John Attarian
Related Freeman Articles
Article
Is Social Security Reform Paternalistic?
Under Some Proposals, Tax Payments Are Only the Beginning
JANUARY 01, 2004 by JOHN ATTARIAN
One great, and valid, complaint about Social Security is that it is paternalistic: it does things for the individual that he should do for himself. In so doing, it commits the twin transgressions of forcing some people to support others and making the beneficiaries the servile dependents of the state.
Article
Social Security: Mythmaking and Policymaking
The Government Program Is Robed in Myths
DECEMBER 01, 2003 by JOHN ATTARIAN
Beginning in 1935, when Social Security was enacted, the program's administrators made a huge effort to shape the public's understanding of and beliefs about it. In speeches, articles, pamphlets, and other mass-circulation literature, they described Social Security as "insurance" under which workers pay "contributions" or "premiums" to receive "guaranteed" benefits that, being "paid for," are theirs "as a matter of earned right," without any means test.1
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