Economics 101

The fundamental truth about politics is that it is always driven by fear. The poor have nothing to lose, hence, no fear (unless somebody tells them they’re having their God taken away from them, as we see happening.) The middle class is driven by fear, but unwilling to act decisively because they’re afraid of falling….
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Always a brother.

My brother,  Mark T. Hoops, died on February 21 of this year (2015) after a six month sentence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.  I miss him.  Everyone who knew him misses him, but most of all, his wife, his son, and his daughter feel the loss.  And, in a much different way, my brother Brian and…
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[Publisher’s Letter] | By John R. MacArthur

[Publisher’s Letter] | By John R. MacArthur.     When I began my tenure as publisher of Harper’s Magazine nearly thirty years ago, my biggest challenge — or so I thought at the time — was to get advertising agencies to pay more attention to the celebrated journal of American ideas and literature entrusted to my care. Harper’s had tens…
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Stick to the Core.

Since I wrote this (five months ago as of this writing) more arguments have been added to the four I here enumerate.   The opposition is metastasizing, grabbing headlines like nobody could have predicted in December.  I will include those new arguments — and my counter-arguments — in red.   There are four main arguments against the…
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New York City.

the starlings and the pigeons in city hall park the traffic coming off the brooklyn bridge then into the subway and under the river a transfer later and up into the brooklyn air walking for no purpose on 8th avenue staring at passing fences then it’s william gaynor’s house but somebody’s removed the stoop nothing…
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2014.

It’s always fascinating to look to the new year. All we can do is guess what’s going to happen. Will we be okay? Will all our loved ones be okay? What’s the worst thing that will happen?  Every year has its ups and downs. Not many are as bad as 1941, 1963, 1968, and 2001. All…
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