For a World That Needs It So Badly

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Even the casual observer of news must realize that the world is shifting at its core, that the future may very well be much different than the world we live in today.

The uprising in Tunisia and Egypt are just two examples of people desiring to be free of oppressive governments. In places like Tunisia and Egypt, the oppression is obvious. In other cases, such as the United States, the government moves may be a bit more slick, but the edge to the banksters and other power elite is becoming more obvious. In the U.S. this has spawned the Tea Party and others suspicious of ever-expanding government.

My chief complaint with these anti-regime movements has been that there seems to be no clear understanding of what the current regimes should be replaced with. The average man seems to have little understanding of the importance of free markets and its importance in creating a prosperous society.

In his new book, Rollback: Repealing Big Government Before the Coming Fiscal Collapse, Thomas E. Woods, Jr. addresses my complaint. Aimed primarily at a United States audience, the book brilliantly weaves facts with theories to explain why the United States is in the financial mess it is in today and the way out of the financial mess.

The book is remarkably detailed with the important facts. I am certainly not one who is not unfamiliar with the facts surrounding the financial crisis, yet, time after time, I found myself saying as I read Woods’ book, "I didn’t know that." Finally, I had repeated "I didn’t know that" to myself so many times that I looked up to see what page of the book I was on. It was page 14. If the book had only contained the new facts I had learned in the first 14 pages, I would have been satisfied with the book, but the book goes much deeper.

Woods carefully dissects the fiscal crisis facing the United States. He explains the problems with Social Security and Medicare. But, he does so in a manner, and with the facts, that I have not ever seen done before. For those who are advocates of freedom, reading this book will sharpen their understanding and mastery of the subject ten-fold. The case for free markets is argued so well that it may find some converts among the open minded anti-free market types (and even, perhaps, among some of the not so open minded).

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2011 Economic Policy Journal