Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
Lectures on Frugality from Ben Stein
Ben Stein is back, telling people that it is important to save money in order to protect themselves against the sort of downturn that the economy is now seeing. While few would argue with the view that people should try to put some money aside, most people get paid less than Mr. Stein and do much better work.
Does anyone remember back in July when Stein told readers "we're dodging the worst?" How about the great piece from a bit over a year ago telling us about the "Chicken Littles" who were getting so worried over the problems in the subprime mortgage market.
Yeah, it's a good idea for people to save money, but most people have to work for a living. They have to perform on their jobs. The dishwashers can't break the dishes day after day and still have a job. The cab drivers can't get into accidents day after day and still be allowed to drive a cab.
It is only people like Ben Stein who have the right to completely mess up on their job all the time and still collect a paycheck, and indeed, a paycheck that is far higher than that received by the vast majority of people who actually do their job. It is a bit hard to see someone like this lecturing people who work for a living on the virtues of saving.
--Dean Baker
COMMENTS (12)
Good article. The guy is not alone in the club of those who lecture and/or others money.
Most of the money management industry is doing that, and lose people money.
Some laughter in middle of economic and stock market madness, and as related to people such as Stein are blow. Details below:
http://marketwarnings.blogspot.com/2008/10/laughter-in-middle-of-stock-market.html
http://www.thelogicgirl.com/2008/10/humor-global-financial-crisis.html
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2008 1:42 AM
I had another problem with Stein's musings where he recommends a Mellonist policy but then blames the crisis on the Mellonist act of letting Lehman Brothers fail:
econospeak.blogspot.com/2008/10/ben-stein-on-financial-crisis-liquidity.html
Posted by: pgl | October 27, 2008 5:30 AM
"It is only people like Ben Stein who have the right to completely mess up on their job all the time"
That depends on what his job is.
I think his job is to spout useless propaganda drivel to keep the peasants quiet while the oligarchs go on looting.
People like him have performed well on their job so far, although that didn't require much effort given the gullibility of the target audience.
Posted by: The golden age of burlesque | October 27, 2008 5:41 AM
Jesus saves. But the rest of us spend it all on food and rent.
Posted by: praxis | October 27, 2008 9:11 AM
It's one thing to be wrong, but to be so arrogant in the process of being wrong is another story. Objectively speaking, why would anyone bother to pay attention to anything this guy writes in the future, no matter how cocksure he is ?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2008 10:01 AM
Dean,
He doesn't even pretend (with any degree of credibility) to be an economist.
Everyone who hears him speak for the second time knows that he is GOP spin meister.
Ben replies upon listeners having a short memory as do all other spin meisters.
Posted by: Ron Alley | October 27, 2008 10:17 AM
What are Ben Stein's credentials? I was under the impression he was an actor. I know he looks like a professor, but I am unclear as to his education and why he is considered an expert. He was introduced on a talk show as an "economist" which to me means a person who is employed as an economist or works on his own but has a PhD in the area. I looked up Ben Stein's background, but did not find anything one way or another.
Posted by: Shaun Snapp | October 27, 2008 11:14 AM
From his early days as the host on TV's most idiotic "game show", "Win Ben Stein's Money", with co-buffoon, Jimmy Kimmel, to his tenure as a financial expert with a weekly New York Times column to his recent, half-assed movie pitching Creationism, Ben Stein has been nothing but an embarassment--and not the least to the memory of his deceased father, real-economist Herbert Stein. Why the Times continues to publish his idiocies is baffling.
Posted by: Mike Berla | October 27, 2008 11:51 AM
I've been whining about this kind of drivel for awhile now. Most people don't make enough to save much money even in the best of circumstances. Ben Stein makes enough money so that much of what he makes can go into savings. He's not saving money by not buying a coffee or cutting off his cable or giving up his cell phone.
And I guess Ben Stein can claim to be an economist if anyone with an undergraduate degree in economics can claim to be an economist. What it really means though is that if I were a more attractive person, I could go on TV as an historian.
Posted by: PeonInChief | October 27, 2008 11:58 AM
I thought saving was bad in a recession.
I guess it can't be helped that people are going to start saving what they can when the economy looks bleak even though such activities tend to make things worse. That's why the government should spend for people and businesses when they are reluctant to do so. I wonder what ol' Steiny would say about that.
Posted by: Jack | October 29, 2008 6:56 PM
There you liberal socialists go again, jealous because somebody makes more money than you, and scared because people are revealing the science fiction of evolution. I'm sure Mr. Dean has never made a mistake in his career. YA RIGHT.
Posted by: Jo | November 18, 2008 1:16 AM
I remember watching some investment show a few years ago with Peter Schiff and Ben Stein on it. Stein was saying the financial stocks were dirt cheap and it would be crazy not to buy into them. Schiff said financials were toxic and "a must to avoid." Stein pretty much laughed at Schiff and his advice. I know who is laughing today. What we are seeing is supply-side economics' finally act. People wanted to believe Art Laffer and his whacked out theory. It has all been false prosperity for the last 30 years. Reality always wins. Republicans never should have ignored the demand-side of the S=D equation. Where we fall now is anybody's guess.
Posted by: Bo | November 20, 2008 10:46 PM