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Loan Crisis, which cost taxpayers a boatload of money. My puzzlement over how Savings and Loan institutions had been allowed to run completely wild with their lending practices was so deep, that I frankly ran out of nouns and adjectives. The result was, if you’ll “pardon my French,” the following subhead: WHAT THE FUCK, HUH? I MEAN WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?! Yo PJ, This piece is a spot-on take on what does and does not pass for economic knowledge and thought — and most of my profs were as clueless about the subject, save one who made great take on “the invisible hand.” We’re about the same age and did most of the same things in college in the 70’s. I studied and completed an economics major (note the lower case) and a History major. Did the journalism dance in Jr HS as the editor of the paper and took courses in HS and college. Had a business going years before college and still running same today. There is so much government interference in economies as to be a perverted shell of what could be, but that’s for another talk. Keep them coming — I can shed a tear and laugh at the same time. Thanks for the cathartic moment. – JR in NJ P.J. O’Rourke Reply: Glad to provide a catharsis, JR... As long as it was Definition 2 In Webster’s (“the purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions”) and
Re: P.J. O’Rourke’s Updated Eat the Rich book PJ, Immense gratitude... I have been reading your material for so many years that it’s almost embarrassing to admit how long. It’s rare to find wisdom, humor, and good prose in one person. Heartfelt thanks. Keep it up, and live long. – Lane S. P.J. O’Rourke Reply: Lane, I’m not sure my family would agree with you about the wisdom... or the humor... or the good prose (especially when I’m mad at the kids or the dogs). But it’s not really the writer who matters most in the business of trying to get ideas across. What’s really rare is to find wisdom, humor, and the ability to tell good prose from the other stuff in one reader . So the heartfelt thanks go to you. Whether I’ve fully earned your praise, I’m not quite certain. But I’ll happily bank it in my ego account! A little coarse at times but best humor I have read or heard in or on current media. Thank you – Patricia S.
P.J. O’Rourke Reply: Thank you for the compliment, Patricia. And I humbly
apologize for the coarseness of my language. Resorting to obscenity is an admission on a writer’s part that “words fail me.” A smarter writer is able describe a situation or an event without injecting profanity. Often I’m not that smart. Years ago, I was writing about the (now nearly forgotten) 1980s Savings and
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July 2021
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