Ben Stein Speaks

[Shogun]

As opposed to your stellar career on these forums.

Keep it up Hol(l)ywood...

My "Career" on these forums? Wait, can you hold please? I've got Kathy Griffin's opinion on the economy and that guy who played cop#3 in Die Hard ready to post his theses on Global Trade. SURELY you CARE!

You are attempting sarcasm - badly.

Keep up the effort though - you might one day be a D-List poster...

YOU might think so given the target of my sarcasm on your back but, hey, we can... oh, can you hold, please? Eric Estrada just IM'ed me that his dissertation on the Electoral College is ready for publication. hot DAMN it's a busy day for D-list opinions!

 

[Sinatra]

My "Career" on these forums? Wait, can you hold please? I've got Kathy Griffin's opinion on the economy and that guy who played cop#3 in Die Hard ready to post his theses on Global Trade. SURELY you CARE!

You are attempting sarcasm - badly.

Keep up the effort though - you might one day be a D-List poster...

YOU might think so given the target of my sarcasm on your back but, hey, we can... oh, can you hold, please? Eric Estrada just IM'ed me that his dissertation on the Electoral College is ready for publication. hot DAMN it's a busy day for D-list opinions!

Estrada worked for the president of the United States? Really?

Nice to see that Chips gig work itself out into something bigger and better...

 

[Shogun]

You are attempting sarcasm - badly.

Keep up the effort though - you might one day be a D-List poster...

YOU might think so given the target of my sarcasm on your back but, hey, we can... oh, can you hold, please? Eric Estrada just IM'ed me that his dissertation on the Electoral College is ready for publication. hot DAMN it's a busy day for D-list opinions!

Estrada worked for the president of the United States? Really?

Nice to see that Chips gig work itself out into something bigger and better...

Perhaps you'd have been better served getting your advice from Miss Cleo! After all, speech writing for Nixon sure does say a lot given how THAT turned out too!



Financial Advice Prior to 2008 Stock Market Crash

On March 18, 2007, in a column for CBS News' online version of CBS News Sunday Morning, Stein famously proclaimed in the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis that the foreclosure problem would "blow over and the people who buy now, in due time, will be glad they did," the economy was "still very strong," and the "smart money" was "now trying to buy — not sell — as much distressed merchandise" in mortgages as possible.[20]

On August 18, 2007, on Fox News Channel's Cavuto on Business, Stein appeared with other financial experts dismissing worries of a coming credit crunch[21]. The lone dissenter was Peter Schiff, who predicted that the mortgage sector would create a crisis leading to massive recession, a view that produced laughter from the other experts. Stein strongly recommended investing in then-troubled financial institutions[21].

Ben Stein: The credit crunch is way overblown. The [financial institutions] are being given away; they're so unbelievably cheap...The subprime problem is a problem, but it's a tiny problem in the context of this economy...It's a buying opportunity, especially for the financials, maybe like I've never seen before in my entire life.

[...]

Peter Schiff: This is just getting started. It's not just subprimes. This is a problem for the entire mortgage industry. It's not just people with bad credit that committed to mortgages they couldn't afford. It's not just people with bad credit who are going to see their home equity vanish... This is going to be an enormous credit crunch...

Neil Cavuto: You must be a laugh-riot at parties.

(LAUGHTER)

[...]

Ben Stein: ...subprime is tiny. Subprime is a tiny, tiny blip.

Peter Schiff: It's not tiny. And again, it's not just subprime. It's the entire mortgage market.

Ben Stein: You're simply wrong about that... Defaults for the whole mortgage market are tiny.

[...]

Ben Stein: I think stocks will be a heck of a lot higher a year from now than they are now.

A year and a month later, in the Global Financial Crisis of September 2008, global stock markets crashed, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the US government, AIG was bailed out by the Federal Reserve, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America Corporation, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs confirmed that they would become traditional bank holding companies.

Ben Stein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Sinatra]

The fact Stein incorrectly gauged the state of the economy puts him alongside interesting company - namely Obama and Biden.

In addition to being a member of two Presidential staffs - Nixon and Ford, Stein holds a degree in economics as well as a law degree from Yale, was a professor, author of several books, and continues writing columns for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc.

I am quite certain Stein's credentials far exceed your own - including the realm of sarcasm.

You keep it up though kid - I like your determination to convince others you are not a complete dolt...

 

[Shogun]

The fact Stein incorrectly gauged the state of the economy puts him alongside interesting company - namely Obama and Biden.

In addition to being a member of two Presidential staffs - Nixon and Ford, Stein holds a degree in economics as well as a law degree from Yale, was a professor, author of several books, and continues writing columns for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc.

I am quite certain Stein's credentials far exceed your own - including the realm of sarcasm.

You keep it up though kid - I like your determination to convince others you are not a complete dolt...

hero worship doesn't produce inciteful commentary, holmes. OBVIOUSLY. And, shocker I know, even degreed people can be wrong and irrelevant. Just because you seem to think he is the smartest thing since solomon doesn't mean that he is... by evidence of his own testimony. here AND then. so, put that in your pi... hole on a minute.. i'm getting a call from the guy who played Booger in Revenge of the Nerds...He's got an opinion about legalizing marijuana but all I can hear is something about Wonder Joints.. Can you hold, please?