When I began teaching economics to college students in the 1980’s, I chose to concentrate on the core ideas in the discipline. I found many textbooks attempt to explain those core ideas with detailed expositions of supporting concepts. Occasionally students bog down in the supporting ideas and lose track of the central themes. Most students benefit from a pared down approach; they can grasp the central ideas and how those ideas interact. I am a retired Professor of Economics at City College of San Francisco; my research focuses on national economic policies and is readily available www.miepa.net or, more work is at econoak.org.