Book Review: A Blueprint for Prosperity: Market-Based Alternatives to the Obama Blueprint for Change

I'm sure we can all agree that there is something seriously wrong with our economy. Robert Donovan agrees. I doubt very much that when I get to retirement age, there's going to be anything left in the social security system to pay out. The U.S. deficit is growing by leaps and bounds into the trillions and the Obama administration has no problem making it even larger.

The author feels that one of the problems with the current administration is their belief that it's the governments job to "take care of the people". It's the government's job to make sure people are free to earn the means to take care of themselves. I agree completely. The government needs to learn to live within its means just like we do.

A Blueprint for Prosperity takes a look at a variety of ways we can accomplish these goals and get this country back on track. It contains seven chapters and a total of 193 pages plus references. The book also contains an introduction and table of contents.

Chapter One offers suggestions on how politicians can get past partisan bickering. We need to come up with a better standard of reference than the current political parties for defining political issues. Robert Donovan offers in depth thoughts on how this can be accomplished.

In Chapter Two, he discusses balancing the federal budget.Throughout this chapter, Donovan discusses budgeting methods and the flaws in each of the approaches he defines. Donovan offers his suggestions for dealing with the deficit through receipt based budgeting. He also offers a blueprint to follow to get to this type of budgeting.

Chapter Three discusses alternative ways to generate income and offers thoughts on how to fix the current income tax system. This chapter is extensive and offers in depth research with facts and figures to back it up.

Chapter Four explains how Donovan thinks we can fix social security through the use of personal income and retirement accounts versus privatizing. He also discusses allowing workers to contribute pre-tax savings and feels that financial self-sufficiency is the key.

In Chapter Five, Donovan discusses how healthcare can be fixed. I admit this chapter had me hooked because I am so against Obama's socialized version. He gives us a brief history of how we got to where we are today and offers a blueprint to follow to find a more successful model than we have today.

Chapter Six discusses welfare which is probably one of the more controversial subjects in America today. He offers a number of valuable suggestions for making welfare work better which include personal responsibility, demonstration of sufficient need and a lifetime limit among other things.

Chapter Seven is a summary and brings the rest of the chapters together.

This is an amazing book. I don't feel I even scratched the surface of all the information it contains. I highly recommend you buy it, read it, read it again and think about it a lot.