Ben Stein

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Stein's economic predictions have recently inspired a phrase of comical derision, [[Ben Steinery]].
 
Stein's economic predictions have recently inspired a phrase of comical derision, [[Ben Steinery]].
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On the other hand, sometimes he will take a moral stand for a legitimate moral issue. In many of his recent appearances on Fox Noise he has strongly advocated raising taxes on the Rich, usually to be yelled at by his "interviewer".<ref>[http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/11/16/ben-stein-asks-foxs-gutfeld-we-need-to-raise-ta/191443 For Example}</ref> This is probably an excellent case of The Broken Clock Effect.
  
 
He occasionally gives opinion pieces on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''.
 
He occasionally gives opinion pieces on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''.

Revision as of 19:59, 17 November 2012

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller...
Ben Stein (initials: BS) was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and used the expertise he built in writing their boring, droning, monotone speeches to do a hilarious send-up of a teacher giving an economics lecture about the Laffer Curve in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He was also the author of the novel Ludes, which may explain his speaking style. Moving right along he had a game show where you could win his money, $5,000 of it, by defeating him in a trivia contest. To his credit, he usually (but not always) won. According to evangelicals, his ass is going to burn in hell because he is a Jew, even if he did star in Expelled.

Not much of importance has been heard from him of late; he has lost all respect of freethinkers after his involvement in the pseudoscience film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Stein is the archetypal neoconservative; he is a Republican,[1] a free marketer (he was a fan of free market proponent Milton Friedman[2]), and Zionist.[3]

At the same time, however, he does hold some unorthodox views: he's a big fan of the progressive income tax and the capital gains tax. He was also aghast at the way Larry Craig was shunned after his incident in the bathroom, saying that Craig's sexuality was no one's business but his own.

Stein has degrees in economics (Columbia U., 1966) and law (Yale, 1970). He was valedictorian of his law school class at Yale. He has been a non-tenured professor of law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and writes a weekly column in the New York Times.

His opinion of scientists science is as follows[4]:

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.
Crouch: That’s right.
Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
Crouch: Good word, good word.

About his old boss he said:

I'm not much of a believer in conspiracy theories. I've seen up close and personal how wrong they were in the case of my old boss, Richard M. Nixon. He was not a criminal mastermind. He was not paying attention to a bunch of juvenile delinquent aides and they did him dirt. It was a case of an absent minded father, not a KGB plot.
The Stockmasters.com August 8, '08

Stein's economic predictions have recently inspired a phrase of comical derision, Ben Steinery.

On the other hand, sometimes he will take a moral stand for a legitimate moral issue. In many of his recent appearances on Fox Noise he has strongly advocated raising taxes on the Rich, usually to be yelled at by his "interviewer".[5] This is probably an excellent case of The Broken Clock Effect.

He occasionally gives opinion pieces on CBS News Sunday Morning.

See also

Footnotes

  1. "Why I am a Republican"[1], a column he wrote for The American Spectator.
  2. Ben Stein wrote a column for Time commemorating Friedman after he died[2].
  3. Witness his idea of foreign policy, which can be summed up as "Whatever's best for Israel![3]
  4. Science Equals Murder (article at National Review Online)
  5. [http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/11/16/ben-stein-asks-foxs-gutfeld-we-need-to-raise-ta/191443 For Example}
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