Good Riddance, Ben Stein
Ginormous money losing tool Ben Stein finally got shit canned by the New York Times.
Too bad it wasn’t for being the “world’s worst financial columnist.”
The commentary he produced at the Times was amongst the most irresponsible, poorly researched, and just goddammed wrong stuff ever to grace the business pages of the Grey Lady.
As I previously whined 18 months ago, “we’ve reached the point where Stein’s commentary has become detached from reality, so ridiculously fabricated, that it can no longer be read. Indeed, its become so absurd that not only have I decided to skip reading him, I am immediately making the public commitment to stop commenting on his Tom Foolery.”
The low point of Ben Steinery was his August 12 2007, column, Chicken Little’s Brethren, on the Trading Floor. Stein made the absurd argument that because sub-prime was so tiny relative to the US Economy, it was meaningless. Those who followed his advice lost millions.
It is actually kinda sad that rather being being expelled for being a really bad commentator, he was tossed out for being a shameless shill for a sleazy outfit.
Right result, wrong reason.
>
Previously:
Farewell To Ben Stein (January 29th, 2008)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/01/farewell-to-ben-stein/
Sources:
Pitchman Ben Stein Gets Economist Ben Stein Fired at the New York Times
Ryan Tate
Gawker, 5:56 PM Aug 6 2009
http://gawker.com/5331835/pitchman-ben-stein-gets-economist-ben-stein-fired-at-the-new-york-times
Ben Stein finally Expelled from NY Times
Felix Salmon, August 7th, 2009
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/08/07/ben-stein-finally-expelled-from-ny-times/
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August 7th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Long overdue.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Y’know, I can honestly think of about 30 other things to get my shorts in a knot over besides Stein’s poor economic analysis, BR.
So Ben was wrong. Did I miss something, or was he flying solo on that one…?
Robert Prechter, God bless ‘im, was wrong, too…and for about six years. Until he was right. Until he was wrong again…etc…ad infinitum.
Differences of opinion make a horse race…and markets run.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
As a shill, maybe he can pickup the Billy Mays mantle:
“Hi, Benny Stein here for Oxy-Clean…”
August 7th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
At least Stein backs his economics wisdom up with his scientific beliefs…
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/expelled_no_intelligence_allowed
Maybe the Creationist Museum will hire him to ride around on their mechanical dinosaurs from 8000 years ago.
Ahh… probably not – http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=76911&catid=35
August 7th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Just as bad as Stein were the editors at the New York Times who labelled him an “economist” in his tagline. Uhhn…the guy had a B.A. in economics—just like ten million other college grad who aren’t sure what to study do.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Its only fitting that I post Stein’s latest article from Yahoo.com where he still writes about 2x/month..I have to admit, its a pretty good article by him…
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/181560
So, what do we have right now? A banking sector looking out entirely for itself, bailed out by all of us, at wild expense, and not lifting a finger to help end the mortgage and housing crises. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner was recently quoted as saying that for all of the taxpayers’ blood, we now had a functioning banking sector again.
Yes, indeed. But functioning for whom?
August 7th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
OK Ben’s a paid puppet, just like another puppet I know. One use to have a funny TV show the other has the strings on the country’s/world’s economy. So should we be so hard on Ben the former?
August 7th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Absolutely!! One shill bites the dust but we have several more waiting in the wings to take his place.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Dude’s whole career was based on looking and sounding like an egghead.
This man is far more credible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw
August 7th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
investorinpa Says-
“Yes, indeed. But functioning for whom?”
the heavy hitters at the banks rolled the Obama administration and got exactly what they wanted- taxpayer bailouts, zero rates, FDIC insured bond issuance, play money to pump the stock markets-
all that- for sending the economy over the cliff-
also re Stein-
he does a voice over on a cartoon my daughter use to watch- can’t pull the name at the moment
August 7th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Gratuitous Friday night video link!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuDP7c3Zd8I
I sent her every type of flower
Played the guitar by the hour
I petted her revolting little chihuahua
But even then she just said that she didn’t want to
August 7th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
MA -
i had not seen the professor in many years
forgot about him, funny guy
“what was the question”?
August 7th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Ben lost me after he starred in the “Peter Schiff was right” video. A classic.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
One down about 50 more to go.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
…since no linkfest provided….i got two, one for thought, one for pleasure
“Lying about Lies”
http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/seven-lies-about-lying-part-2/
there is a link to part one
Miles…So What……….sweeeeet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4TbrgIdm0E
August 7th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
@wes. Interesting piece. Long.
I have resisted forever, not being a particularly religious person, mentioning a biblical quote that gnaws at our situation.
“and Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple”
Is that what we are back to?
I am reminded that supposedly Islam, at least used to, consider charging interest a sin. Still true?
And the Great Solon solved economic problems by eliminating interest. At least temporarily.
So we all now bow down to the temple of the TBTF financial community. Financial services are more than 40% of GDP. So that’s what we’ve come to. We’re all moneychangers.
BananAmerica.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Here’s a musical tribute to John Hughes. Not exactly jazz. Will search around some more.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/playlists/4579F10000F17945000100F17945/mgid:playlist:video:mtvmusic.com:10717/
August 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Here’s one a little softer and gentle. Still looking.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/stone_angie/videos/213586/sometimes.jhtml
August 7th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Let’s try this one. One more to go.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/seger_bob/videos/102734/wait_for_me.jhtml
August 7th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Here’s a good one. Listen to the lyrics.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/sade/videos/9886/by_your_side.jhtml
August 7th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Don’t worry, Ben. You’ll never get fired from your Saturday morning Fox News gig. As long as you spout the right wing crap, there is no accountability at Fox for your actual track record. If there were, would you still be a guest on Cavuto?
I’ll always have fond memories of your film career, though……”Bueller?……Bueller?…”
August 7th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
@stillaway:
I was SHOCKED that cocaine was involved in Billy Mays’s death.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
fat Tony:
Since you mentioned Peter Schiff, his most recent posting has a remedy for the US fiscal policymakers…do the George Costanza approach…do exactly the complete opposite of whatever policy it is they are trying to implement!
http://news.goldseek.com/EuroCapital/1249671473.php
August 7th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
now I remember- it was the Fairly Odd Parents- my daughter loved that show- and Ben Stein was the head Pixie-
kind of a rival gang sort of thing- pixies vs fairies-
not that his economic advice isn’t top notch
August 7th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
With all the talented people out there… how did they pick him? They gave him a platform because….?
Please, someone tell me, why was he there? Ben Stein was the male nipples of the New York Times.
August 8th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Now starring in Ben Stein’s Day Off.
August 8th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Speaking again of Schiff:
Will we be calling him senator Schiff pretty soon?
http://www.schiffforsenate.com/
August 8th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Fine, now I’m with you guys – let’s make a list of all the idiot analysts and “expert commentators”. Seriously. Have the list as a “tool” on the side of TBP, with links to their idiotic commentary, and we can cross them out as they fall. Who cares if the list is 1,000 deep…
August 8th, 2009 at 6:59 am
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57706N20090808?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
Geithner asks Congress for higher U.S. debt limit
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally requested that Congress raise the $12.1 trillion statutory debt limit on Friday, saying that it could be breached as early as mid-October…..
….I am terribly sorry…my prediction was that we’d have a thirteen trillion dollar debt by the end of the year…this story makes me think I wasn’t giving Timmmaaayyyyy enough credit…14??
(By the way, I got the Timmmmaayyyy from the ESPN boys, Mike and Mike in the early am show…..when they bring one of their baseball analysts named Tim on….)
August 8th, 2009 at 7:08 am
“Congress has never failed to raise the debt limit when necessary. Because members of both parties have long recognized the need to keep politics away from this issue, these actions have traditionally received bipartisan support,” he wrote. “This is clearly a moment in our history that calls for continuation of that tradition.”
…I’ll ask my children if they agree with this line of thinking and get back to you….
B in T
August 8th, 2009 at 9:05 am
The NYT needed a convenient excuse to can him, they don’t have the balls to stomp on a beloved member of the ruling class. It’s just not in thier bones.
I’ll miss Stein’s gratuitous name-dropping and his tiresome references to his beloved Yale. Oola boola, baby!
August 8th, 2009 at 10:32 am
@Bruce: “Timmmmaayyyy”
That originated from the TV series, South Park. They just copy it on ESPN.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:48 am
B in T
to follow up on matt’s observation- “Timmmmmaayyyy” definitely comes from South Park-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xswRGUZrrG8&feature=related
August 8th, 2009 at 11:45 am
It is actually kinda sad that rather being being expelled for being a really bad commentator, he was tossed out for being a shameless shill for a sleazy outfit.
Right result, wrong reason.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And a good reason for not paying for their content. I want to love the NY Times, but Judith Miller/NYTimes/Iraq War memories stop me from doing it. I don’t trust them to give me the truth and I don’t want to pay for PR disguised as “news”. Your point regarding the reasons for Stein’s expulsion proves the point, they still don’t get it.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
>> want to love the NY Times, but Judith Miller/NYTimes/Iraq War memories stop me from doing it.
HA! I wrote “Judith Miller & Ben Stein — need I say more?” on their subscription offer and returned it to them in their own SASE.
Pfthth.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] Good Riddance, Ben Stein: Ginormous money losing tool Ben Stein finally got s— canned by the New York Times. [...]
August 8th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I think they would have given him a choice if they thought his commentary was superb.
I wonder if Felix Salmon and BR contributed in any way?
August 8th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
>> Who cares if the list is 1,000 deep…
And it should be. And that’s fine, because there are 1,000′s of other people better qualified to take their jobs.
We shouldn’t can the “shit list” idea just because it gets really, really long.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
[...] The Big Picture business blog, a post titled “Good riddance Ben Stein” [...]
August 9th, 2009 at 7:27 am
[...] Ritholtz won’t be missing Ben Stein. (TBP) [...]
August 9th, 2009 at 7:57 am
guys, why is kudlow untouchable while ben now gets the boot ??
August 9th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I agree that Ben Stein has overstayed his position at The New York Times. Let him continue to do commercials and other activities to keep himself busy. However, Ritholtz should remember to use standard English. Use of such slang as “shit canned” demeans the language.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
[...] • Good Riddance, Ben Stein [...]
August 10th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@plwanger
Disagree with your comment that it demeans the language. George Carlin said a long time ago that there’s no such thing as “bad words”. Many of us come here to read Barry’s take on things…frequently stated using the vernacular.
“Ginormous money losing tool Ben Stein finally got shit canned by the New York Times.”
That’s a topic sentence for the ages. One sentence that makes it clear what the article is about. It should be taught as an example in writing classes.
August 10th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
“My” problem with “shit canned’ is that it’s really one word — shitcanned.
August 10th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Ben Stein was an economist? I thought he just played one in Ferris Bueller.
But a BA, doesn’ that mean descriptive econ?
August 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
They probably told him to take his gym shoes and beat it!
August 11th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
[...] and, until last week, the New York Times to destroy middle-class portfolios. As Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture eloquently said, “The commentary he [Stein] produced at the Times was amongst … Is it any wonder these media outlets are losing market share as fast as record [...]