BOOK REVIEW, Rollback, 2-2011

Woods, Thomas E., Jr.
ROLLBACK: REPEALING BIG GOVERNMENT BEFORE THE COMING COLLAPSE.
Regnery Publishing ( 188 pp. )
$27.95
2/7/2011.
ISBN 978-1-59698-141-6
Published Midwest Book Review (Reviewers Bookwatch, 3/2011, Joanne's Bookshelf)
and The Livingston County News 3/3/2011.

What an indictment of big government. Woods, author of Meltdown, Nullification, and 9 other books, a graduate of Harvard and Columbia, says in his new book: The confidence (in government) “is about to be severely shaken….as the federal government is forced to renege on its impossible promises.” [1]
Despite some slight signs the recession is ameliorating, Woods maintains our track record is inevitably leading us toward disaster. Citing our debt not as $14 trillion, but rather $111 trillion with Social Security and Medicare programs, the “full future expense…exceeds the total net worth of the U. S. economy. That…the U. S is bankrupt.”[6] A Democrat economist, Lawrence Kotlikoff “…estimates the fiscal gap at an astonishing $200 trillion.”[7] Woods says the Republican proposal to cut $100 billion from the federal budget is “like taking three dollars off a trip to the moon.”[6] If we do nothing, “It will all come to an end in a very nasty manner. The first possibility will be massive benefit cuts for baby boomer retirees. Second will be astronomic tax increases, and third will be government’s printing vast quantities of money to cover its bills.”[8]

Nothing is sacrosanct here. The author cites waste, fraud, and inefficiency almost every place: the states; cities; entitlement programs; government agencies, including defense, education, subsidy programs, health care programs; ad infinitum. Nearly every endeavor has been poisoned by government interference that has always backfired on those thinking government will solve their problems.
He hopes “The institutions of civil society, long dormant, (will) be resurrected.”[187] Caring for our families, helping friends and neighbors in need, volunteering to help those falling between the cracks, and creating a clearinghouse or exchange to share our skills and talents with those in need and with each other would help the U. S. survive. “It is the choice facing America.”[188] He includes thirty pages of footnotes from both right and left perspectives to substantiate his evidence. It should be required reading for politicians and citizens alike.
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