John Attarian

John Attarian, economist and journalist, and one of the leading experts on the history and economics of Social Security, died suddenly, December 31, 2004, at the age of 48. He was born November 25, 1956, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Economics in 1985. He worked as an independent writer, author, and novelist. His book Social Security: False Consciousness and Crisis (Transaction, 2003) is the most comprehensive treatment on the subject to appear yet, and makes a strong case against the program and against attempts to employ the language of privatization in an attempt to shore up it up.

Articles

Roots of the Social Security Myth

05/28/2009 Essays in Political Economy John Attarian

This is a concise critical history of the federal program of Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI), popularly known as Social Security. It focuses on a crucial but under-examined aspect...

Another Greenspan Social-Security Reform?

03/04/2003 Mises Daily John Attarian

Almost exactly ten years ago, a National Commission on Social Security Reform headed by Greenspan proposed a package of benefit cuts and tax increases, which Congress enacted with little change, and which turned out to be one of the most oppressive—and underhanded—things Congress ever did to younger Americans over Social Security. It also failed to solve Social Security’s long-term problems.

Publications

The Roots of the Social Security Myth

06/01/2001 John Attarian

John Attarian shows that the Social Security program is not an insurance program at all but rather a pure transfer scam designed to make the elderly dependent on the tax take from younger workers. In a particular controversial section, the author

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member