John Attarian, RIP

I just learned that John Attarian, an economist, writer, and Reason contributor who did not hesitate to tell the unvarnished truth to allies as well as opponents, died on December 31. Attarian, whose interests included taxes, education, and entitlement programs, was known for plainspoken articles that punctured economic fallacies and revealed public policy flimflammery. A good example is his 1996 Reason article about Social Security reform, even more timely now than it was then. "Given Social Security's importance in our national life and in the retirement calculations of millions, and the pain that its bankruptcy would inflict, the temptation to escape into utopian quackery is enormous," he wrote. "For the sake of all concerned, it must be resisted, lest we embrace some clever but unsound scheme promising Americans their fantasy: a painless ending in which no hard choices are made, no one gives up anything, and everybody is happy."

Comments

[The Wine Commonsewer]

He was great on Social Security. Some particularly great quotes like this one:

"The brutal truth is that Social Security's prospects are so bleak, and we have evaded reality for so long, that a cheap, painless solution is not possible. Beneficiary or taxpayer suffering is inevitable and necessary. Our first task here is to look reality in the face. That means admitting that you can't get something for nothing. It also means publicly demolishing the pernicious myths of Social Security, which still grip the minds of millions... One doesn't get what one paid in; benefits are not an "earned right"; Social Security isn't retirement insurance. We have to face the immorality of Social Security, too. It is wrong to force people to support others. It is wrong, an odious abuse of trust and breach of faith, to lie to young and old about what is going on. And a system grounded in coercion, deceit, and dishonor does not deserve to survive. We must abandon the delusional entitlement mentality itself. There is no entitlement to comfortable retirement. Asserting that one exists doesn't make it true. The only guarantee in life is death."

John Attarian

[jc]

On the bright side it's one less person we'll have to pay SS benefits to, thus increasing its solvency.

[joe]

Simply asserting that taxation is theft doesn't make that true either.

[Patriot]

I think that the fact that taxation IS theft takes care of that joe.

[TWC]

"Simply asserting that taxation is theft doesn't make that true either"

Oh absolutely not, it is a completely different thing when a government takes your money without your permission and offers to protect you from it's rivals than it is, say, if the mafia takes your money without your permission and offers to protect you from it's rivals.

[Stevo Darkly]

Oh, but TWC, that's different. See, in a democracy, you get to choose (directly or indirectly or very, very, very indirectly) the government decision-makers who take your money. But you don't get to choose the mafia decision-makers who take your money.

(And of course the question as to whether there should be any decision-makers other than yourself who are entitled to take your money in the first place, whether you agree or not, is hereby deftly evaded. As is the fact that your ability to "choose" many government decision-makers is at least as indirect as your ability to "choose" your mafia decision-makers by, for example, selecting the neighborhood you live in.

[NoStar]

Stevo, You can always invite a competing crime family to provide your protection. Go ahead, make em an offer they can't refuse.