line is clear. More and more Chinese have completely lost faith. They are done feeding a corrupt system that betrays them. As the U.S.-China tariff war drags on, bankruptcies, layoffs, and unemployment sweep across China. Finding a job is now a brutal fight for survival. Man, it's hard. It's brutally hard to even find daily wage jobs now. Openings are few. Good luck finding one that pays daily. This year is hell. Woman, you have to be thin just to work as a cleaner now. If you're not the right look, they won't even let you mop floors. I'm crushed. The more I think about it, the sadder I get. Woman, how do you find a job? I was unemployed, came to Hangzhou to find work, and struggled for a month. When I finally found a job, after 25 days I realized I didn't fit in. I felt useless. I was so anxious I thought I would starve to death. Why are others rich while survival itself feels like a luxury to me? I just want to live with dignity. Woman, factories have vanished from Ningbo, Shanghai, Jiangsu. It feels like the whole job market has been frozen. I'm now heading to the train station, looking for hope in another city. Xiao Li, who works at a labor agency in Wuhu, Anhui, spoke bluntly. Factories are collapsing left and right. Many have shut down. Workers can't make money anymore. Even basic consumption is falling. Wuhu City once had over 2,000 industrial companies. BYD, Sherry Automobile, Conch Cement among them. But after three years of brutal epidemic lockdowns and the battering of the U.S.-China trade war, China's exports to the U.S. have plunged. Bankruptcy is everywhere. Earlier this month, a factory owner posted a chilling video. Man, work has stopped. Friends, you asked if U.S. tariffs would affect us. Well, 90% of our business is U.S. exports. As of yesterday, tariffs surged to 125%. The result? Total production shut down. Even OEM customers ordered us to stop. We had to haul back goods from the ports. The losses? Beyond calculation.