The American Spectator : The End of Wishful Thinking

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The End of Wishful Thinking

By Ben Stein on 7.19.10 @ 6:08AM

A special Recession Diary edition.

I am sixty-five now. I have lived through many recessions. The first one I remember clearly was in 1958 and the worst one, by far, until now, was the one in the late 1970s stretching into the early 1980s, when we had double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment simultaneously. That should have been impossible, but thanks to union Cost of Living Adjustment contracts and skyrocketing oil prices, it was indeed possible.

But the current recession, which really started with some very tense days in late 2007 and began in deadly earnest when Hank Paulson, possibly the most incompetent Treasury Secretary of all time, allowed Lehman Brothers to fail, has been the most upsetting for several reasons.

For one, it has hit the people closest to me the hardest. Until now, I never had a friend who was truly in financial extremis from a recession. When recessions happened, they happened to people in Ohio or Illinois or Michigan. Now, they have hit hard in California and in the law field where so many of my friends work and in Washington, D.C. (yes, even in D.C.) where I am from. I never had a friend lose his house until this recession and now I am sad to say I have many pals who have either lost their homes or are in process of losing their homes.

Next, because this recession hit employment so hard, but also hit home values so hard, many of my friends, who thought they were rolling in real estate equity, find themselves without work and also upside down on their homes, with lofty mortgages to pay, and no ability to sell their homes.

This is not happening to people in faraway places. This is happening to people very near me. Extremely near me.

Because the correction has hit hiring, real estate, and also stock prices so desperately hard, formerly upper middle class people find themselves very short of assets for retirement, owing more on their homes than the homes can fetch, and either jobless or underemployed. They are truly afraid on a scale I never expected to see.

In a word, I am seeing real desperation, which I have never seen before up close and personal. This is especially true of those facing retirement.

I see it even in the very tony neighborhoods where I hang out, like Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage and Malibu. Older people and even younger people are scared.

However, as the economist I am, I try to not only watch and wring my hands, but to draw lessons and rules from the experience. Here are a few of them:

1. People who bought guaranteed income in the form of annuities from insurance companies have been saved. As far as I am aware, no insurers have failed to make the guaranteed payments they were contracted to make. People who bought variable annuities with value floors and guaranteed incomes and inflation riders have been able to laugh at the economic tornadoes. There are many people who hate insurers, but for those who put their trust in insurance companies to guarantee their old age comfort, there has been security.

2. The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job. Again, there are powerful exceptions and I know some, but when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative. To assure that a worker is not one of them, he should learn how to work and how to get along — not always easy.

(This brings to mind an idea I have long had: that high schools and colleges should have a course on “how to get along” and “how to do a day’s work.” This would include showing up in clean clothes, smelling well, having had a good breakfast, dressed in a businesslike way, calling the other employees “sir” or “ma’am” and not talking back. This would include a teaching of the fact that the employee is not there for amusement, but to help the employer make money and to get a job done. It would include the idea that once you are at work, you are not at play. It is an idea whose time has come.)

Productive workers with real skills and real ability to get along are also sometimes unemployed, but they will be the last fired and the first hired.

3. Simple habits of prudence will almost save the day, even in a bad recession. People who have meaningful savings, insured retirement plans, diversification of assets, people who do not buy what they cannot afford, people who do not simply assume the money will materialize out of thin air for their next purchase, people who add and subtract and see life plain, these people rarely get in desperate trouble. It is amazing how old-fashioned habits of buying modestly and living within one’s means, and planning for bad times as well as good times, can get one through earth shaking events.

When men and women do not do this, their lives become horrible in bad times. In a recession like this, with unemployment high, home prices devilishly low, and stock prices falling, rising, then falling, lives can be turned upside down in a hurry if they have not been lived with at least a modicum of prudence.

I see this around me constantly. People in desperation (that word again!), women selling their bodies, men turning to drugs, families torn apart — all because they allowed themselves to be ruled by magical thinking that things would be all right because the wisher happened to wish that they be all right. I get letters and e-mails from friends of decades standing asking for money every single day. Their common denominator is that they lacked prudence and lived in a dream world. I pray that I am not as much like them as I often think I am.

This has been a recession that has hit wishful thinking very hard, and has rewarded prudence lavishly.

About the Author

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (407) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Appleby| 7.19.10 @ 7:11AM

I am slightly younger than you are, Ben, and you missed a major factor in unemployment that has nothing to do with work habits: age. I was unemployed for 2 months, and during that time I was interviewed mainly by people half my age who clearly viewed me first as an Old Lady. In one case the two young women who interviewed me (both from HR, not from my field of expertise) were visibly perplexed by my experiences and my university degree in English and History, even after I explained that University is education for living, not for making a living, and how it had assisted me throughout a varied and generally successful working lifetime.

I have survived many recessions including that one in the Seventies that was exacerbated by 79 million boomers graduating from university simultaneously, because I have good portable skills and because I show up on time, do my work, stay til its done, and follow company rules. I worked for the Education Board for a few years and recall someone from Industry speaking to us once who mentioned how many graduates burst into tears when they discovered they were required to work IN THE SUMMER. School and work have been so divorced from one another now that school has essentially become daycare.

Bob| 7.19.10 @ 11:25PM

I am 48 years old and have been fully employed since I graduated college in 1985 .. and I still burst into tears at the thought that I am required to work IN THE SUMMER.

Larry Siegel| 7.20.10 @ 3:05AM

I no longer have to work IN THE SUMMER. I saved a lot of money in my 30 years of work, and I am retired at the relatively youthful age of 56. THIS IS IN FACT POSSIBLE, on a middle to upper middle income. I live in the first house I ever bought. It is big enough. I have never bought a new car (in my middle-aged prosperity I have taken to buying them one year old). I don't have a wide screen TV. etc. etc. Keep reading Ben's column, you'll get the idea.

Brigitte| 7.21.10 @ 7:16PM

Well, aren't you superior?

Apparently, you've never had to try to "save" money when you only earn minimum wage. I'm very fortunate that I have never had to starve. I have always earned fair to middling income and married well. But most people don't. What the hell is wrong with you disgusting people that blame people for being poor. Maybe those other people didn't have your advantages. Not to mention, the scriptures (though Ben Stein wouldn't get it), says that if you show no mercy, you get none. You morons make me sick. And I think that Ben Stein is so repugnant that couldn't get laid in a whorehouse with $100 bills pinned all over him.

woody| 7.21.10 @ 8:48PM

Hi Brigitte: Perhaps you missed a few points in the article where the author suggested that people learn to get along and learn how to put in a full day for your employer. He made no mention of rich versus poor. Stay happy.

dmansini| 7.22.10 @ 4:06PM

STAY HAPPY????
no, he conveniently avoided rich V.S. poor. Although he insinuated that everyone should have "investments" and annuities and be properly invested.right- on minimum wage...
Thanks Brigitte.

Thank you Brigitte.

angee w| 8.2.10 @ 4:57AM

Have you ever tried to pay your bills on minimum wage? Investing's not gonna happen when you have to choose betweeen the rent or food

Frank Tavos| 7.22.10 @ 1:25PM

Nice little anti-semitic comment you slipped in there, Bigitte. You are a truly despicable person.

onionskin| 7.22.10 @ 1:49PM

I am not Jewish like I believe Frank to be. However, Brigitte, if you did make the comment with an anti Semitic mind, please know that the Jewish community nearly always votes democrat. Know why? They always are concerned for the poor and unfortunate. Also, they donate a lot of help in that direction.

I like the way you write Brigitte, especially your opening remark. Hey, nothing wrong with a writing talent. Try it, you might be surprised. If you write a blog on an interesting subject and locate it on a site which you maintain, Google will pay you 50 cents for every hit you get on that site provided you allow them to post some ads which they find suitable. No joke.

OD| 7.22.10 @ 3:38PM

Yea, the Democrats like the poor, but they like to give other peoples' money to them, not their own. Practice charity and mercy, but always with the other guy's money. That is the liberal Democrat way.

J. L. Tympanum| 7.22.10 @ 5:18PM

Go away, OD. You are not fit to be considered a human being.

scotchieguY| 7.22.10 @ 7:50PM

A liberal is someone who is generous w/ other people's money.

RiverKing| 7.22.10 @ 1:50PM

Anti-semitic? Really? I went back and read Brigitte's column again and, although I found a lot to dislike, I found nothing anit-semitic.

Erick| 7.24.10 @ 9:33AM

It was this comment:

"Not to mention, the scriptures (though Ben Stein wouldn't get it), says that if you show no mercy, you get none. "

Can't tell where the misunderstanding lies. One of the following: Brigette is unaware of Ben's defense of religion (lack of knowledge, but not anti-semitic); Brigette actually thinks scripture is "new testament" only (and it could, therefore, be construed as anti-semitic); or Frank thinks scripture is new testament only or thinks that Brigette thinks that, so therefore assumes the comment is anti-semitic. Hard to say.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 3:03PM

I thought Brigitte meant that Ben didn't get the scriptures. If so, his religious and ethnic background are not relevant.

Nice try, meaning-twisters who still don't get the scriptures.

Like, for example, "Love thy neighbor as thyself". I take this to mean something other than "Kick 'em while they're down, and then pretend you're practicing 'tough love'." If that's what we're doing, we're in for real trouble when the karma makes it back around.

David Luken| 7.25.10 @ 1:08PM

I'm sorry, Frank, but the anti-semitic comment to which you alluded went right over my head.

Baskerville| 7.22.10 @ 1:39PM

Whoa, Brigitte! Touched a nerve? I suggest that you go back & actually *read the article*.

Mark Schreiber| 7.22.10 @ 3:35PM

Yes, I have tried to save money while earning minimum wage. I was not successful. Therefore, I set out to improve my lot in life and succeeded. Sometimes I had one or two part-time jobs to survive or earn enough money for a major expense. In fact, I remember when working for MacDonalds was considered a great job. Now I see help wanted signs in almost every fast food place. Ben is right, the jobs are out there waiting for people who are willing to work.

Laura Molina| 7.22.10 @ 6:18PM

Not today! Many employers want the least advantaged to work for them because they do not or cannot organize into a labor unions, don't make wage claims when they have been cheated and have other advantages for the unethical employers. Why do you think so many industries employ the undocumented? Because they are easier to control than American citizens who know their rights.

Sam| 7.26.10 @ 10:06AM

Minimum wage jobs only just barely scrape by until you have children, or get sick and realize that you have no health insurance and meager savings that won't even begin to cover just one E.R. visit, or wreck your beat-up 14 year old toyota and lose that minimum wage job because you have no means of getting to work anymore (there are no city buses in rural areas, BTW), or have pretty much any other disaster occur because you are living hand-to-mouth on tiny paycheck.

Most entry-level jobs don't pay a living wage anymore. Not everyone can afford or is capable of earning a college degree and the factory jobs are all overseas.

A high school diploma used to mean something, but not anymore. The education provided to our nation's children is no longer sufficient to the demands of our economy but you suggest for a second giving students a free college education and the Repubs will scream bloody murder and accuse you of being a communist.

Simply working hard and being frugal is no guarantee that you won't end up on your behind in the gutter. Stuff happens and life is not that easy.

I guess it's easy for people like Ben Stein to ignore that sitting in an ivory tower of wealth and privilege.

VAL| 9.21.10 @ 7:42PM

I agree with you, Sam. Just as I agree with a lot of what Mr. Stein has to say. I understood what he meant by show up clean and dressed professionally. Here in California, every other word or gesture is scrutinized for possible legal actions. No one wants to take responsibility for their own part in the problems. You cannot simply leave your children in school all day and think that your parental responsibility is fulfilled. It is the parent or guardian's job to instill those values of cleanliness and personal pride, to help the young people understand why an office job requires business apparel and that policy is not just a negative comment on their appearance/attitude/values. There is a good reason for most work requirements. And yes you do have to treat your boss/supervisor with respect and politeness.
HOWEVER, that being said, most people out of work now are there through no fault of their own. Our factories have been shipped overseas, our people have been cast adrift without a safety net. Those, like myself, who did invest for our retirement, in annuities and 401 K, woke up one morning to find their insurer bankrupt and the "nest egg" cut in half. Now I have to seriously look at what I am going to do in the next 12 years to try and build that up again. I still live in the only house I ever bought, I drive an 8 year old car, I have no credit cards, nor do I wish to have any. I thought I was doing the right thing. What a surprise!
I am 56 years old.
I have been working since I was 17. I show up on time, I am polite and pleasant, clean and well groomed. I and my husband have instilled these values in our sons, who will pass them along to their children. Perhaps my children and their peers, as well as their children will recognize that as we all share the planet, wealth, food, air, water, commerce, etc. it is long past time to preserve what we need to survive, stop wasting our lives trying to be the biggest, fastest, richest; to stop the mindless pursuit of wealth and simply enjoy being here, living our lives on this very small planet in the galaxy.

AAron| 7.23.10 @ 11:42PM

To think I thought once he was a man of singular distinction. Funny, successful, bright.. sad to see he is reduced to a griping old man. Always improving ones memories to maintain a throne.

Clair| 7.24.10 @ 6:35PM

Brigitte, and those who are spewing hatred at Ben because he somehow has managed end up secure enough to survive this recession: I don't know what your circumstances in life have been, and I would not presume to insult you in the way you have insulted Ben, simply because he has, and you don't. I occurs to me though, that whatever your lot in life, in this country, you have any opportunity you are willing to work hard enough for, to get to a point where you, like Ben, would be doing well. If you choose to take advantage of the opportunities out there, and can make a success of yourself, wonderful! You should be very proud of yourself and you are entitled to enjoy the fruits of your labor. If you choose not to take advantage of these opportunities, and choose to stay at a low paying job, instead of lifting yourself out of the mire, shut up and stop whining. You made the choice, You take the consequences.
Ben is talking with what to me, seems some great poignancy, of the pain of seeing people he cares about, suffer like this. He does not seem to relish their downfall, but rather, to my mind, seems to regret their not following a more prudent course. Wishing only that they had, and that today they would not be enduring this pain themselves. He goes on to suggest ways of ensuring that we all learn how not to end up like this. And you are angry with him for caring about his friends, wishing them a better circumstance, and trying to share ideas that would perhaps spare them and others the same pain in the future?! Seems a little odd to me...

ProphetX| 7.25.10 @ 3:19PM

Well put Clair. I know I didn't read into the Democrat vs Republican slant these comments have gone on. I left it at "people should work harder and be thankful" and "chance favors the prepared mind".

As for the people stuck in minimum wage jobs: Yes it does stink. But you have to do what you must in order to advance. I know some people who have worked two jobs, or have worked a low paying job and gone to school at the same time just to get ahead. But in my opinion you have to be open to the possibility of something completely different.

I -never- would have guessed I'd have ended up working for a bank. I had done some temp jobs on assembly lines and given my lack of actual paying jobs up to that point I thought that is where I'd be stuck. But it was my home grown computer skills that landed me a processing job for one of the major banks. I've made far more here than I'd ever would have expected given my lot in life. I've been laid off from said bank and later rehired a few months later due to my persistence. But I work my butt off and I take every opportunity I can get. That's what Ben is basically saying, to me anyways.

Adam| 7.27.10 @ 12:52PM

Clair: People are not "pewing hatred at Ben because he somehow has managed end up secure enough to survive this recession". Their reaction--and mine--is based on knowing friends and former colleagues who have been laid off. Yes, I know a few jerks collecting unemployment, but those people are the exceptions, not the rules. I don't know how Ben is "surveying the unemployed" from whatever ivory tower he's secured himself in to protect himself from the huddled masses, but his generalization that the unemployed are lazy assholes--with "powerful" exceptions (what exactly does that mean) is right up there with "Let them eat cake."

That being said, it's shame that he's made some good points otherwise (eg, planning for the future, take responsibility) that are being missed because of his perceived arrogance.

angee w| 8.2.10 @ 5:12AM

yeah..have you ever had to choose feeding your family or going back to school..

you have no idea what its like so dont assume one can just "jump right in and change their circumstances"

angee w | 8.2.10 @ 5:06AM

while I think you were a little harsh.. I agree with you.

apparently we "slack jaw yocals" are lazy, dumb and stupid and expect others to take care of us. How convient it is to label us and tell us we are to blame for our lack of being hiring when I guarantee noone like Mr Stein has been to these areas of high employment to see what it is really like to live in our shoes.

I have worked my butt off, sometimes three jobs at a time and I havent been able to get hired in the past year.

The majority of us arent able to afford higher learning to aquire new skills and those of us who are in college are doing it by ourselves, gaining massive debt in hopes that someone will throw us a bone in a few years and even that isnt guaranteed..

Moron..

Jennifer Cecelia Stanley| 8.14.10 @ 12:59PM

Ben Stein did mention what sounds to me that sometimes personality plays a role. You are very rude, miss.

Jennifer Cecelia Stanley| 8.14.10 @ 1:03PM

I would hope that Ben Stein would never care for "getting laid" is such a manner and such a filthy way, including not being married. I am happy that Ben Stein in my eyes has appeared to have class. I only wish that everyone would try to present themselves more like that.

Omega| 8.14.10 @ 7:28PM

I agree with Brigitte, Ben Stein is a jerk. Blame the poor, the unemployed, the sick and homeless for their own plight. Obviously, what Ben Stein needs is a good case of terminal cancer to get in touch with his humanity. Keep your fingers crossed, I am.

Chris| 7.22.10 @ 3:06PM

So, your whole life has been medeocre at best.

OD| 7.22.10 @ 3:45PM

Chris, I'm glad that I am not the only one who has tried to do a quick retort and flubbed it. Mediocre is a hard word. Say "ordinary."

Nobammy Bin Lyin| 7.24.10 @ 1:17AM

I love how the lefties try to show that they hold the moral high ground by how? Insulting others, name calling, belittling and besmirching, trying to correct others, etc, etc... Since you libs are so much better than us gun toting religious types, how about YOU paying for the pregnant crack ho's healthcare? YOU and your 'humanitarian' ethos gave us ghettos, (public housing. Oooh that was a good idea huh?) welfare, dead babies by the MILLIONS, the list goes on and on. YOU pay for it with YOUR taxes. Oh wait, you guys are the ones that always try to cheat your way out of your taxes right? From TurboTax Timmy all the way down! YOU register yourselves with your socialist pres and YOU be responsible for paying for all your corrupt social programs that do little more than hurt the pocketbooks of hard working Americans and make YOU feel a little better about yourself because YOU threw a little money that's not even yours at YOUR guilt. Leave us out of it. We conservatives will take care of ourselves. It's what we do, self reliance and all that. Our answer to this is to create an environment where we can all prosper, where we all have a chance at a decent living if we're willing to work for it and where we can have some pride and self respect in our efforts. Kinda hard to do that when Nobama is stealing our nation's wealth and flushing it down the socialist agenda toilet. I grew up poor in a single parent home and I'll be damned if I'll ever endure the shame and ridicule of being on welfare again. There's nothing wrong with getting help if you honestly need it but I'm healthy and whole and can do for myself unlike so many others who have been cheating the system for generations now. That's what's really disgusting. When times are tough, that's when we should be fighting the hardest. Not rolling over like a lapdog whining for scraps. Now stick that up your liberal a** and chew on it.

Erick| 7.24.10 @ 9:46AM

Nobammy:
Tone down the rhetoric and make your points without the name-calling. When you write like this, it is too easy to dismiss the message for the messenger.

When conservatives fought the futile battle against the "Great Society" in the 60's, they had predictions for what would happen to America if those social programs were put in place.

The conservatives were wrong in so many ways.

They vastly underestimated how fast the Great Society programs would dismantle poor families. They vastly underestimated how quickly it would rot urban centers. They vastly underestimated how expensive it would be. They vastly underestimated how quickly the bureaucracy would turn into a federal power grab and how vast that power grab would eventually become.

Think of how much better off we would be if the conservatives were more correct in their initial warnings...

TD| 7.24.10 @ 4:28PM

Please state in detail all of the new "socialist" policies that are in place now that weren't before Obama took office.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 3:13PM

Auto-documented hypocrisy at its finest:

Insulting others, name calling, belittling and besmirching, trying to correct others, etc, etc... Since you libs are so much better than us gun toting religious types, how about YOU paying for the pregnant crack ho's healthcare? . . .

Val| 9.21.10 @ 7:48PM

Okay,
So what is your solution to the problem of corporations owning our government? Shouldn't the businesses that use us for labor, roads, fire, police, water and infrastructure, on and on, also be required to pay their fair share of the bill to support it? How can a company like Exxon, who posted the largest profits of any company in the history of America, get at tax refund? How can we allow polluters like BP and Monsanto, and DOW chemical to go on poisoning us without some sort of legal consequences? Only when money no longer talks, will the bullshit no longer walk!

BackToBasics| 7.20.10 @ 12:45AM

I am not unemployed but I still know that there is much discrimination against older people and especially white males who are older. I know many white men who have a hard-work ethic and get along either fine or well enough with co-workers who cannot find any jobs after being laid off over the last couple years. Nobody wants to address this issue though or even admit that there is much discrimination against this group. Some of these men used to be engineers and took lesser jobs after the dot-com bust and increases in H1-B visa quotas only to be laid off again and now unable to find work.

Fred Lynch| 7.20.10 @ 3:00PM

Interesting comment. I wrote some books about white males, affirmative action and diversity--it got me blacklisted years ago but, as you note, is still hard to talk about. (Tom Brokaw's recent CNBC "Boomers!" show highlighted this, though.)

Irina| 7.20.10 @ 4:31PM

Must be rough to be a white male in this country.

Jon| 7.20.10 @ 11:00PM

It is becoming more difficult, Irina.

Kevin| 7.21.10 @ 12:45PM

That may be true, Jon. However, by and large, when being a white male presents a problem (most often, when there is a less-expensive, sometimes harder-working, more driven second-generation American of non-Caucasian ancestry), the problem isn't that a man is white; it's that living a life of (relative) privilege, historically speaking, means he doesn't want to hustle and scramble the way his competition does. When a woman, a black man, a gay man faces discrimination, it's more likely to be simple prejudice.

Granted, H1-B visas tilt the work landscape, but then so does overseas outsourcing. For all the abuse, if a company hires people via H1-B visas, much of that money stays here in our economy. When they outsource the operation to Asia, it's all gone.

Robert| 7.21.10 @ 5:55PM

From one white male to another, shut the hell up. We've had it far too easy for the entirety of this country's history. Stop whining, you racist piece of crap!
Somehow a former speechwriter for Richard Nixon has done enough real work in his life to judge people who are unfortunate enough to have been screwed by Republican financial policies, and they're losers too. Wow! Is this entire site populated by assholes?

Wrestleman| 7.21.10 @ 8:06PM

Yes, it is. :(

Katie| 7.22.10 @ 1:11PM

"Wow! Is this entire site populated by assholes?"

New to Libertarians?

DocSmith| 7.24.10 @ 9:10AM

Now that you're here Robert we can truly say it has at least one asshole.

Clair| 7.24.10 @ 6:42PM

Robert,

For Goodness' sake! Look at the real history, and don't read all the garbage that the blogs and political hacks spew at you, including those "honest" journos who managed to elect a president who might otherwise not have been the first choice, not that there was that much difference between candidates...
Stop listening to the talking heads and go research stuff, talk to people from NON partisan think tanks who deal in figures, stats and facts... not political rhetoric. Then come up with an original thought, and stick with that... insults and bad manners don't solve problems or persuade people, they just make it worse and make you look like a thoughtless, ill mannered idiot... see what I mean?

Steven| 7.22.10 @ 12:48PM

#1 - I'm a white male and I never ever felt discriminated once, except in 1996, where an internet firm clearly was looking for 20 somethings. No problem, they can do what they want.

But this article isn't bad UNTIL he talks about those who are unemployed and implies that generally they are "people with poor work habits and poor personalities" . This is a ridiculous stereotype, and ranks with blacks being shiftless, jews having big noses and the left assuming the right are all bigots. I have been unemployed for a short time during this recession and I know that through the grace of god, I am lucky to be working. That keeps me grounded and also makes me realize that no matter how well I do I have to always be aware that I can become unemployed at anytime.

This is an usually bad recession with 5 people going for every one job. This is why there are so many unemployed (and high quality) people.
I sometimes think people WANT to believe that most unemployed people are lazy, shiftless and therefore deserve what they get, because it perpetuates a simple stereotype and therefore doesn't need further review.

Everyone who posts here can be unemployed or lose their business anytime..should I automatically assume you have poor work habits and poor personalities and/or its because you are white?

Baskerville| 7.22.10 @ 1:52PM

My, but a number of reactions. Please note that this stream of replies is spun off of BackToBasics' comment about *older* people, especially *older* white males. I find this to be particularly true. I remember several years watching a segment of an evening news show (I don't remember whether it was 20/20 or 60 Minutes or whatever) that dealt with older white males seeking employment after being laid off. The segment left them sitting on a park bench discussing their still-continuing plight, but after a series of attempts at, & interviews with, various people at the EEOC, who all pledged in that monotone PC voice about doing their utmost to resolve discrimination wherever it rears its ugly head, &c, &c. No resolution was ever presented to the problem, & the story left without comment on the fact that all the bureaucrats were female and/or minorities - I couldn't help but attribute the story to an attitude of 'yeah, sure, I'll help this symbol of oppression'. I only hope that some of them had a Sherrod-like revelation.

MizMurphy| 7.23.10 @ 6:55AM

Who came up with that so-called fact that for every job there are five applicants? People keep repeating it as if it's "settled science". Not true.

The owner of a local employee staffing company told me that she can only run an ad for one day because she receives 30 to 50 (!) responses.

Another company in town interviewed 35 people for six available jobs. The 35 interviewees were culled from hundreds of applicants. The local media filmed those 35 hopeful souls standing in line and, of course, asked how they "feel"about the opportunity. How do you think they felt? Six available jobs - how sad that this is now a newsworthy event.

So don't tell me that all of the unemployed are lazy, have no work ethic, or are incompetent. Don't try to mislead me about the number of jobs vs. applicants. Sometimes the truth isn't what you want to hear, but it's wise to listen and learn - and vote.

john| 7.24.10 @ 12:01AM

5 people going for every job? In my field, in my region, it's more like 260-400. And most are fresh out of college, or short on experience and will take a a very low salary. I have 30 years in my field. Now that it is glutted, I have seen the MEDIAN salary range drop almost 60% in places since 1988, and the employers are keen to it. So who do they hire? 20 somethings wtih 2-4 years experience, not 50 somethings with 30

gilintx| 7.20.10 @ 11:42PM

Hey, Ben. I've been out of work for over a year now. I was laid off with great regret from a tech firm, and haven't been able to get as much as an interview elsewhere since. You know what I've done since to keep food on the table? Farm work. Ever done farm work, Ben?
I have a buddy who tried and failed to get a job at McDonalds. The jobs just aren't there, man.
Do you seriously think that my problem is that I'm not pleasant enough to be around, or that I'm lazy?
I understand that you have to get these columns in on a regular basis, but kicking people while they're down is just the lowest of the low.
I normally wouldn't comment on such nastiness, bu the problem is that ivory tower opinions like yours end up turning into policy for the plebians like me. So now I'm screwed, begging for receptionist positions, and you get to tell me that I just need a little pluck to land my next big gig.

Kim| 7.21.10 @ 12:21AM

I see this a lot. I've been okay freelancing but what you describe is accurate. The recession has hit my peers hard- I'm 31, and a lot of us have never had the opportunity to build a safety net to be secure. Most of my friends have crushing student loans and have yet to land a "career" job- but had they not gone to school I'm sure someone would tell them they're unemployed because they didn't go to school.

Facts tell us- the jobs ARE NOT THERE. That is the problem. A lot of people overspent, lots more just lost their job, for good. It's a lot more daunting to look at the recession for what it is- the magical thinking lies more in people thinking that showering and eating breakfast are enough to secure a living wage in these times.

Steven| 7.22.10 @ 12:52PM

right on, gilintx

The tough thing about this is that people simply I think WANT to believe that unemployed people deserve what they get. Because if they deserve it, why should resources to help be considered? After all it must be YOUR fault that you aren't working.

Dale| 7.22.10 @ 2:18PM

it goes a bit beyond that Steven.

You see, if being unemployed is a lottery rather than a deserved action, then so is being employed.

Which is to say that if people who are unemployed are not unemployed out of their own qualities, but out of luck, or some other "unfair" factor.

This type of thinking is very common in high income earners, both as an implicit judgment on their own worth, but also out of observation bias. You see, they see themselves succeeding, and they worked hard before they succeeded, and then they completely miss the logical fallacies involved and jump to the conclusion that they succeeded because they worked hard (and therefore anyone who works had can succeed too).

This kind of thinking is the same thinking that leads people to believe that their views about any sort of social structure are inviolate.

Ben Stein is one of the worst examples in this area

Ruffslitch| 7.22.10 @ 5:58PM

Being unemployed-or not-is not a lottery. I did not have kids until I was 40-AFTER I had a well-paying job ( driving a truck, mind you ) and had bought a tiny little house in a run-down neighborhood. I wanted to be able to make the payments if I got injured or something. I didn't want to pay astronomical utility bills for a huge house, the cost of buying fancy furniture to fill it , and I did not have a child when I bought it so I was not worried about school districts. Now that I have a child ( AFTER I got married ) we home school because our schedules do not permit his going to regular school. There is no logical fallacy in how I did what I have done without a college degree. ( I blew a chemistry mid-term and ruined my 4.0 GPA, among other things...) Hard work is a key factor but so is making well-thought out decisions. To quit college wasn't such a hot idea but I perservered and have kept a job-a BLUE COLLAR JOB- in bad times. This would not have been possible if I had had 3-4 children out of wedlock, dropped out of high school, and had no skills whatsoever while having to worry about childcare and everything else with no husband to help. Perhaps we should re-think the easy availability of divorce and the " if it feels good do it" mindset. People have been doing what felt good instead of what was right for a while now and looks where it had gotten us.

Dale| 7.22.10 @ 7:05PM

You are confusing a high rate of success in winning that particular lottery with it not being a lottery.

Your single data point of "I worked hard and i got a job therefore getting a job is not random" is just that., random, it has no bearing as to the overall quality of the system except when taken in conjunction with other data points.

Frankly, had you not quit college you might know this. You may have had the time to take some more advanced statistics courses which would have educated you in the method that data points interact.

The irony of all of this is that you have been fortunate to grow up during one of the most plentiful markets with regards to lower skilled employment. The relative stability of the United States and its Industrial base after WWII allowed it years of uninterrupted dominance in labor productivity and labor productivity per dollar.

That is to say that you grew up in one of the most bountiful periods of history with regards to obtaining blue collar employment, then you have turned this luck around and claimed, with no hint of irony, that your success in the labor market was due to your unique qualities, and not the economic conditions in which you lived.

I am not sure whether or not this sad, or simply indicative of the conditions that raised you. But I do know that your claim is false.

Waggoner41| 7.22.10 @ 10:25PM

@Quoting Ruffslitch:
"Hard work is a key factor but so is making well-thought out decisions. To quit college wasn't such a hot idea but I perservered and have kept a job-a BLUE COLLAR JOB- in bad times. This would not have been possible if I had had 3-4 children out of wedlock, dropped out of high school, and had no skills whatsoever while having to worry about childcare and everything else with no husband to help. Perhaps we should re-think the easy availability of divorce and the " if it feels good do it" mindset."

With corporate America sitting on $1.3 trillion, small business incapable of hiring and states going broke there are, counting long term unemployed, 25,000,000 workers without jobs. That is 19% of the workforce. Surely you are not suggesting that that many unemployed can be categorized in such a way.

I am 69, retired and view this issue from the outside looking in.

The jobs are not there!!

Making minimum wage at McDonalds is not going to feed a worker much less a family.

I have been a student of economics for 49 years and I will guarantee that Ben Stein has never seen economic times like these.

Ben Stein is as opinionated as I am (not a great thing) and spouting crap off the top of his head. That is what he does for a living.

If you have a job, be grateful. If you are unemployed you are facing the Banshee.

A decade of political ineptitude has put America in this position, not the American worker.

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:11PM

"Making minimum wage at McDonalds is not going to feed a worker much less a family.'

It is very easy to live on minimum wage at McDonalds. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. I paid for college while living on minimum wage at a grocery store. But my car didn't have tv screens in the dash, and my jeans weren't at my knees with huge gold chains around my neck.

If you are "trying to raise a family" while your primary employment is working at McDonalds, that is your own fault for being stupid, and no one elses. If you had lived within your means instead, you would not have created the problem for yourself.

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:03PM

Dale should probably learn the difference between the words "can" and "will" because they mean very different things.

Through his post he has demonstrated he is lacking in English vocabulary.

Steven| 7.22.10 @ 1:02PM

Hate to say this but I really don't think anyone in power (right or left) really care about the plight of the real working class. It sounds real good as a sound bite but until people realize that those in politics are there mostly for power and money, then why should we expect any help from them?

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:13PM

That would be because there is no "plight" of the "working class".

Mark Schreiber| 7.22.10 @ 3:41PM

Ben did say there were exceptions. Are you an exception? Sounds like it to me. Farm work isn't bad--been there, done that. Too bad about MacDonalds, must have been the only fast food place for miles. Dream jobs do not last forever. Hopefully your next job will be better than the last one. Hang in there.

Thomas| 7.23.10 @ 12:08PM

To add the qualifier "there are exceptions", does not excuse what Mr. Stein said.

That's like saying,"Most Mexicans are criminals, there are exceptions", "Most Women don't belong in the workplace, there are exceptions", "Most cops are racist, there are exceptions".

I read Mr. Stein's statement as quoted on another blog and visited this one to be sure it wasn't taken out of context. Sadly, it wasn't.

Jeff Gardiner | 7.22.10 @ 9:31AM

What about the people that are illegal immigrants? Help me out here, I remember when the immigrants took a day off, and one plant in California(I think it was from there, I'm sure you might know) over 10,000 people were not working, plant had to close for the day. Hello, 10,000 illegal immigrants r working for a plant and we have these comments about sitting on your butt and just collecting a check. Well, if they would stop hiring illegals, then we might have 10,000 more people working right now. Again, there r jobs out there, but the problem is just that, jobs are takin(not all jobs) by people that don't even pay taxes into the system!! As for unemployment, well this is not free money, people have to pay taxes on this money, would we rather have people collecting welfare which is free money? Think about it.

Dale| 7.22.10 @ 2:22PM

Illegals pay taxes into the system in the form of
payroll taxes (federal), sales taxes and property taxes(state), and other various excise taxes or taxes passed on.

In fact, since illegals do not typically receive benefits from those services they are generally net positive revenue for the federal govt and only slightly net negative for state govts.

In addition to that, costs associated with enforcement dwarf the costs associated with the negative aspects. Which is to say its more expensive to the economy to keep illegals out than let them in.

waggoner41| 7.22.10 @ 10:59PM

You obviously, like I, have lived around illegals and have seen their pay stubs as I have.

Those of us who have lived among tham know that they do pay state and federal income taxes and they pay into the Social Security system. It says so on their pay stubs.

The illegals fear to take advantage of social programs for fear of being caught and I have seen families treat their kids with home remedies because of that fear.

They have, for decades, taken work that an American worker won't touch because it is too backbreaking and soesn't pay a living wage. I have seen 10 illegals living in a two bedroom house to save what little they can to help their families back home and then they are blamed for displacing American workers.

If it wasn't for the farm workers the cost of your fruits and vegetables would be 10% to 20% higher. They get paid for the amount they pick working 10, 12 and sometimes 14 hour days.

Now that jobs are needed do we see a rush of American worker to work the fields and orchards? Not on your life!

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:17PM

"They have, for decades, taken work that an American worker won't touch because it is too backbreaking and doesn't pay a living wage."

That is pretty funny, you claim to disagree with Ben, then prove his point. "Too backbreaking" means "you do not know how to do a day's work". And if these jobs did not pay a living wage, there would be no illegal problem, because they would all be dead. You can very easily live on minimum wage, millions of Mexicans do it illegally here every day.

If we killed off or kicked out all the illegals, many people who are unemployed right now would continue to be unemployed because they are lazy and do not know how to do a day's work. They would refuse to do the jobs because they are worthless, entitled people.

pb| 7.22.10 @ 9:45PM

We have very similar backgrounds. I am a retired public highschool teacher and not only has education become daycare, but I would suggest that for many teachers their paycheques are exorbitant welfare payments. Many of the teachers I knew could never have worked successfully in another field. In fact, professionals who had failed at their chosen fields began showing up as teachers. Our administrators (usually the least able to function in the real world) waxed eloquent about how fortunate we were to have these people. Yeah, right, failed social workers, college trade teachers, city hall lackeys, et cetera. Another shocker was when a colleague of mine in all seriousness explained to his students that very few people actually strive to do their best very often, therefore there is no need for one to always try to do his/her best. Future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

pb| 7.22.10 @ 9:50PM

This comment from pb was for Appleby.

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:22PM

This isn't common knowledge? People become teachers because they have failed in the real world. People who are successful do not have time to go around teaching others to copy what they did. They teach by example, not by instruction.

Think about teaching in general. Some of the most unintelligent people I have met in college were going to college to become teachers. Why? Because to teach (lets say the 5th grade) you only need to be marginally more intelligent than the average 5th grader (or you can fake it with the answer book for most subjects).

Craig| 7.27.10 @ 11:26PM

Well Mr. Whack a mole has got it all wrong again nothing new here.Companys downsized the payroll not for what the employees did or didn't do but because of the amount of money
in their paychecks. Employees who were in place a long time made more money and had more accrued vacation time. All to costly for businesses. Of course that also translates to the older workers. Trim those payrolls and enslave
the younger workers by forcing after hours work and weekends.Forget your families slaves
do you want to keep your job? Yea BEN your
right on again it must have been those attitudes that caused those higher salaries. Slave labor is alive and well, its here in America. By the way BEN those same companies want to rehire those bad attitudes now at about half that old salary. Do a little research Mr. Whack a mole before you stick your foot in it again. Thank god for the new productivity and increased profits, never you mind trying to innovate or sell products folks want to buy. Lets get more bang for the old bucks (get it?). They will be glad to rehire soon there will be lots of desperate people and happy days will be here again. Hope there is a GOD and I hope he is watching.

gearjammer| 7.19.10 @ 8:50AM

It seems that ground zero for magical thinking is Washington, and then add Hollywood and New York. The regular American sees the chattering class who dominate from these centers as delusional. They in turn call those of us who view them with disrespect and in horror that so much power has accrued to them, as idiots, racists, greedy, unsophisticated, brainwashed, etc. Where is it all going ? To my mind our current ruling class will never see the light or ever budge. They have their teeth in the regular Americans hide right now and won't let go. You gotta put a bad animal down. It's gonna get ugly. Tell me I'm wrong ?

BadAnimal| 7.19.10 @ 6:08PM

You're wrong. Violence is not the answer.

waggoner41| 7.22.10 @ 11:09PM

But voting them out is the answer. American voters are basically responsible for electing our congressmen who are at the far fringes of the left and right. These people do not have the willingness or capacity to compromise for the good of the nation and now we see the results with an idiot like Mitch McConnell whose explainations of what he wants are twisted like a pretzel. Although the Dems have been a bit better at getting moderates elected there are still some on the left fringe that are no better.

dave| 7.19.10 @ 6:41PM

You are right. It is gonna get ugly. If you didn't hear Rush today, you missed a lot. I noticed you mentioned the "ruling class." He literally spent the full three hours on the article. I have never heard him so greatly influenced by one article--it was great radio! I have been thinking about it all day, and there is one conclusion. There are two distinct Americas, and something is gonna give. It is that simple--these two entirely opposite factions cannot, nor will not coexist. It makes the 60's look like child's play. Hang on, bro, we are going for a helluva ride here real soon!

intheknow| 7.22.10 @ 7:14AM

Linbaugh? Have another oxycotin! Just another blowhard on the radio.

steve| 7.22.10 @ 1:08PM

If Rush told you to kill those who he disagreed with, would you do it?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 4:41PM

Yeah! Right!

Just ask yourself "What would Rush do?"

Dave| 7.22.10 @ 1:26PM

Hey Dave, it's much easier to destroy this country then it is to fight to rebuild it, isn't it?

But don't do it until your masters tell you to. Wouldn't want you to think for yourself and actually try to make a difference.

Reese| 7.26.10 @ 2:15PM

Just wait until Christmas when the last vestige of assistance has been exhausted for the 25 million unemployed ex-workers of this country.

The jobs are gone, never to return in any numbers sufficient to allow for any dignity amongst the working middle class.

I don't listen to Rush but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a major civil war is coming that will pit the slaves of this country against the masters.

The plight of the ex-workers has nothing to do with their work ethics.....but has everything to do with the policies of the ruling elite. They have destroyed the American dream according to their well crafted plans and it will be the reponsbility of the slaves to rebuild it.

I will stand with the slaves......history dictates that the slaves will become the masters. The oppressed will overthrow the oppressors. Those like Ben who submit to Keynes theories have feasted at the trough long enough.....the day of reckoning is upon us!

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:27PM

"Those like Ben who submit to Keynes theories have feasted at the trough long enough.....the day of reckoning is upon us!"

Now, I don't know Ben well enough to say whether or not he is a Keynesian... but based on this article alone, you are laughably misinformed. Keynesian Economics is socialism, not capitalism. In this article Ben is prescribing the exact opposite of Keynesian policy.

Jim| 7.19.10 @ 7:15PM

I have worried for several months that this is all going to end badly and prayed that President Obama will, after November, take a page from Clinton's playbook and become a centrist.

The worse scenario is that he continues to govern from the left through executive orders, regulations, and appointments in an effort to continue to remake society in spite of the resistance from the reactionary House and federal courts (maybe Senate, too). The temptation to rally his base in the streets and in the media to create pressure for his agenda will be strong, and I am afraid I do not see the love of country in him that would make him check those urges. Things could get pretty ugly.

Where are the wise old Democrats to counsel this community organizer on how to be a President?

And God help us if our adversaries internationally smell opportunity in our internal division.

Andrew P| 7.20.10 @ 1:09AM

-- Obama is incapable of being a centrist. He is no Bill Clinton.

-- I predict that Obama will "Wag The Dog" by starting a nuclear war with Iran before the midterm elections. If not before the midterms, then certainly before the Presidental in 2012.

-- If the Democrats do much worse than expected this November, expect them to abolish the filibuster and ram everything they can through the Senate in their final 2 months in office.

steve| 7.22.10 @ 2:02PM

Wow Andrew...I look forward to seeing you on Fox News. I'm really impressed with your assumptions and I'll make an assumption that you would look forward to that war.

waggoner41| 7.22.10 @ 11:56PM

1 - debatable.

2 - Obama is no George Bush.

3 - If the American voter gets smart the moderates will win. It matters not whether they are Republican or Democrat.

Bruce in Jersey| 7.23.10 @ 4:58AM

Wow, are you paranoid. Please be sure to print out your prediction and tape a copy to your calendar so you can post an apology when the war doesn't happen.

-- Even if Obama started a war with Iran, it wouldn't be "nuclear." Conventional weapons are sufficient. Also, how is he to start a war with Iran without getting Congressional approval? Even Bush didn't try that. And... with what Army? To attack Iran, you'd have to deploy forces to a staging area. Difficult to do in secrecy between now and November. A raid or bombings could be prepared in secret, but that would be terrible strategy - it wouldn't knock out Iran, but it would unite their populace (and plenty of other countries already predisposed to hate us) against us.

-- The Democrats can't abolish the filibuster during the lame duck session. Senate Rules are established at the beginning of each Congress and run for the full two years. If the Dems want to kill the filibuster, they have to wait until January and the new Congress.

TD| 7.24.10 @ 4:21PM

What form of GOP induced paranoia do you suffer from? Exactly how many "nuclear wars" to date have there been in the world?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 5:00PM

One?

desertflower| 7.20.10 @ 6:43PM

IMO the rallying of his base in the streets is already beginning; witness Michelle Obama's call to attendees of the recent NAACP annual meeting to "increase the intensity." What exactly does that mean?

Of course our international adversaries smell opportunity, not only in our internal division but also in a president who, despite his extraordinarily high opinion of himself, when it comes to foreign affairs is woefully unprepared and clueless.

Sally| 7.21.10 @ 5:29PM

"Increase the intensity" was spoken in connection to fighting childhood obesity. Perhaps if you weren't woefully unprepared and clueless you would have known this.

steve| 7.22.10 @ 1:31PM

Desertflower, you make nothing more then assumptions without taking into account that increase the intensity is a phrase used by both the left and right politicially. once again you are a typical follower who takes a phrase and turns around to suit your political agenda. You hear a phrase and make assumptions. You are a typical follower and not a independent thinker. Perhaps you only do what you are told because it's too hard for independent thought.

Jack| 7.23.10 @ 4:07PM

Wow! A liberal talking about independent thought! That is an oxymoron.

Mister Lister| 7.26.10 @ 1:31PM

Jack, you don't know jack.

waggoner41| 7.22.10 @ 11:52PM

Sadly the economic situation dictates actions that need to be taken and the economy is in far worse shape than when Clinton was in office.

The jobs situation itself may require as much as another $500 billion to get things going again.

Without considering Bush's $800 billion bailout of the financial giants, consider these items and tell me what you would have him not do:

1 - As of February 10, 2010, the Treasury has recovered $173 billion of its TARP outlays, and taxpayers have realized a $17 billion profit on the investments. I don't currently have more recent info.

2 - It will take 10 years to see the full effect of the health care legislation but the reduction in costs of medical insurance will be advantageous and savings on prescription drugs will save Medicade/Medicare costs.

3 - The Financial Industry legislation will go far in eliminating the possibility of future economic recessions like this one.

4 - The unemployment legislation is necessary now to prevent even more families from slipping into bankrupcy and foreclosure.

I have been a student of economics for 49 years and write short articles on economics and the current economic situaton on Facebook.

I don't have have all the answers but I do know that Obama is headed in the right direction and it will cost even more to right the economic ship. It will be well into 2012 before we can see that these ideas are working.

Watch Obama work. He is a pragmatist that, unlike George Bush and more like Clinton, seeks opinion from all sides before making a decision.

Also watch the Republican moderates like Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democratic moderates like Senator Blanche Lincoln and see how they react to Obamas lead.

TD| 7.24.10 @ 4:23PM

It's nice to see a post from someone educated with a fully functioning brain.

Tully| 7.19.10 @ 10:30PM

If you want to see Ground Zero for magical thinking, just plot foreclosures by density on a map. DC has actually done right well thus cl;early showing the difference between magical thinking and taking advantage of same among the credulous. More amusing is that the people in the hardest-hit areas seem to think DC is going to help them ... just like DC helped them get into this mess.

Mike| 7.20.10 @ 8:45PM

You are not wrong. It is going to get very ugly. Getting rid of government and union parasites will be painful, but more painful for the parasites.

steven| 7.22.10 @ 1:33PM

Since unions are primarily the reason the middle class grew in the 50's. I'm thinking you miss that era when 5% of the country was rich, 5% was middle class and 90% was poor. Is it possible that you miss that "free market era" of the great depression?

Brigitte| 7.21.10 @ 7:19PM

You're absolutely on the money. It's going to get worse and worse. There are no jobs of any consequence....they've been outsourced. A very republican thing.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:12AM

You are right. Too many jobs have gone overseas because of the high wages paid to American workers. Comparative wages and competition with countries like China have put corporate America on this course.

I don't have an answer for this one that will make anyone happy.
1 - Deflate the dollar and imports become more expensive but we can compete worldwide on price.
2 - Cut the wages of the American worker and you get the same result.
3 - Tax corporations for the jobs they sent overseas and they will move the corporations overseas costing even more jobs.
4 - If anyone can come up with a solution I would like to hear it.
The difference in quality of products between China and the USA is not considerd by the buying public. China wins on price not quality.

Bruce in Jersey| 7.23.10 @ 5:12AM

Lots of solutions. One is called protectionism, and China and most of the rest of the world practice it. They compensate for the "comparative advantage" of low wages with tariffs and quotas - many now hidden because of the WTO, and/or they just don't import from us, preferring their domestic manufacturers.

A "free market" in labor that does not set floors for worker compensation devolves toward slavery (which, recall, was a market). The tragedy of the last 30 years is that Republican ideology taught too many people to think of the US as nothing but a market rather than a community. If your laws and institutions reward heartlessness, then corporations will be heartless. They outsourced jobs because they could, and because the financial wizards who run this country take care of their own and don't care much about the rest of us.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 11:50AM

Protectionism begets protectionism. This is a tactic that has been tried before.

A better idea is "Buy American".

Too many of us look at price instead of quality. Wal-Mart has been importing Chinese products that are cheap and you get what you pay for.

Four of Walton's kids are within the top 20 richest in the world with a combined net worth of over $80 billion. Their money comes from selling the cheapest items they can find and a lot of those cheap products come from China. Quality control does not exist in China as far as I can tell.

Been there, done that, never again! Every Chinese product I have ever bought has failed me.

Lebo| 7.22.10 @ 2:48PM

GearJammer;

You are correct sir, it is gonna get real ugly. Not sure when, but it is coming. The institutionalized corruption on Capitol Hill as well as the entrenched ruling class will not change with out real, real ugliness. Sad, but true.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 5:51PM

Gearjammer and Lebo,

Maybe your prediction about ugliness will come true.

We could make a case that the current and increasing economic ugliness has been preceded and in part caused by increasing ugliness in political discourse, some of which is in progress in this forum.

We have two conversations going on in parallel here: economic and political. In each conversation and in advance of when we speak, when we speak, all of us would do well to ask ourselves several questions.

To what extent are we believing and about to speak from that:
[1] There is something wrong here and that we are the helpless victims of that wrong?
[2] The wrongness stems from someone else - not us?
[3] There is nothing powerful and civil that we can do or say? The most powerful thing we can do is to lash out against the other side, thereby making ourselves right and the evil other side
wrong?

I've done more than my fair share of lashing out here today, so I'm intimately present to the trap.

We, all of us in this conversation, can come together in commitment to workability, and in listening to all that is being said, and create a conversation for civil, peaceful and effective power, sufficient to flourish in even this environment and these economic circumstances.

Wanna play?

John2| 7.20.10 @ 5:56PM

Frankly, I see them as garbage level performers who are not worth a krappe in the toilet.

Why listen to them?

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:15AM

The problem is that too many Americans are listening to them.

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 10:40AM

It is going to get worse Ben! And it will start in your state and move on to the rest of the US. I wonder why you members of the "chattering class" are so reluctant to discuss it.

Watch this short link from Reason Magazine discussing the coming pension crisis in California with the founder of the Pension Tsunami web site!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 10:59AM

Here is a better link to the above. Pay close attention to quote of the comment made by former San Francisco Mayor Willy Brown near the end. He is quoted as having said that he thinks the Cities in California will renege on their pension obligations.

http://reason.tv/video/show/jack-dean

Thomas Paine| 7.20.10 @ 7:29AM

I watched the video, and if you know how to contact Jack Dean please ask him this question:

First time at his site, so don't know if this is an original thought, but he says "the only thing that can be done is change pensions for new hires."

Have we forgotten about the power to tax? A tax on defined-benefit public pension PAYMENTS could easily claw back the excesses.

Am I wrong?

Dale| 7.22.10 @ 2:34PM

No, we have not forgotten the ability to tax. But Republicans in California have been very successful in managing the legislative process such that no new taxes can be created.

In 1978 Prop 13 passed by initiative process. It contained two important provisions:

1. It limited the property tax to 1% of value. Limited the maximum assessment increase to a CPI adjusted value (or 2%) and made assessment only happen on change of hands or new construction

This stripped California of one of its primary revenue sources in the future. Since taxation occurs based on the assessment at last sale there are many people in Cali who live in mansions and pay taxes on them based on their 1975 assessment....

2. It required that any tax increase or revenue increase for the State Govt meet a 2/3rds super-majority requirement in both houses of the legislature. Basically this means that Republicans can always block tax increases.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:23AM

California has a process of putting items on the ballot for voters to decide called Propositions.

The problem is that the majority of voters will not vote to repeal Prop 13 and choose to pay more taxes on their property.

It's kind of like suicide by proxy.

Art Mueller| 7.19.10 @ 11:06AM

Ditto on the age factor making a recession complicated for employment. At a long time job, before they lost 90% of their revenue, I was making $140K. Now I am working for a startup at $13/hour. Best I could get. Yeah, I'm working, and I'm thankful. But at 59, I doubt it is ever going to get better for me.

Brigitte| 7.21.10 @ 7:22PM

Fortunately for me, I don't have to work....but, still, I was fired from my job because I had to have an emergency colectomy (hemorrhaging, almost to the point of death, due to the stress of my job, no doubt), so they gave my job away while I was recovering. Ain't life grand?

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:39PM

"They gave my job away while I was recovering"

I laughed hard. The job was never "yours" the job is only "yours" if you own the company. You're entitled and an example of everything that is wrong with the country.

Lisa| 7.15.11 @ 11:02AM

You "laughed hard" because she became ill and lost her job? Yeah, that's hysterical.

Expecting loyalty from an employer is "everything that is wrong with this country"? Get real.

You ever been on a job interview and they ask "why do you want this job"? The real answer is the same for everyone: I need to eat and I have bills to pay. But you have to give some b.s. answer like "I would be honored to contribute to the innovative and momentous work that this firm is currently engaged in and blah blah blah. . ."

Why is this necessary? Because employers want workers that are invested in the company, and not just their own paychecks. If they have the right to expect that from us, how does it make one "entitled" to expect them to care when misfortune beyond our control befalls us?

Seems like a double-standard to me. Or would you say American corporations are "entitled" as well? I think corporate America is MUCH more entitled than we, the people. Witness: The testimony before Congress of the oil company CEOs about why they need their billion-dollar subsidies in the face of budget cuts. Essentially, it was "How else are we supposed to pay for r&d? Out of our own record profits??? No way, jose, that's what the welfare check is for!"

Mary | 7.23.10 @ 2:43AM

The thing I'm most struck by in this recession is the number of smart, talented people looking for a job instead of creating self employment for themselves. I've never made bucket loads of money. I've almost always had to pay for my own health insurance. And I've never had a lot of "start up capital". I've done everything from cleaning houses to selling real estate (Yes, even in this economy it's possible to make a living in real estate.) I'm not rich but living modestly I've made enough to buy a small home; have some savings (not much) and set aside money in a small retirement account (again, not much). I'll probably work long past when I would like but I'm confident I'll always be able to create some kind of employment for myself. Experience has taught me having work is about identifying opportunities that others don't want; being persistent, and putting in the time. I'm making money now as a Realtor because for years I worked neighborhoods other agents considered too "down market". Guess what? String several entry level home sales together and you can create a nice income. It's all about identifying opportunities others don't want...

Todd Powers| 7.19.10 @ 11:11AM

Ben, you nailed it with #2. Back when unemployment was under 5%, and you couldn't find anybody to do anything, people would routinely not show up for work. Worse still, you'd never see them again the day after you hired them. Those are, indeed, the ones unemployeed right now. When people over the age of 25 come to me looking for a job, they get grilled on their previous job history. And I don't play too nice with them either. They leave shell-shocked, realizing they're not fooling anybody any more.

Jeff Bridges| 7.20.10 @ 4:59PM

Do you yell at them to get off your lawn as they leave?
Wow, you must be fun at parties, not that I think you get invited to many....

greengeekgirl | 7.21.10 @ 9:25PM

What about the ones who busted their butts working every day while they were employed, then left work to get married or go to school and--surprise--the economy isn't so great anymore and they have to go back to work. What about the ones who gave years of service to, say, the auto industry, then it shut down completely in their town and they are suddenly jobless despite their hard work?

Maybe you couldn't find good people because you're not paying enough, or because you act like a hardass in an interview and people don't want to work for you. Maybe people routinely don't show up because they don't like *your* attitude, and now only do it because they have to work for you or starve to death. I bet you're one of those employers who took advantage of the economic downturn to pay good employees less money just because they are desperate for jobs. Way to go.

Jim| 7.22.10 @ 12:43AM

They joined the union and gave their souls to the communists. Then you wonder why they got screwed?

greengeekgirl | 7.22.10 @ 3:08AM

Can't have it both ways; they can't be lazy bastards who are out of work because they're lazy and hardworking people who got screwed by unions and communists.

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:45PM

There is no having it both ways, they were always lazy. Unions means lazy people.

A person joins a union because:
- They are too lazy to negotiate their own salary and raises.
- They join a union because they are too lazy to manage their own retirement.
- They join a union because they are too lazy and want two extra weeks off each year.

Most of all, people join a union because they are greedy and want to be paid more money than the value of the work the provide. They need a union to "back them up" because they do not provide value in their job.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 6:04PM

They took the job and gave their souls to the bosses. Then you wonder why they got screwed?

unions -> screwed
bosses -> screwed
--------
screwed

Or perhaps the premises and logic are lacking.

cripes| 7.22.10 @ 1:50PM

God, what a piece of crap you are, reveling in your sadistic fantasies as if it's something to admire.

Corporations were chartered to serve the public good, not the other way around, and the idea that people should be used to serve corporations or be thrown away is evil, just like you. Turd.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:38AM

So what you're telling us is that there are 25,000,000 worthless job seekers out there.

Why the hell would you want to empot anyone? Just do the job yourself.

Lisa| 7.15.11 @ 11:14AM

I don't understand. . . so they would come to the interview (which often involves expenses such as gas, childcare, new articles of clothing, etc.), and get hired, and then never show up to actually get paid?

Also, I've been working since the age of 16. I worked throughout college. So by the time I was 25, I had plenty of job history to be "grilled on". Why are you giving the under-25 applicants a pass on that? Sounds like you are practicing age discrimination to me.

Ken (Old Texican)| 7.19.10 @ 11:16AM

Mr. Stein,

You forgot something; something crucial in my opinion.

You have forgotten the millions of personal risk-taking entrepreneurs who have invested in their own personal companies that the "regime" in power has destroyed...or is destroying.

Stretch the definition a little bit and the term "entrepreneurs" include medical doctors, independent attorneys, a world of consultants of real value, including software and hardware consultants.
Fellow conversationalists,

The "small business" community is being crushed, and in my mind on purpose.

Finally, Mr. Stein,
You are precisely correct about solid floor annuities from one of several mutual insurance companies such as New York Life. Heck, even their plain vanilla "whole Life" policies have an annuity option, with all cash value and "dividend" income deferred until retirement.
You younger guys out there...buy some plain vanilla and let the sharpest investors on earth, (true mutual Life insurance company money managers), help you build your base.

soljerblue| 7.19.10 @ 8:07PM

I'd add Northwestern Mutual Life to that list. Check 'em lout, if you can. Their financial products are as good and solid as any company in the industry. I'm in my early 70s, retired, and have been an NML policy holder since my mid-20's. They're worth a look most definitely

soljerblue| 7.19.10 @ 8:08PM

ooops -- sorry for the misspelling -- check 'em OUT if you can. :-)

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:45AM

Went down that road with New York Life in the 1980's. What a joke that was. Invested $12,000 cash and 15 years later got back $16,000.

True mutual life money managers have more ways to screw you than a herd of shepherds.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 6:12PM

Buy these policies with what, and in what time frame and on what income?

And is any sane thinker completely confidant that those same insurance companies aren't going to leverage under before the current "little depression" takes them under, too?

Get real!

Oldefarte| 7.19.10 @ 11:51AM

Ben's editorial is pure genius and truth, and I'm proud to say that I've lived my life according to especially his #1 rule, after spending thirty five years in the corporate factory/grind. In my opinion, the current situation which Ben describes DID NOT have to happen, but sadly did on 11/4/08. The economy has peeks/highs and valleys/troughs, which, if administratively managed properly by government, can be smoothed/lessened. When you however put into management positions political leaders who have absolutely no business administrative experience to deal with said economic ups/downs [and even if they did, would not give a damn about doing so]; they you experience what Ben has just described and which is now occurring in this country!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Bridges| 7.20.10 @ 5:04PM

What are you smoking? It started on 11/4/08?!

Sad, sad, sad - with a bit of angry kook thrown in for good measure... Is it nice in your world? Do the trees talk to you in your world?

Come back to Earth when you're ready to think for yourself. Turn off the AM radio - it's has rotted your brain.

greengeekgirl | 7.21.10 @ 9:28PM

11/4/08? Really? .... no, seriously, really? Is that why GWB was already giving out stimulus checks before Obama was even elected? Because it hadn't already started?

Please. You can be anti-Obama all you want, but please, back it up with actual truth rather than ranting.

Also, really great work with your synonyms, there. I bet you write for a thesaurus.

DanMingo| 7.22.10 @ 10:55AM

You said: "In my opinion, the current situation which Ben describes DID NOT have to happen, but sadly did on 11/4/08."

Ben said:
But the current recession, which really started with some very tense days in late 2007 and began in deadly earnest when Hank Paulson, possibly the most incompetent Treasury Secretary of all time, allowed Lehman Brothers to fail,

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:51PM

The really funny thing is that Hank Paulson was only there because Alan Greenspan quit. Now, anyone know why Alan decided to leave? Look back on your legislative records from 2001 to 2006. Bush and Greenspan knew the bank crisis was coming. They tried to introduce reform bills every year from 2001 until 2005... and got blocked by party line votes in the legislature. Thanks Pelsoi. Thanks Reid. The media did a good enough job covering this up that we ended up putting those very people in charge of the country.

Never let a good (manufactured) crisis go to waste!

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 12:51AM

Yep, had an MBA in office from 2001 to 2009 who had never succeeded in business turn to politics so he could prove he could screw up a country just as well. Duh. Ride'em cowboy.
Cut taxes, started an unecessary war and forgot you have to watch the crooks in the mortgage and investment industries...and didn't give a damn.

jarvis| 7.19.10 @ 2:45PM

Smell good, not well.

netboyz| 7.19.10 @ 3:46PM

Your comment on last fired/first hired ignores the fact of exported jobs. I'm in the computer development business in Silicon Valley, and am far from lazy, poor personality, poor work habits. In this business, companies are moving work to "low-cost geographies" - India for software, Taiwan/China for semiconductors. Also, importing H1B people at lower wages here. It has become quite difficult to find skilled professional job openings in this area, as the job pool has shrunk quite a bit. I think there are similar situations in other industries.

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 4:36PM

Netboyz,
You hit the nail on the head! And it's been going on since the late 1980's and early 1990's. Every Wednesday night at that time I used to meet friends in a fine neighborhood pub for conversation et al. We had a regular who was doing real well with his computer business punching numbers for hospitals in our area. He didn't like the salaries he had to pay out to his employees so he transferred the business to India and did it "on line" from there and made himself even more money. A stalwart Democrat he was too, and from a wealthy family in local politics. His father later became Mayor of his city. We would "rip him a new one" routinely after that.

And much as I admire Ben and the other writers on this Magazine, at that time, they were probably writing articles defending this practice and praising "Free" Market economics!

ACynic| 7.19.10 @ 7:21PM

Let's be very clear about job outsourcing. The federal , state and local govts have done absolutely everything possible to encourage, if not force, employers to hire offshore workers. Onerous rules, regulations, taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes, and stifling bureaucracy are the prime causes of this.
You cannot cite one instance, NOT ONE, when a domestic employer was offered by our "government," at any level, meaningful tax and regulatory breaks, if jobs were kept here in the states.
Our govt - at all levels - is now run by individuals who, for the most part, have never in their lives held a real job (i.e, outside the public sector) or ever ran a business, who only know what left-progressive socialists academics have "taught" them in college.
The US Congress is mostly lawyers who have never run a business. We have a president who in his entire adult life never had a real job.
Our govt. is run by a ruling, millionaire elitist, self -anointed aristocracy who have total contempt for the average person, business and capitalism in general. They answer only to the corrupt unions, radical environmentalists, poverty-pimps organizations like the NAACP, and municipal workers who are bankrupting our cities and states .
By no means do I mean to suggest that all the outsourced jobs would be saved if our "own govt. " was more responsive to business here in the USA. But certainly, many more jobs would be here today if not for the deleterious actions of our govt.
Our govt today, at all levels, is the govt. of NO. No, you cannot do this, NO you cannot do that, NO, NO, NO NO NO. They no longer look to better the lives of ordinary citizens. They merely look to line their own pockets at the expense of the citizenry, while they, the ruling elites of govt., travel and live and retire on the dime of the working american family.
The American Revolution was set off by British actions far far less repulsive and extreme than those being committed today by our federal, state and local govts against the american citizenry and american business.
Revolutions do not start by the majority violently expressing their discontent against a ruling tyrannical govt who answer only to those who,literally, pay them off. It is always a small determined group who set off the conflagration, and then it gathers steam, until the corrupt, elitist ruling class is eliminated.
It WILL happen here.
It WILL happen here.

mike| 7.20.10 @ 1:06PM

let's be very clear..it doesn't matter what incentives, regulations, etc. are given corporate scum. they will take the cheaper option every time, no matter who it hurts.

Bdub| 7.20.10 @ 2:21PM

The purpose of any firm -- corporate or not -- is to maximize the wealth of the equity stakeholders. That's how business works, mike. The incentives created by regulation are what drives companies to hire offshore. The incentives matter. Corporate "scum" (I assume you mean directors) are only doing what they have been hired to do when they cut costs. Sounds like you would be happier in Cuba, dude.

E Schmidt| 7.27.10 @ 4:55PM

So wait, what you're saying is that the people who run companies work hard to make money for the people who invest in companies? Golly, geewilickers Batman.

People who are intelligent with their money and opportunities, succeed and become wealthier. They put that money into investments, to allow other, even more successful, people help them become more successful while at the same time helping themselves. It is a perfect system with no losers, except those dumb enough not to play.

Calla Lily| 7.22.10 @ 3:24PM

ACynic, I most certainly agree with your comments! While once our government was comprised of citizens who left their jobs to SERVE as a representative of the People in their district/state, and returned to their jobs at the end of their time in office, now they are professional politicians with absolutely NO IDEA as to how to run a business, live within their means, or use any kind of common sense, because THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY!!!! How did we go from being a self-governed republic led by those working people who had great ideas of how to lead the nation to an empire bent on world conquest by the elitists who have mostly no practical experience in any area of business or even had a real job to speak of? I believe that a revolution is brewing, and have said so for the last five years. It will come, the only thing we do not know is WHEN, but I believe it to be very soon! I pray that we will become a true republic once again!

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 6:35PM

". . . a true republic once again." ?

Maybe the true republic we started with is the same true republic we still have.

Perhaps you are uncomfortable with true republics?

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:01AM

Let's see now,
The House of Representatives, which initiates legislation required to finance the federal government, had a Republican majority from 1997 to 2007

The Senate, which writes amendments/approves the tax legislation that the House writes, had a Republican majority from 1997 to 2001. The Senate was evenly split from 2001 through 2002 with the Republican vice president having the deciding vote and the Republicans regained control again from 2003 through 2008.

The policy of the Republican administration as it affected business and industry was one of laissez-faire. This left the financial institutions, including the mortgage lenders, free to do whatever they felt they could get away with. Political appointees to government agencies were in the hands of a Republican president from 2001 to 2009.

Where in this do we find left-progressive socialists?

MizMurphy| 7.23.10 @ 7:18AM

AMEN!

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 6:31PM

ACynic,

You have every right to be a cynic.

Given that the evil, corrupt, elitist and rich ruling class was put in place by elections bought in the media by the donations of that same class, it's no surprise that we - you and I and all of us - hoodwinked by the media and seduced by the vitriol of the talk show hosts are electing them into place so they can screw us.

But, then, we sort of asked for it, didn't we?

So, in your proposed conflagrational cleansing, if we get burned along with the ruling elite who hoodwinked and seduced us - should we keep on whining?

How about some constructive dialog in place of pitiful, whining, responsibility-shedding analysis?

Tully| 7.19.10 @ 10:34PM

Regardless of whether last/first applies, those who get back on their feet the quickest will be those who have solid portable work skills (inlcuding PEOPLE skills) and habits that apply across fields, and train up to expertise in new or related skills the quickest.

Rick Barlow| 7.20.10 @ 8:57PM

Seth Godin's perceptions on these issues are sharp. He, too, puts the responsibility on the individual to make yourself sufficiently valuable to sustain and propel your employment opportunities. Nobody in the US is hiring people with your skills? Is the answer some kind of restriction or tariff? Or do you simply have to change something in your life?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 6:46PM

Yeah! You should move to Taiwan, PRC, Malaysia, Thailand, even India. Then get a new skill set. Maybe get the new skill set here before you leave. The US government pays to educate you in skills viable in those countries, right? And, if you've lost the free government training 'cause you've finally got that job flipping burgers, well, take out a loan. No, not from the government. From Goldman-Sachs! I'm sure you're a good credit risk.

Not viable? Try teaching yourself from Wikipedia. It's quality and it's free. Unless you're holding down two jobs.

Hey, Rick! I'm not doing such a good job giving useful advice. Perhaps you could help me out by being more specific.

joe dokes| 7.19.10 @ 3:55PM

Ben you become more of an ahole every day. I worked for a semiconductor manufacturer where they laid off 700 of 1300 workers. They didn't pick and choose, they just made what they called a 'business decision' and maid off the people involved in manufacturing the product that they couldn't sell.

Crusader| 7.19.10 @ 10:44PM

The man clearly said that there were exceptions . Your the ahole.

Jeff Bridges| 7.20.10 @ 5:07PM

It's you're when you mean you are, your is possessive.

it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people assume you are an idiot, than to type your tripe on the screen and confirm it.....

Jon| 7.21.10 @ 12:14AM

Jeff and Joe, sitting in a tree....

Wiseup| 7.22.10 @ 2:38AM

@Jeff Bridges:
Since you're so anxious to point out corrections Jeff, ellipses are formed with three dots. When ending a sentence not followed by another, correct use is three dots for the ellipsis plus the period, totalling four dots, not five.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:07AM

Where did we get off to English lessons. This could go on and on and on and..........

Stevend| 7.19.10 @ 4:02PM

I think you are off the mark regarding the first hired, last fired bit. That's just not how it works.

That said, I appreciate the nod towards prudence. In fact, inprudent behavior is what caused the mess in the first place. It's amazing to me that our govt., now, seems to be saying that the best solution is for the govt. to be imprudent...something just doesn't add up.

Dope and Chains| 7.19.10 @ 4:22PM

Ben, Point Number Two reminds me of a great old Clint Eastwood line: "Deservin's got nothing to do with it." I'm extremely overjoyed that you've had nothing but good luck during your career, but many of us have encountered layoff after layoff not because we didn't know how to work and/or how to get along, but because we followed our dreams into industries which turned out to be duds. I've faced three layoffs during a 25-year career. The layoffs in each case were wholesale, not selective, since they occurred as part of a division's termination. My wife and I have spent the past several years building a freelance business, which was just starting to gain momentum recently – until Comrade Clueless and the Congressional neo-Communists started doing their damnedest to destroy this nation's entrepreneurial spirit, that is.

I usually eat up everything you write, but c'mon, Ben – admit that you were being a jerk who's got his here.

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 4:41PM

I hope Ben read Professor Angelo Codevilla's article here over the weekend and I hope this article isn't his response to it!

Gern| 7.19.10 @ 5:32PM

I was laid off as a part of an entire division back in 2000. I don't think I would have had much trouble finding work, it would have meant moving though. Had I been willing to move I'd of had no problem finding a job. Someone in a country this large would have hired me because I had many previous employers would would have been happy to give me a glowing recommendation. I didn't want to move though, so I helped start a company competing with the employer who closed the division. Today, those who made the decision to lay us off are long gone, but we are a thriving company, continuing to grow even in this economy. We owe our success to that fact we all work hard and smart. I don't think Ben is saying firings are never indiscriminate, only that those with a strong work ethic, willing to do what it takes to get a job, even move to another state, won't be out of work long.

Bruce in Jersey| 7.23.10 @ 5:21AM

Uh, so your freelance business was gaining momentum until Obama started killing the entrepreneurial spirit? You're sure the bursting of the real estate bubble and the financial meltdown under Bush had nothing to do with it?

Neo| 7.19.10 @ 5:27PM

I hear today that the Pennsylvania budget is full of holes. There is $350 million completely missing, while another $800 million Rendell was hoping would come from the feds now is "wishful thinking."

There is the expectation that PA taxes could double after the election. even after layoffs in the thousands to come.

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 6:51PM

Neo,
I live in PA and I can tell you that it isn't so full of holes so that Gov. Rendell couldn't find $10,000.000.00 to give to soon to be unemployed Senator Arlen Specter for his Library which cost him $6,000,000.00! He also found another 10 million for something to honor the late congressman John Murtha.

Taxes will certainly go up. The Republicans have to win here in November to control redistricting. PA will lose one congressman for sure and maybe two.

Petronius| 7.19.10 @ 5:59PM

Unsaid above all is the sea change in American business and industry facilitated by the computer industry and the information revolution. Over the past 25 years the loop has closed and we no longer work the way we did when I started in 1970. At that time there was still a lot of places the unskilled could make a decent living full time.
Today, anybody who does not understand computers and information technologies is DOA in this job market.
People also do not understand that the boom during the 90's was an aberrant effect of this. All of the savings to our business community went straight to the bottom lines and share prices reflected it to the point that margin buying and short squeezes week after week caused the tech wreck in 2000. The other item that went unnoticed was that corporate profits far outdistanced the Federal Governments appetite for confiscation, courtesy of Bob Rubin. After he quit, Congress opened the gate of the pig pen. That degree of expansion cannot be duplicated again. The biggest problem for those in the labor market is the change in the nature of conducting business as well as method. The human resource officers who cannot stand to see one gray hair cross the threshold of the conference room checkmates all in the twilight of their careers before an interview begins. Above all, employers want a docile workforce of automatons who expect little. Why go back to work?

BackToBasics| 7.20.10 @ 1:01AM

The so-called dearth in skilled labor among American-born citizens is greatly overstated. It is an excuse to bring in more H1-B via foreigners in order to keep the wages lower. There are pleant of ex-engineers who still have good skills and who have degrees and many years experience as engineers and technicians who are now underemployed or unemplioyes. At the same time CERO's clamor to Washington to increase the H1-B via quotas even more. Its a travesty and really is treasonous at its lowest level to hurt those like this who were born here, went to universities and worked very hard. Now they are in their 40's and 50's and cannot find work largely due millions of foreigners who get the jobs instead on the H1-B visa program. All Americans who are or were in the various sciences are or were greatly affected by this H1-B visa program. Howver the lawyers were not insourced or outsourced in the same way!!! Interesting how this worked out, isn't it??? I realize that law is different in this regard but it is still an interstesting fact nevertheless. ...Professional worry or fear or envy perhaps on the part of those who make the laws? This is coupled with CEO's who lobby DC to keep wages low and thus bring in foreign competition for American jobs through not only the visa programs but also through illegal immigration! See my note above about discrimination against older white males.

John2| 7.20.10 @ 6:10PM

Good point, the US has no shortage of skills. There is a shortage of highly skilled people who want to work for $30k.

I feel a surge of optimism when I look at the wave of highly skilled people taking entrepreneurial path. We are not going to have a workforce of predominantly corporate employee types.

Now this serpent of a president is making it as hard as possible for good people to succeed, but he will be defanged in November. And remember, the smart investment money is on the sidelines; it will come back in when we dump this little boy.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:19AM

Most of whom you are referring to here are white collar workers. Don't say "unskilled at that time".

The construction industry is hurting badly too and it is a huge employer of blue collar skilled and unskilled workers.

Rob Johnson| 7.19.10 @ 6:08PM

Am I really supposed to cry over the fact that an over-entitled rich white man in his 60s is seeing people he knows in "desperation" for the first time EVER in his entire life?

Stein's whole piece is the most shameless example I've ever seen of the "It isn't a problem unless it affects me" mentality. I will at least give Ben some points for being so honest.

Is it even possible that Stein doesn't realize how comical it is when he breatlessly tells us that people are worried about the economy even in the "tony neighborhoods" he hangs out in like Beverly Hills? Oh my God! Do you mean some poor socialite is having to settle for a SINGLE latte instead of a double? Oh, the humanity!

Welcome to the real world, Ben. This is how most Americans have been living for most of your life, however blind you have been to that fact. How does it feel to be a totally self-obsessed narcissist who is just now becoming aware to the reality that life is full of pain and suffering?

Larry Siegel| 7.20.10 @ 3:16AM

I really don't think most Americans live with the daily fear of destitution. The average American makes $48,000 a year and that average includes students, retirees, and so forth. Life may not be a bowl of cherries for the average American nor is it a pit of misery, unless you are taking some radical social science professor's word for it.

JB| 7.20.10 @ 5:13PM

OMG - you didn't just say that did you Larry?

There should be an intelligence test for voting, that would solve this whole pissed off right wing thing.

It is time you old people started to die off already, you're messing it all up for the young ones who don't want to have anything to do with your hate, bigotry, anger and downright mean-ness towards everyone who doesn't look like or think like you.

Get over yourselves, you sound like my crazy grandmother ranting against the coloreds at the dinner table, it's embarrassing.

John2| 7.20.10 @ 6:12PM

Now, JB, don't forget to wipe and flush.

Kevin| 7.21.10 @ 12:59PM

When you say "average" American, do you mean the person in the exact middle of the salary spectrum, with half the population making more, half the population making less? Is that household income, or per full-time employee, or what?

In a village of 100 where 50 people make $1 million a year, and 50 people make nothing, the "average" salary is $500,00 a year. Only nobody makes that, or anywhere near it.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:21AM

BINGO!

Junius| 7.19.10 @ 6:16PM

Ben Stein has become one of the arrogant, elitest class that he purports to detest as a "conservative". Various industries are in shambles (mine is construction management) and he as a member of talking head media class has the gall to muse that most of the unemployed have "poor work habits or unpleasant personalities etc. I guess millions and millions of Americans out of work all share these traits. By the way Ben you mention that a lot of your friends have lost their jobs or are losing their homes. Wonder how your friends like your discriptions of them as people with poor work habits or unpleasant personalities. Apparently now that they have joined the great unwashed unemployable class they are no longer fit to be labeled as friends. You need to come down out of your elitest enclave and spend some time with the rest of us poor slobs who make up the middle class of our country. You will find that the marxist anti-business government has devasted the economy and that millions and millions of hard working Americans are suffering badly as a result. I too have survived several recessions but this is a border line depression and will not get any better until a fundamental change in our government takes place. In the meantime why don't you devote yourself to helping bring about the change with your superior economic knowledge. You sir, have lost my respect.

TKE919| 7.21.10 @ 11:00AM

"You will find that the marxist anti-business government has devasted [sic] the economy and that millions and millions of hard working Americans are suffering badly as a result. "

Hmmm ... the recession began in 2008, after the seeds of it were planted from 2001 - 2007.

So in your opinion, Republicans -- who ran the entire federal government from '01 - '06, and two of the three branches from '06 - 08 -- are a bunch of company-destroying Marxists?

I'd just call them greedy a$$holes, but your mileage may vary.

It's both amusing and sad to see you (and so many others 'round here) act as if all of American history began around Jan. 20, 2009. That's a neat trick.

Oh, and Ben: When Comedy Central canceled your show, was it because you didn't wear clean clothes? Or did you not call enough people "sir" or "ma'am"?

And thank you for proving that your knowledge about the current crisis and how to solve it is on par with my five-year-old's understanding of particle physics and string theory.

Ken | 7.21.10 @ 2:49PM

Wow, it's ALL Bush's fault!! We got 11 trillion in debt without a Democrat spending a dime of it!! All those bad loans the Gov sponsored via Fanny and Freddy ... the Dems had nothing to it!! As someone just said ... "And thank you for proving that your knowledge about the current crisis and how to solve it is on par with my five-year-old's understanding of particle physics and string theory".

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:35AM

To repeat:

Let's see now,
The House of Representatives, which initiates legislation required to finance the federal government, had a Republican majority from 1997 to 2007

House 1997 to 2007
Senate 1997 to 2008
Administration 2001 to 2009
Taking a budget surplus in 1999 to what we saw as of 2008 seems to be pretty self explanatory doesn't it?

Lisa| 7.15.11 @ 12:02PM

Irregardless of your so-called "facts" and "reality-based perceptions", I would still prefer to believe that the economic calamity is the fault of the fascist lib'ruls and their Marxist boy president.

And yes, it IS "irregardless", don't even try to refudiate that. I will NOT be reasoned with!

Bachmann/Palin 2012

Vicki Hamer| 7.19.10 @ 6:28PM

Mr. Stein - I have long enjoyed your comments on TV and in print but this article has left me feeling very bad about myself. You see I have been unemployed for 18 months and to read your article I must be a "less than desired" employee. I am a female, age 53 who is an architectural draftsperson in South Carolina. I am a conservative person who takes work very seriously. This whole situation has been quite an "eye opener" for me and if I could change my situation, believe me, I would. You are probably correct that some people that were laid off were less than desirable employees. But for you to characterize "all" as the same is quite demeaning.

Jason S| 7.19.10 @ 6:46PM

Don't pay too much attention to the author - he is after all an actor, and therefore very far removed from the reality that 99% of us face. When he talks of desperation, he's referring to his friends who had to downgrade to a 6,000 sf house from a 12,000 sf house and sell one of the yachts.

Ken| 7.21.10 @ 2:53PM

I hear you. I thought much more about Ben before I read this.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:39AM

Vicki,
He's a comedian for God's sake. If you take anything he says seriously you miss the point.

Jason S| 7.19.10 @ 6:42PM

The prudent are also getting the shaft in the form of higher taxes to bail out big spenders. My neighbor buys a gold bathtub and then gets a mortgage modification for missing enough payments. Meantime I stayed within my means and have not missed enough payments to qualify, but will have to pay (through taxation and higher prices) for his modification. This is why we are pissed off - because our squirreling away looks so foolish now in light of the rules being changed in the middle of the game.

Pat| 7.19.10 @ 6:50PM

Simple prudence – it might have worked for your grandparents – but these days it’s gotten a bad rap. For months now, Americans have lowered their personal debts, the financial websites are shouting about this “bad news” – reducing credit card debt, saving money, paying off mortgages, foregoing vacations – we once thought that was good thing but nowadays who knows? If 70% of the American economy is “personal consumption”, then prudence could be considered a social disease where irresponsible folks decide it’s smarter to put something away than hit the mall or the BMW dealer.

Unemployment numbers remain stubbornly immune to “stimulus”, the stock market is presently schizo and is begging the voices to stop and the Wall St. bankers would sell their own children in order to get their hands on more of your wealth. But Americans keep stuffing their hard earned dough under their mattresses – seems we’re worried about something – imagine that. The Democrats say: “Stop worrying, spend some money, give a deserving guy or gal a job”. But do we listen? Americans had better have a care, we could end up financially secure and then what would happen to this country?

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 1:51AM

Pat,
Regarding your comment: "Unemployment numbers remain stubbornly immune to 'stimulus'".

The official unemployment rate continues at just under 10% but the true unemployment rate is 19% when you include the long term disillusioned who are no longer looking. As the economy hires these long termers will slowly gravitate back to looking and be counted. For this reason the unemployment numbers will not change for quite a while.

The middle class is what drives the economy and is the reason that supply side economics doesn't work. The cash has to come out from under the matresses but it will probably be slowly and increase as consumer confidence takes hold.

I've been here half the night. Do an Edit/Find and look for my comments.

TBids| 7.29.10 @ 2:01AM

Pat thank you for putting the irony of the spend/save debacle into perspective!

Bob K.| 7.19.10 @ 7:11PM

Ben,
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but in one of your older Diary episodes didn't you write about how your father worked his way through Williams waiting on Frat Tables? Or was that the reminiscence of the son of another famous Economist?

Think about it. Can any poor talented student get through Williams now working as a waiter? Will any poor person not approved first by "America's Ruling Class" ever be able to get in there anymore?

Focus on the big picture!

Wally| 7.19.10 @ 7:56PM

wow Ben you really know how to make friends...
here in New Zealand real unemployment is about 20% far more if you count only men...
and most of us do take a shower every few days...

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 2:02AM

Good morning Wally, good night to the rest of you but for a parting shot.

Things look pretty dim right now but have faith.

Fact #1 - On average it takes the first term to recover from the previous administratios policies.

Fact #2 - Obama wants to be re-elected to a second term. I have faith that his decisions are the correct direction but the challenge is the greatest since 1932. It will take time.

Fact #3 - Obama is a pragmatist. Under normal circumstances his policies would be moderare/middle of the road. These are not normal times and he knows that if things don't look better by early 2012 he loses the second term.

Fact #4 - Ben Stern makes his living as a comedian. Have a laugh at the views of an idiot and leave it at that. Taking him seriously will give you ulcers.

Ben Cook| 7.19.10 @ 8:13PM

Yours is the first punditry I've read that speaks to the B team being the unemployed (and unemployable). Very good and about time. I do doubt Paulson is worst SecTrea ever. Rather I think he was predictably postwar average: Slavishly succumbing to decades of group think, avarice and indolence. Unfortunately I sense no change in lower Manhattan.

KB| 7.19.10 @ 8:15PM

In the 25 years since I graduated from College, I have lived in Georgia, New York, and today in California (I'm from NY).

Having lived in a "Red" state and 2 "Blue" states there is no comparison. At the State level, despite the occasional Republican figurehead (talking to you Pataki and Arnie), NY and Cali have been controlled by the Dem's and destroyed by the Dem's and their policies. Be it high taxes, tacit endorsement of illegal immigration, or systemic domination by public service unions (and their demand for guarantees no other gainful employment provides).

I don't ask you to believe me, just look at these 2 states, who has controlled them for the most part, and the sorry state they are in. It's irrefutable.

Andrew Vander Dussen| 7.19.10 @ 8:34PM

you almost had me going there ben - about how tough things are in CA. Until you made the "women selling their bodies" comment. Me thinks you exagerrate just a little...

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 2:30PM

Eithr Ben is hitting the slums or the women of Brentwood are getting desperate.

Ken| 7.19.10 @ 8:43PM

This hit LAWYERS!?!?!? Good.

Jeffrey| 7.19.10 @ 9:08PM

Ben, in 2006 Peter Schiff warned you and every one else that a category five economic monster was about to hit. But you and all your now underwater friends ignored and laughed at him. True you're an economist, but of what use is an economist who is blind and without foresight?

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 3:27PM

First you will have to determine what kind of an economist he thinks he is. He certainly doesn't put much thought into action/reaction issues.

He is a supply sider and every time supply side economics has been tried it has had the same results. Only this time there are other political errors that exacerbated the problem.

Recession and expansion cycles normally run in predictable cycles but laissez faire and supply side economics always have the same effect.

Middle class purchasing power drives the economy not supply of product. What happens when there is a large supply of product but no one with the cash to buy? Prices fall and corporate profits fall. When profits fall the stock market falls. When the stock market falls the investors (primarily the wealthy) lose capital gains income. RECESSION!

Ann Brenoff | 7.19.10 @ 10:39PM

Ben, they also lay off the highest paid. Your arrogance is astounding. As an economist, you should realize that one nationally syndicated columnist (that'd be me) gets paid twice what a"citizen journalist-blogger" earns and thus laying off one experienced writer makes more corporate sense. It also makes for some really crappy journalism, but no one seems to care about that.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 3:29PM

He is NOT an economist. He is a "comedian".

Frank G| 7.19.10 @ 11:05PM

Ben Stein, you are heartless.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 3:40PM

It walks, it talks, it bobs it's head. It has a heart.
It lacks the ability for coherent thinking. It is therefore BRAINLESS.

Andrew P| 7.20.10 @ 12:57AM

-- Of course people are losing their homes, Ben. We just had the greatest speculative real estate bubble in history. Houses were overvalued by 2x, 3x, or even more. And many are still overvalued despite the huge drop in price. What I find amazing is that so many people were willing to buy overvalued houses in 2003, 2004, and onwards. Nearly everyone knew it was a bubble, yet few people thought of the consequences of that bubble popping. Especially in states where the lender has recourse to your other assets and you can't just walk away. For god sakes, with a recent experience of the dot com bubble bursting in 2001, people should have known better.

-- The only reason that annuities have paid off is the AIG bailout and TARP. If AIG had not been bailed out by the Fed, most insurance companies would have gone under, and most annuities would be worthless. AIG alone had over a trillion dollars in annuity and life insurance obligations. Most of the assets backing annuities are the preferred stocks of large financial institutions and industrials.

waggoner41| 7.23.10 @ 3:57PM

I worked as a part time real estate agent up to the beginning of 2002. Those who were homeowners moving up had little problem other than an outsized mortgage that they could still afford even though the value was not there.

It was the first time buyer who had a problem. They were naive regarding the home buying process and beginning in early 2001 I watched as creative mortgages were being invented for them. Debt percentages were altered and stated income mortgages were written. The mortgage lenders and real estate agents worked them over and convinced them how good a deal they were getting just to put money in their own pockets.

For these 1st time buyers saw it as the opportunity of a lifetime - to own a home. It wasn't willingness to buy, it was desperation to buy prodded by naivete and unscrupulous lenders and agents.

You are right on about the annuity/insurance companies and the bailout. I'm betting that the bailout I quit selling real estate because my clients were being doomed to failure.

You are right on about the annuity/insurance bailout. I'm betting that the bailout saved Ben's butt.

hmmmm| 7.20.10 @ 2:47AM

I am also an older, but obviously wiser, persioner who would never gloat and bleat like an elitist old goat.

MOST people are unemployed because they WERE intelligent and well paid, and often either older or the newest. Many are straight out of college and can't find work... so how dare you?

That you sit their and gloat and opine that your friends are in trouble... is more then mildly irritating.

Should I wish that your world gets turned upside down so you might suffer and regret your remark? Should I wish you to be depressed as you struggle?

Nah, elitists bums like yourself do poorly when they are down and out. Karma just might make you eat those nasty words.

Joe| 7.20.10 @ 6:53AM

High salary hero's priced themselves out of the labor force.
It works the same in blue collar jobs, the layed off auto worker or union truck driver is skipped over by employers offering lower wages because they don't want to hire somebody who will be unhappy with working harder for lower pay.

Nobody is interested in hiring spoiled people.

Many white collar workers have been lead to believe they are highly skilled and valuable employee's becuase they where very well paid. Anyone who has dealt with local politics where town councils & school boards are full of white collar workers knows full well lots of well educated and well paid people really aren't any big prize. Lots of people with very big ego's and not much real ability.

cripes| 7.22.10 @ 2:06PM

Joe has a race-to-the-bottom mentality. Can't hire an experienced person with a good compensation history. Can't hire a person without a good work history. Can't hire a person who's been laid off. Well, which is it, a-hole? Oh, I now, just hire FOB H1B cheap labor, then blame it on the "Dems!" Jer.

Loxy Bagel| 7.20.10 @ 9:22AM

Wow, Ben, I'm glad I'm not your friend. I'd hate to hear how you talk about your enemies.

Valerie| 7.20.10 @ 10:00AM

Articles like this just show how out of touch people are with each other. Every area, state etc is different. I am from SoCal and remember never having any problem finding a job. Those times have changed. My husbands worked for the same furniture company since high school, we now live in the famous NC furniture mart area. Guess what? That furniture mart is gone. Broyhill, Kincaid, Bernhardt etc are all made in Mexico or China (Thanks Clinton).
It is easy for those with the I got mine attitude to say they live through this or that, my generation is living it now, and odds are our children wont even get to realize the american dream. I know for me and my husband we sure wont. We work hard and for what? To be laid off and looked at as if its our fault or were lazy because every jobs been outsourced?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 7:05PM

Valerie.

"Odds are our children wont even get to realize the american dream."

Consider the possibility that we, the American people, still have the power to create a world in which that dream, or a dream even better, can come about.

Bailout Bob| 7.20.10 @ 11:22AM

If only the unemployed could get Billions and Billions and Billions from the Fed to keep their failed ponzi scheme going like the Banksters.

countervail| 7.20.10 @ 11:34AM

Dear Mr. Stein,

I can only conclude from your second point that you must have an excellent work ethic and a good personality since we see you at work hawking question credit report products, posting highly subjective posts like the one above and finally stepping in as the conservative banana when someone like Dennis Miller or Stephen Baldwin is unavailable. Keep up the good work!

Oh and by the way, I thought you might need reminded it was your father who was the economist, not you.

Ray| 7.20.10 @ 3:03PM

Actually, Mr. Stein graduated from Columbia in 1966 with a degree in economics.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 7:24PM

"Again, there are powerful exceptions and I know some, but when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative."

Degree or not, a real economist would not spout Ben's blather.

Roughly speaking, layoffs are done on a bottom-line basis rather than on productivity, which is distinct.

Henry Tisdale| 7.22.10 @ 1:05PM

Countervail, you come as close to being a knowledgeable human being as any one dimensional thinker I have read. Mr. Stein would not waste his time as I am doing just to let you know you should return to school and listen to those liberal profs show you the way to the abyss. Man, you need a lot more between your ears to file adverse remarks against someone like Ben Stein, who would never answer you other than to say, "Hey, this is what conservatives live for - to make sure you always have that liberty. Now me, I ain't that calm and cool, so I will tell you that your thinking is still "tween" (just beginning teen age). Grow up or growl down at the snakes and snails and think how nice the earth is without Marx and Engels and with the ACLU on its way out. LOL with Obama, which way does an angelic changer of life turn, eh?

mike| 7.20.10 @ 11:42AM

you're right! if only i was a better worker and would work for the same price as my Indian replacements. fuck you ben

onionskin| 7.22.10 @ 1:09PM

Surely, Mike, you have a better salute than that. I'm shocked. I recommend some remedial study for you big guy.

Aldorossi| 7.20.10 @ 11:43AM

Very serious commentary from someone whose contribution to the economy is to mug for the camera while an animated rodent hawks a shady credit score scheme.

Take that you unemployed construction workers. It wasn't the speculative real estate bubble, you just had a wild hair up your a**. Now go take a happy pill and get back to work.

That was easy.

SAB| 7.20.10 @ 12:01PM

What a waste of time this column is. Is Ben really saying that he's just noticed that people with poor work habits and disfunctional personalities are more likely than other people to be laid off? When in human history has that not been the case? Isn't the unique thing about this recession that so many good workers and people are losing their jobs with dim prospects of regaining them? Fancypants degrees aside, Ben, this is not the work of an "economist."

Synnamin| 7.20.10 @ 5:06PM

Well said.

I'm one of the top players in my industry, a non-profit specialist, and I was recently laid off, despite the best efforts of my boss. But my place of work was absorbed by another, and the workforce was reduced from 24 to 4. Because I work for non profits, I know that I will have to move where the work is. But in the meantime, in the interest of conserving cash, I'll have to move out of state and into my parents' basement while I continue writing, learning, and looking for work.

This isn't a sob story; it's an example of what's really happening out there. I'm not alone, and I know good people who're in the same boat. If it were a different economy, I know I, and my colleagues, would be snapped up extremely quickly (and, in some ways, I have - landed a consulting gig 2 weeks after I was laid off, but it's one week a month).

I have to take umbrage at the gall of Mr. Stein to assume that most unemployed are just lazy slobs. This is a picture that many conservatives have of the lower and middle classes, that people are reliant upon a welfare state and refuse to work productive lives. There are quite a lot of those sorts of people, sure, but the majority of Americans, liberal and conservative, have pride in working, WANT to work, and WANT the American dream. It's not their fault that there are six people applying for every available position. To simply assume the jobs are out there and people aren't taking them because of a poor work ethic is disingenuous at best and insulting to most Americans at worst.

Jim| 7.20.10 @ 12:05PM

Has anyone noticed that 10+ million illegal aliens who are currently holding jobs in the US is about equal to what it would take to get the country pretty close to full employment? Just saying . . . .

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 7:38PM

"With corporate America sitting on $1.3 trillion, small business incapable of hiring and states going broke there are, counting long term unemployed, 25,000,000 workers without jobs. That is 19% of the workforce. "

Waggoner41 says above that it's now 25 million out of work. I trust his figures.

If true, sending 10+ million hard-working folks back to their non-domestic country of origin wouldn't amount to much here.

Larry| 7.20.10 @ 12:17PM

Mr. Stein demonstrates a stunningly outdated view of how corporate downsizing occurs. Downsizing decisions are generally performed in a top down fashion, with the number of heads to be cut first being decided. The layoffs are then executed at the level of the divisions, product line, office site, etc. Furthermore, Human Resources departments, with no understanding of the underlying job functions much less individual performance, are intrinsically involved in the layoff process.

No doubt that some people are let go because of their work habits or attitudes. However, the idea that Mr. Stein can survey the ranks of the unemployed to determine their personalities and work habits is a joke.

You Must Be Joking| 7.20.10 @ 12:52PM

This is possibly the most ridiculously out-of-touch, elitist, class-ist nonsense I have ever read. If you were human I'd expect you to be ashamed of yourself. I do not carry that expectation.

Screamin' Demon| 7.20.10 @ 2:16PM

"You will find that the marxist anti-business government has devasted the economy and that millions and millions of hard working Americans are suffering badly as a result."

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone describe the Bush/Cheney maladministration as Marxist and anti-business.

Jim| 7.22.10 @ 1:03AM

Then you haven't been paying attention.

BW| 7.20.10 @ 2:31PM

People, all you need to know is that Ben Stein supported Barack Obama in 2008. For that alone, his judgement should forever be called into question. I read him now just for giggles.

Bueller? Bueller?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 7:52PM

If Ben Stein voted for Barack Obama in 2008, then the country and world will look forward to his continued support in rebuilding this nation after the devastation wreaked by the previous administration.

Thank you in advance, Mr. Stein.

Solipslip| 7.20.10 @ 3:02PM

too many damned lawyers anyway; they weren't and aren't needed, too

producing nothing; sucking the soul from business and a constant unnerving threat

Scott| 7.20.10 @ 3:14PM

Mr. Stein's #2 is the most ridiculous bit of information I have come across today. There is no evidence to support this and it is simple the spouting of a cold and heartless fool whose own economic expertise is highly in question.

tsg| 7.20.10 @ 3:23PM

"But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work."

Is there any actual "survey" Stein can cite to back up his assertion, or did he just pull it out of his backside. Perhaps he's surveying people in the very tony neighborhoods where he hang outs, like Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage and Malibu?

Stein is an aloof buffoon, untethered to reality and utterly clueless and unconcerned about the realities of middle and working class Americans. Someone needs to whack this mole on the head and send him scurrying into a dark hole.

Carol Anne| 7.20.10 @ 4:10PM

I absolutely agree. "Blame the victim" is a direct rip-off of the Rethug playbook, and shows Stein as their lackey.

I know too many people who are out of work BECAUSE THERE ARE NO JOBS! Our roads and bridges and other infrastructure are decaying from lack of funds, and Federal budgets have sucked the life out of Cities and Counties who are responsible for that maintenance. Yet, you (by "you," I mean the irresponsible people who believe unemployment is a CHOICE), won't allow decent stimulus FUNDING (no tax cut EVER produced revenue for any but the rich!) to put people back to work.

This article was disgusting and indicative of a way of thinking that is totally divorced from reality, out here in the 'Stix.

halleck| 7.20.10 @ 4:06PM

You, sir....are a fucking lunatic.

Conservative Bob| 7.20.10 @ 4:06PM

Ben the right adjectives fail me.
If this was meant to be humorous you missed the mark badly. If you think the limited self deprecation at the end excuses the overall content you are wrong there as well.
I have been self employed most of my 40 plus working years. At present I own a recruiting business and daily talk with people who have been displaced or are about to be displaced by this recession. I also talk to their co workers and former employers. Your description of most the unemployed is inconsistent with what I hear first hand from references and employers.
Like many who are readers here, I have worked my entire life rarely missing a day. I played by the rules and have taken care of my obligations. I saved and lived within my means.
The majority of my retirement was consumed when the market plummeted in 08 and last year. I am still employed but recruiting in an economy that has improved to shed only 426000 jobs per week is not as lucrative as it was in past years. I have weathered the storm so far, but I can see the bottom of the barrel and it is at times scary. I will never be able to retire, or if so certainly not at the level I have saved all my life to provide.
I continue to pay my bills on time and adjust my living standard as necessary.
I am not certain what form of clairvoyance or good fortune placed your savings in an instrument that has thus far been spared the decline that has hit most of the rest of once safe investments but that is your good fortune. You would do well to have the good manners not to brag about it to those not similar blessed. I suspect that vagaries or economic upheaval had more to do with your good fortune than investment brilliance. Or as stated earlier but for the bailout of AIG you might be crowing less.
I wonder if you have the humility to apologize to those you have so wrongly disparaged and maligned?

Carol Anne| 7.20.10 @ 4:13PM

Dear "Conservative Bob:"

You 'n' I are in TOTAL agreement! Thanks for those words.

G London| 7.14.11 @ 2:50PM

Hear, hear.

Don't be holding your breath for that apology, though. This article simply exudes blockheaded smugness.

Sheri| 7.20.10 @ 4:31PM

I strongly disagree that most of the unemployed have poor work habits and bad personalities. There are many people like me who don't fit that description.

I have a very good work record, but sometimes I am discriminated against because my husband is retired military we moved around a lot. My husband finally retired and I found a job at a hospital in our new town. The hospital ran into financial difficulties and I survived several layoffs, but finally I was the last person who had been hired when every department was forced to cut more people. That wasn't my fault. I actually found another job within 6 weeks, but a few months later that pharmacy went out of business. That was not my fault either. Basically I was in the wrong places at the wrong time. By then the bottom had dropped out of the economy and no one has been hiring here for months.

My husband, who is one of the hardest working people I've ever know, then came out of semi-retirement and found a contract job so we could keep the bills paid. It was the best job he could find. His new employer is very happy with his work. But now he is going to lose his job because the company's contract is not going to be renewed. Obama wants to get rid of contract workers and replace them with permanent government workers who will be reliable Democratic voters. It's not my husband's fault that he is losing his job because of politics.

My husband and I are getting older (we are both 49) and employers just don't want older workers. There are no jobs available in our fields and there are no other jobs in other fields available around here either. We can't sell our house because we are underwater on our mortgage. One of us has to be at home after school because we have a special needs child and another child who is learning disabled. I don't think Ben Stein has any clue about the millions of people who are unemployed in this country.

Tara| 7.20.10 @ 4:42PM

The truth is that we have more workers than their are (skilled) jobs. More and more people are going to college and expect to find work as a skilled worker when they graduate. Why should college graduates and laid off workers accept work at walmart or McDonals when they could have done that right out of highschool? I can think of so many instances where unemployment pays better than most jobs that are available (walmart, McDonals) for people to accept and get off unemployment. I am a salaried scientist. I work 50 - 60 hours a week and I am being told it is not enough. I am being told that I need to work 80 hours a week for 40 hours worth of pay, even though I am only legally obligated to work a 40 hour week. If you aren't a slave to your job you are considered to have "poor work ethic". The truth is, the people at the top don't give a damn about their workers. Ben Stein can eat a turd.

Geoff Wittig| 7.20.10 @ 4:44PM

So...because the Bush/Cheney economic collapse and the Wall-Street melt-down created by his good friends at Goldman-Sachs et al have finally begun to damage people Ben Stein knows personally, he's willing to admit we're in a recession. Gosh, that's good to know. And I'm sure that the millions of Americans who have lost reasonably well-paying jobs producing real goods to decades of corporate outsourcing to China will be happy to hear Mr. Stein tell them it's their own fault for being shiftless, lazy and unpleasant.

When, exactly, was the last time Mr. Stein had an honest paying gig? One that didn't involve being a speechwriter for a disgraced President who resigned one step ahead of a well-deserved impeachment? Inquiring minds want to know.

BlueEyed Videot| 7.20.10 @ 4:50PM

Mr. Stein. Please have a glass bellybutton installed a.s.a.p. so you can truly see the mess your party's economics of greed has made of America.

Why anyone still gives you a forum to spout your nefarious twaddle is truly one of the great mysteries of the world.

Tara| 7.20.10 @ 4:54PM

If I could, I would upvote this comment.

Ralph Averill| 7.23.10 @ 5:30AM

"Nefarious twaddle". Excellent term! Worthy of Spiro who? An apt nickname for Mr. Stein. "That's Mr. Nefarious Twaddle to you, buddy."
Thanks. Made my day.

Mark Nesselhaus| 7.20.10 @ 5:26PM

Ben's topic number two leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I have had to live with not one but two layoffs in the past five years. Five years ago I was employed as a quality inspector in the military aviation field. I was 1 out of 150 let go because of contract changes. Did I have poor work habits, poor, overbearing or unpleasant personality? NO. We were let go because we were the newer employees and the union did not take into account Mr. Steins reasons at all. I was on unemployment for six months then found work making manufactured stone that at least paid the bills for three years. Then again along comes another layoff. This time the company closed due to the bust in the building industry in my area. Again my unemployment is not due to any of Mr. Steins ideas. I have now been on unemployment for over one year ( I keep getting told that I am over qualified ) and just now getting some offers, but that is only because my story made it into the local news media and companies that turned me down as over qualified decided it would look good for them to offer me a low paying job in fast food. I have been working behind the counter for one week now and I can tell you that the people in the fast food industry work harder than most that I have ever known and I have worked in fast paced factories. My wife and I have now been homeless for over a month now and had lived in a tent at first and now are living in a campground bunkhouse. So Mr Ben Stein. HOW DARE YOU make the statement that you did. Try walking in my or other unemployed shoes for a year and see if you might just change your tune.

Egan| 7.20.10 @ 5:32PM

Ben - You should be very careful when you say you "survey the ranks of those who are unemployed," considering such a statement implies that you've actually studied this issue and are basing your column on something other than out of touch anecdotal garbage.

Ishmael | 7.20.10 @ 7:10PM

Well, I'm a member of that mass of the unemployed. At 56, with an invalid wife, I can't get a new job to save my life. This despite 30 years experience in Telecom, certifications and awards and experience in virtually all phases of Broadband Network Operations. But it has nothing to do with age or health care. It's my alleged poor work habits. So, I'm going to take Mr. Stein's advice. Perhaps I should fall back on my secondary skill set in precision-guided and nuclear weaponry and take that lucrative offer from that shadowy Middle Eastern group. Not only do THEY pay well, I can probably get my pay in GOLD if I want it.

pigbitinmad| 1.7.11 @ 3:58PM

I am not an egg head like Ben Stein, but I always thought I was better at computers than the younger people (news flash: Just because you know Facebook and IM doesn't mean you are even teachable at Excel. For that you still have to know 3rd grade math). But who got laid off? Me that's who. And if I had an attitude problem it was only much later after repeated attempts to micromanage got really tired. Nobody pays any attention to who is doing what so it is always the older worker who will get let go (and I wasn't even on the Health Insurance Plan). Now we are expected to retire.

Sure does make you want to work for the enemy.

George Kimball| 7.20.10 @ 8:08PM

A very big reason this recession is so murderously slow is that businesses do not want to expand given the amount of uncertainty in the economic future.

Huge and unknown health care changes, ill-reasoned and useless financial overhaul, huge tax increases - those alone would reduce confidence. Add to them a recession, a president with no clue about basic business or economics, and an arrogant liberal Congress, and the predictable reaction is 'sit on your money' rather than 'expand your business'. It's so disheartening to watch this unfold - it's the exact same junk we saw in the late '70's, but without the decade of stunted economics that preceded it. Will it take another decade before anyone gets real again?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 8:07PM

Mr. Kimball,

An even better reason for the slow recovery than business reluctance to expand in an uncertain economy is the reluctance of the banks to lend to those businesses. The banks are sitting on trillions of dollars of idle deposits.

Can anybody here spell Whover? Hover? Hooever?

Looks like we can all spell (blameless) Obama. But not "blameless".

miforest| 7.20.10 @ 9:57PM

ben
I see lots of very capable people unemployed here in michigan. They all have one factor in common, they are over 45. that goes for engineering , accounting business, you name it. They simply so not wantto hire if you are older.

Omelas| 7.20.10 @ 10:19PM

As someone who has done consistently good work for a large corporation that happens to value seniority above all else, being one of the newer employees is likely to cost me (and other productive, talented workers) our jobs very soon. There are many companies that do not "lay off the least productive or the most negative," but rather take the easy (lazy?) way out by adopting a "last in, first out" policy, presumably designed to avoid lawsuits. And what about the companies that have eliminated entire departments or that have had to close their doors because they simply cannot afford to continue operating? Mr Stein clearly states that he has friends who are in long-term unemployment situations. Does he blame their personal hygiene habits and poor personalities? Or does that rule only apply to the rest of us plebes who don't rub elbows with the Hollywood elite?

Mike| 7.20.10 @ 11:15PM

The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.

Not everyone who's out of work was in the Bush Administration.

Pamela Troy| 7.20.10 @ 11:37PM

Just out of curiosity, Mr. Stein, how do your unemployed and desperate friends react when you explain they're in this fix because they're lazy workers and unpleasant human beings who never learned about bathing regularly or wearing appropriate clothes to the office?

ng| 7.20.10 @ 11:44PM

Idiot. you should be ashamed of yourself. Yes I'm employed

Stan| 7.20.10 @ 11:46PM

Imagine hitting a person with a car and then blocking the ambulance from getting to the victim.

That person's life may never be the same but their you are making the situation worst by blocking the only thing that can help them.

That's basically what Republicans did to the unemployed.

Your policies crashed our economy and caused 15 million people to lose their jobs and you can't pass a bill for unemployment benefits because of the deficit which your policies created.

That takes a lot of nerve.

You created the biggest entitlement give away in our history with no way to pay for it. Putting the price of the war on the backs of future generations.

Compassionate. LOL. Christians. LOL

May God have mercy on your evil souls.

It's like the Bush years never happened.

And you want to put the same people who created this mess in power.

Let's go back to the good days of the Bush admin when he was losing a million jobs a month.

Boy those were the days.

Remember when you guys were calling people traitors if they didn't spend billions on rebuilding Iraq. A foreign country you should have never invaded.

Well what do you call a person who denies unemployment benefits to the American people whom their policies put out of work.

Traitor comes to mind.

Rebuild Iraq. All for it.

Help Americans who you put out of work.

No. They are lazy.

You Republicans have a funny way of showing your Patriotism.

With so called friends like you the middle class and poor American's don't need any enemies.

We have you.

onionskin| 7.22.10 @ 1:22PM

Comedy Central is always looking for those who think like you, sir. Hey, try em out, one never knows, but don't dare show them this comment you just tossed at Mr. Stein. Pick something out that will appeal to Jon. Mentalities are very close.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 8:21PM

Stan,

Good nuke. I'm wholeheartedly behind your well-deserved Republican bashing.

So once the dust clears and the Republicans have quit listening even less than they already do (see Onionskin below), how do we, all of us, get together and conduct a productive conversation? I have to admit that I consider your post to be a productive one. But if no one is (capable of?) listening, how do we rise above Comedy Central?

Republicans: please help! Someone let us know how to get this political conversation off dead center. Can you hear us? What do you have to say that we ought to listen to? (Something constructive would help.) But maybe you just need to blow your stack and have us get it.

What could you say the we Dems could get? (We probably can't hear it if it's bashing.)

ShameOnBenStein| 7.20.10 @ 11:54PM

"...when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative. To assure that a worker is not one of them, he should learn how to work and how to get along..."

Yeah, that's it. The total and utter collapse of the auto industry had nothing to do with my layoff. They gave me bonuses, recognitions, and shuffled me around at their expense when the plants closed to keep me working because they really wanted to get rid of me? Shame on you Ben Stein. What a tool...

Underpaid then Unemployed| 7.21.10 @ 12:50AM

Ben Stein is a ignorant moron who at 65 looks like crap.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 8:24PM

Hey, everybody looks like crap at 65. I would know - I'm 66.

Pamela Troy| 7.21.10 @ 1:37AM

And now you're denying you said what you said because someone had the temerity to write a piece about it. Yes, Mr. Stein, you did "diss" the unemployed. No, you did not merely say that "many" of them had bad work habits and unpleasant personalities.

You said, "The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities."

For God's sake, at least have the guts to stand by your own words.

teabag| 7.21.10 @ 3:35AM

Talk about "overbearing and unpleasant personalities ..." Stein and his Credit Ripoff ad makes me turn the TV off as soon as it appears. Has-Ben has turned into an unctuous fool. Just go away.

opus 132| 7.21.10 @ 9:05AM

Boy, it sure is funny how many more people must have "unpleasant, overbearing personalities" and "bad work habits" now than did a few years ago, when unemployment was much lower. Ben Stein is now tut-tutting people for not being "prudent" after years of being a cheerleader for the equities markets on cable TV. What a contemptible human being!

onionskin| 7.22.10 @ 1:25PM

Come on Opus, don't be so bitter. Do you know the plural for opus?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 8:29PM

Opi?

Opera! That's it - "opera"!

Written one in your spare time lately?

Michael Doyle| 7.21.10 @ 9:12AM

What an absolutely disgusting column.

Don Cameron| 7.21.10 @ 10:02AM

Ben... You have the instincts of a dung beetle. From that ridiculous film you did to your lying about free credit reports to insulting 15 million out of work people... You should be drawn and quartered for such over-the-top Marie Antoinette BS. I hope all 15 million unemployed show up on your doorstep to pistol whip you while rabid dingos repeatedly have their way with. you

Joe| 7.21.10 @ 10:08AM

" I say “generally” because there are exceptions."

It's evident the people complaining about 2 lack reading comprehension so it's not surprising they might be out of work and where only put up with at their former jobs until the oppertunity came to clean house and not have to worry about lawsuits because the companies let go tons of people.

The deadwood was cleaned out along with other people so nobody can cry they where targeted and sue.

Everyone in the country has encountered people in business's that can't handle their jobs. Go to somebody else and it's bingo no problem and they mumble something about their coworker because it's a daily event they have to pull their coworkers weight on top of their own.

Most of the people that can't pull their own weight don't even know it, they think they are something else and running with the big dogs.

cripes| 7.22.10 @ 2:38PM

Joe is either "running with the big dogs" or running his mouth from his mom's spare bedroom. Whatever. The idea that everyone unemployed "deserves" it is beyond stupid.

I've sat in on hiring and firing decisions and know well that age, compensation, medical insurance and many non-performance issues are priorities. It was disgusting. Like you.

Wendy May| 7.21.10 @ 10:53AM

What an appalling statement! To think that people unable to find work now are “generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.” Unbelievable! And no, contrary to Ben Stein's AOL retort, the various qualifying sentences he puts in this piece do not make up for that bizarre generalization.
The striking fact about many of the long-term unemployed this round is how qualified, experienced, and OLD they are. And others are recent high-achieving college grads, or people whose entire industry collapsed. So really, to point at poor work habits is ridiculously off-point.

I'm a liberal about some things, and I also believe in things that are traditionally conservative like personal financial discipline. I don't agree down the line with either current liberal or conservative camps so I read opinion columnists of various views. But my respect for Ben Stein just cratered. That generalization is contemptible. And his self-justification just underlines it.

Sunset| 7.21.10 @ 11:01AM

"The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities."

I wonder what he would say to those of us who have disabilities? I sometimes have difficulty with social interaction due to PTSD symptoms. Does that make me a "poor personality"? I know it often puts me in line to be fired first, because I'm more trouble to accommodate. Should I just stop looking for work?

Joe| 7.21.10 @ 11:18AM

When's the last time this wad had a real job?
What an incredible douche. Please go away.

Abrey Myers | 7.21.10 @ 11:23AM

Your comment about the unemployed should have been worded better. While many people who are unemployed are not shiftless and lazy, as the comments above amply demonstrate; you have nevertheless seen several people who are, and it occurred to you that some people's inability to find work may be due to their sloppy work ethic. The reality is that the current crisis is not that simply observed.

Bruce| 7.21.10 @ 12:29PM

Ben, you are a real piece of work. The arrogance you express is only surpassed by your ignorance. I've been paying my own way since my teens. I worked and put myself through university, graduating after 5 hard years of balancing job and school. I've never taken 1 thin dime of assistance, private or public! I proudly served my country in the US military. I ran a successful company for 35 years until I was involuntarily "disemployed" in 2008. I have looked aggressively for employment for nearly 2 years. The problem Ben, is that I'm 58 years old and in an industry with very high unemployment, low barriers to entry and lots of young guys with long employment horizons ahead of them. Who wants to hire a formerly self employed person whom they suspect may leave once the good times return. I've been told that explicitly. Ben, in spite of having zero income for 25 months, not getting unemployment, and having spent countless dollars on retraining, somehow I and my family have survived. I don't know how much longer that will be the case. All my kids are working but my prospects are not encouraging. Ignorance of the problems faced by the unemployed, such as those you express, only serve to aggravate the situation and obscure the truth, which is that our country is going through a deliberate destruction of the middle class. Why don't you pick on the real scum and bums in this country. The bankers who have stolen our wealth, the politicians who enable them and the capitalists without conscience who have offshored our manufacturing base? Oh, but those are your neighbors, aren't they Ben? Tell me what you've produced Ben, besides hot air and bullshit!

Greg| 7.21.10 @ 1:19PM

"But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed..."

Tell us, Ben, what surveys have you done? As an economist, you may feel compelled to draw lessons from the recession, but as a person trained in political science, I have to point out that a "survey" based on your anecdotal experience risks major bias. Since there are about 14 million unemployed persons now, you'd need a sample size of about 1,000 randomly-selected individuals to get a fair survey. Did you randomly poll 1,000 unemployed people, Ben? What questions did you ask to determine that the majority of them are unpleasant or lack work good work habits?

As a lawyer, I am trained to question your premises. Isn't it the case that in this recession, many of the layoffs were structural retoolings, not trimming of the least efficient/most unpleasant? Ask your lawyer friends, the layoffs I have seen have been firms eliminating whole practice areas or drastically reducing them. If a firm's Mergers and Acquisition department is trimmed, the attorneys cut aren't going to find new work until there are Mergers and Acquisitions occurring in the marketplace.

Finally, I wonder whether those who bought annuities would be in as good a shape if AIG had been allowed to go bankrupt. I hazard to say that it might have overtaxed the state insolvency funds, which are also likely the reason you don't hear about insurance companies not paying annuities (because the government has a program like FDIC to guarantee annuities for insolvent insurers).

Ken| 7.21.10 @ 3:00PM

Watch it Greg, you are making way too much sense here. You have obviously thought about this more than Ben did when he wrote it.

scott thompson| 7.21.10 @ 1:33PM

Dear Ben Stein and all the rest of the elitist republicans calling the millions of Unemployed Americans, "lazy,spoiled,druggies,defective,etc".

I challenge you to attend the next job fair near you, identify yourself and make those comments to all of the people there.
For you Ben Stein, there will be one in Los Angeles
Monday, September 20, 2010
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
The Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles Airport

6225 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90045

I'd love to see you there.
In fact, I'll be in the front.
I'd really like to "meet" you.........

Sincerely,

One of the 15 million "defective Americans"

R.Mutt| 7.21.10 @ 2:30PM

My, my... why all the outrage. Little Benny is just parroting the conservative Republican party line. For months, many Republican senators and congressmen have been expressing , in so many words, the exact same sentiments in refusing to pass the extension of federal UE benefits. But from all accounts, the Party of Its-Your-Own-Fault-You're-Unemployed-You-Lazy-Shiftless-Parasite stands to possibly retake the H of Rs. Instead of wasting time berating a sock-puppet like Ben, perhaps we should be aiming our ire in the appropriate direction.

Ken| 7.21.10 @ 2:57PM

The Republicans you so desperately demonize would just like some spending cuts to pay for this benefit.

Dick Mac| 7.21.10 @ 3:02PM

That's their line, Ken; but they didn't ask for any spending cuts to pay for their wars, tax cuts, or bailouts.

Republicans are only intererstred in making everything look like the fault of the Democrats.

In truth, both parties are complicit, but the GOP wants to punish the poor. That's what makes them different (and worse).

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 9:36PM

Yes. The Republicans are complicit in the creation of the mess. So are the Democrats. And, as you point out, the Republicans are just more complicit.

I'm a registered Democrat. I'm really just an anti-Republican, scared by what we've just allowed them do to the country, and scared even more by what they'll do to the country next if we let them back in power.

But the most important fact in play is that we, the people, are letting them get away with murder in our names. Now Obama, looking for a way out, is caught up in the continuation of the murder, still in our names.

So we, the people, are complicit too.

And we will either be cause in the matter of how this all turns out, or we, the American people, will all be the victims of these circumstances we are "helpless" to avoid.

Best we act like we have something (civil) to say.

Dick Mac | 7.21.10 @ 2:59PM

I have not found this to be true: "The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job. "

Ben Stein's use of the word "generally" does not negate the inaccuracy of this statement. The unemployed people I know are just regular people whose jobs have been eliminated (or sent overseas). This statement exposes so-called "conservatives" as the elitists they really are. Rich Republicans don't have to care about middle-class people, and they don't.

Anyone who votes Republican (or "conservsative" as they like to say) deserves all the unemployment they get!

David Radovanovic | 7.21.10 @ 3:45PM

Ben Stein is truly out-of-touch with reality.

Bubba| 7.21.10 @ 3:51PM

How's the NEW ECONOMY going for all you yuppies that told us displaced blue collar workers for decades to get an education for and to fork over tons of money for property taxes so your kids could get an education.

America has priced itself out of business. It can't afford to supply paper pushers with McMansions, 2 luxery vehicles in the garage and to spend $15,000 per pupil a year and compete in some silly world economy.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 9:54PM

Bubba,
the problem is, it's waaay too late to opt out of the world economy. So those of us with technical educations are competing on Silicon Valley salaries paying LA rents and eating from New York or Chicago-priced food stores against people in India working on Mumbai wages or less.

We can't subsist on Mumbai wages in LA. Really.

The floodgates of world trade are open and global "competition" is on full-tilt-boogie.

If we could only get the workers in Nanjing to be paid Houston wages, we'd be fine!

So OK, donkeys and elephants. How are we going to get together and have this world to function smoothly? What are we going to give up?

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 10:07PM

Bubba,

I neglected to mention that the US is irrevocably dependent on world trade to function efficiently. This is getting worse day-by-day.

Meanwhile, China's going around buying up strategic resources for the past fifteen or twenty years. They're doing it with what used to be our money. The money they got selling us cheap but acceptable quality goods built with real cheap effectively slave labor. Which is fair and square within the third-world/Asian economic paradigm of protected "free-market" communist "capitalism" they practice.

Let's all put *that* in our obesity-inducing soft drinks and swallow.

Let's put

Cal Damage| 7.21.10 @ 4:33PM

Remember, the author's name is actually Ben Stein Junior, winner of the same sperm lottery that Steve Forbes and George W. won. Would they be in the unemployment lines if they didn't have those names? Based on the quality of their work (like this column,) these three would be praying for yesterday's unemployment extension. When you talk about people who feel entitled, baby, these are they!

Rose| 7.21.10 @ 4:48PM

Are you seriously delusional?? My husband was laid off because he earned too much. Many others were laid off as well in his company but in stages. The company didn't have a choice - in the automotive industry - get it. Now, because he's older, he can't get arrested. Thankfully, we are debt free. But he gets up M-F and looks online and tries to make sales calls (as a start up owner of his own biz) like a normal business day. Not a nibble. Ageism and his salary history hurt him on BOTH sides of the spectrum. And believe me, they don't want to hire an older person due to group health premiums as well. We've never been affected by any of the other recessions in our lifetime, so it's easy to not be aware when you're not one of them. It's disgusting to have to hear people tell you that you're worthless when you know damn well that you're not. Ben, get a clue.

Karen Hudson| 7.21.10 @ 5:03PM

Mr. Stein, you would be wise to assess your own personality before you write, " But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. " You indict yourself in your own words, sir: "....he should learn how to work and how to get along -- not always easy." Please look up the dictionary definitions of "arrogant" and "abrasive" , and then look into the mirror, Mr. Stein. "Dense" might be another term to research.

Lynn| 7.21.10 @ 5:04PM

You are really clueless Ben! People are laid off because their the most expensive employees - companies could care less about expertise these days or work ethics.. they want cheap. Then try to be middle aged and try to look for work. The longer you are unemployed the less likely you'll get even an interview. You obviously have no idea how most of America lives.

Oh, your poor rich buddies... welcome to the real world. How are you supposed to have this big plan when you barely make enough to keep a roof over your head and food on the table and maybe the lights on if you are lucky.

I've never been laid off, fired or out of work for long and I've been lucky enough to support myself resonably well, but that doesn't mean I don't see how others live - through no fault of their own. You are a judgemental, prejudiced man who obviously has not experienced any real hardship.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 10:23PM

Lynn,

What do you say we go easy on Mr. Stein's unemployed friends? Like us, they too have lost their yachts, airplanes, ranches, duplicate homes, SUVs, cars, primary homes. Those who had jobs lost them and are in danger of losing their unemployment benefits. Their apartments are next.

Their plight is much worse than ours, for the only economic skills some of them have are at best telling other people how to do what they want.

Some of them caused none of this situation. After all, it may have looked like a job would never be necessary. While that may appear to you as a joke, it's likely no joke to them.

No. Economic. Survival. Skills. At. All.

So let's all cut Ben's innocent friends a little slack, shall we?

Robert Lippman| 7.21.10 @ 7:05PM

Tell me, why did the New York Times fire you?

Tracy| 7.21.10 @ 8:19PM

Then explain how ppl who have worked all their lives and have found themselves unemployed for the past 2 years? Did all these people's work habits and personalities all suddenly change in 2008?

spirittoo| 7.21.10 @ 8:40PM

Stein is an ass who never worked a real job a day in his worthless life. He thinks his crap doesn't stink but it wreaks. He needs to take a course in shut up!

Dina| 7.21.10 @ 10:00PM

Ben Stein..............Clueless just doesn't begin to cover it. Wow !!! My husband is injured and has been out of work for a year and a half. Before he was layed off, he worked very long hours, didn't complain, kept a great sense of humor, and remained true to his incredibly strong work ethic. Ben please explain what the hell your are talking about? How does this fit in with your asinine theory? My God.........please just shut up and go away. It seems to me the point of this whole article is to prove to yourself out loud that you are superior to the rest of us. I hope you have stroked your own ego enough to last for a good long while!

Sabrina| 7.21.10 @ 10:29PM

Ben Stein ... who are you again? Have you ever actually held a management position in a tech company and been subjected to mass layoffs so the powers that be could "reduce overhead"? I have, more than once, and I can tell you that people who survived the layoffs were either:

1) cronies of executive management who knew a little too much
2) newly hired college grads who were cheaper to keep than the more skilled 50-something engineer who had been faithful the company for 20 years

Yes, who in their right mind would want to work hard to find another six figure job when they could get a whopping $400 a week? Have you had to live on $400 a week recently?

Didn't think so. You are a waste of DNA and should shut the hell up about things you know NOTHING about.

Mike D.| 7.22.10 @ 12:25AM

The Republican Moral Scold. Always a fixture and as welcome as poke in they eye. I dont think Beverly Hills, Malibu and Rancho Mirage are quite typical of the abodes of middle america that have been affected by this recession. Especially because the damage to the economy has been perpetrated by Wall Street Gone Wild, (Maybe there is a reality show in there) and The Vampire Squid.. Goldman Sachs. How many people even had the option not to invest in the company 401K?
Please..

Leah Washington| 7.22.10 @ 7:52AM

I have a positive attitude and get along with everyone. I was laid off by a large law firm (a foreign female attorney with a serious mental disorder). Never did she call me and tell me that I had ANYTHING to work on. We were due to discuss our working relationship and she had me fired two days later. She also fired the legal assistant prior to be after 5 months. I lasted 4. Don't blame the worker, at times, it is the supervisor!!! I went through 486 attorneys in this small town yesterday and there are no jobs for legal assistants. I'm TRYING!

theotis mcclain| 7.22.10 @ 8:26AM

since ben is a big time millionare maybe he can hire some off us unemployed jovial people he's so CONCERNED about us not working Im Sure he has And office ( hell I'll even empty some of his ASH TRAYS)

Dave| 7.22.10 @ 8:34AM

I guess the three hundred guys in our Union hall that don't have a job are all slacker. ya right

Amanda| 7.22.10 @ 8:49AM

I think people are looking for sympathy and an easy way out. There are jobs out there, they just refuse to take them because they don't like the pay or the position. I have a degree and military experience and I took a job I was overqualified for and at minimum wage. At least I am working. Too bad I am paying taxes for all those who think they are better than that AND for your unemployment benefits. It disgusts me how lazy the US has become...always looking for assistance and a handout!

terry waits| 7.22.10 @ 8:58AM

Ben stien grew up in a time when things were so much more less technological. Workers were needed and degrees were'nt a nessesity. He can't be speaking for my generation. If more big company employers took a little bit of there profit and shared it with the employees who got it for them then there would be improvement in attitude and work habbits

Rose| 7.22.10 @ 4:24PM

I would suspect, Amanda, that you might be in your 30's. Good for you that you were able to land a job. Too bad employers don't want someone in their very early 60's because he's overqualified. I think we've put into the system longer than you've been alive. Do not assume anything about anyone you don't even know. And we're still paying taxes. What planet do you live on? And if you had a brain, you'd realize you're not paying for our unemployment taxes - but you're certainly paying taxes on the bailout to Wall Street.

JLStubbs| 7.22.10 @ 9:05AM

Mr. Dry eyes, or dry voice. What us that cannot find jobs, i've been unemployed for nearly 2 1/2 years, long time. Since war general Bush was in offcie. I am a hard worker and have been in the workforce since age 15, I'm 31 now. I have 7 years exp. as an Army medic, with auto detail exp., warehouse exp., and customer service exp. via call center, and recently completed a pharmacy technician course (not certified, yes I'm sudying) What about people like me, with exp., with kids, and a will to work. Don't you think this recission knocked out a lot of jobs, since you're working "Mr. Commercials", maybe you don't understand fully. Those with jobs usually look down on use with out jobs. So with all of my exp., do you have an answer to the question, why am I unemployed. I apply on-line daily and physically look daily, and no I don't mind flipping burgers or dipping fries, that dosen't matter right now I just want a paycheck, but as you stated maybe I'm a horrible worker, huh. Wish I had commercials to secure me and my 2 daughters financial and health needs.

Shelley| 7.22.10 @ 12:46PM

Maybe the reason you can't find a job is because your grammar, spelling, and basic English are worse than my 8 year old son's.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 10:34PM

Shelley,

Maybe your 8-year old son had more literate parents than JLSubbs two daughters had. You think?

Dominick| 7.22.10 @ 9:08AM

If Mr. Stein is doing so well then why doesn't he think about finally getting his voice fixed, because he sounds like a Duck! He can't handle a "Real" days work, except to run his QUACK!

Dominick | 7.22.10 @ 9:21AM

Kinda sounds like Ben, No??

ps| 7.22.10 @ 9:31AM

The people you "hang" out with are EXACTLY the ones laying people off!!

J| 7.22.10 @ 9:37AM

Ben Stein is clueless. He and the Obama administration just don't get it. The unemployment rate is 9.5%. What does that tell you? There are only so many jobs available and $10/hour jobs don't pay the mortgage. The middle class continues to be squeezed out. Pretty soon there will only by the rich and the poor - no middle class.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 10:50PM

Stein is clueless. Or at least he pretends to be. Obama is not.

Part of the job of the Presidency is to not spook the financial markets by telling the truth. Want a real market bust-up?

Imagine Barack saying in a news conference that we're in a depression which is getting worse. Telling the truth about this depression would get him impeached in an eye-blink.

Of course technically the US can have only a declared recession. The NBER cannot declare a depression because, unlike "recession", the word "depression" has no official definition.

Maybe we should all just declare a depression right here and let Congress and the officaldom get around to defining it officially.

Here we go: I DECLARE THE US TO BE IN AN ECONOMIC DEPRESSION. Feel free to join me. Now let's deal with the truth, get the word out to everyone and work towards a post-declaration soft economic landing.

Remember, the financial economy is purely an abstraction, living in thought, action, bits of information, laws, transactions and thought. So there is no need to freak out when someone blurts out a declaration. Nothing has changed except the truth is out. And we all recognize it.

Let's all get with the truth.

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 10:53PM

Sorry, I meant

living in thought, action, bits of information, laws, transactions and *talk*.

rr| 7.22.10 @ 9:48AM

So first you say that you have friends and pals who have lost their jobs and homes... Then you say the only people who lose their jobs are people who are negative, offer no value, smell bad, wear dirty clothes...

So are you saying that some of your friends are total losers who deserved to lose their jobs? Or are just YOUR friends the exception to the rule?

Kate| 7.22.10 @ 10:12AM

I think it's very interesting that in an article that doesn't mention or distinguish between Democratic and Republican policies and actions, so many comments bring political affiliation into play. This country would be a better place if more people were well informed about the core values and beliefs of both parties, rather than following their emotions (or friends) to whichever one might benefit themselves more.

It's also interesting that many (but not all) people that are the most angry about this article (mainly, those unfortunate enough to have lost their job) leave the most negative and poisonous comments - it kind of makes you think that Ben might have a point, doesn't it?

Shawna| 7.22.10 @ 10:43AM

yes in deed! I am one of the unemployed people. but I haven't allowed a sense of entitlement to cloud my vision. I think a lot of people here (U.S.) have gotten so used to the handouts (which dont get me wrong are greatly appreciated) that they get angry when someone says well maybe there was something you couldve done differently. I know I couldve. It wouldn't have saved my job but may have kept my financial sitution from getting sooo bad. And further...he doesnt say EVERYONE

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 11:00PM

Kate,

I disagree that " people that are the most angry about this article (mainly, those unfortunate enough to have lost their job) leave the most negative and poisonous comments".

I think it's the article's defenders that leave the most negative and poisonous comments.

Perhaps the assessment of negative and poisonous comments depends on just whose ox is getting gored at the moment.
Perhaps if we all gave up goring other people's oxes . . . I'll start now. Hold me to it.

Shawna| 7.22.10 @ 10:28AM

Ben, you are so wise. I am 32 and have been unemployed for 2 years. I was a loan officer for 8 when my company ceased mortgage lending in, you guessed, Michigan. I have a BA degree and decided to use this time to go to law school...I have,however, been looking for employment the entire time, to no avail. My unemployment just ran out...I have 5 kids and my husband had a terrible back injury, currently applying for disability. I say all this because as terrible as this situation may sound...there were still things we could've done differently. We are beginning those intentional things now...where we are b/c if we can't handle $1 how will we handle thousands...I think common sense teaching is CRUCIAL for young people...b/c if wishes were fishes no one would be hungry. thanks for the encouragement and advice.

Kevin| 7.22.10 @ 10:32AM

I finished college in 1982 and was the only one from my department to have a job waiting for me and it was a dream job. About 6 months later the company laid us off and then went out of business. I spent the rest of the Reagan-Bush years job hunting, unemployed and underemployed. I was completing with highschool dropouts for minimum wage jobs (the highschool grads had first choice, they kept saying that we college grads would leave as soon as the economy got better). While I respect Ben Stine; here he is only repeating the old line from Reaganomomics about those of us unemployed then. I'd work at whoever gave me work, from cleaning homes, messenger work, graduate school to try to improve on the job market, enlisted in the Army. My pay was like $25.00 a week to less than $200. There were many like me and the Reaganomics people were calling us lazy. I find it amazing how in the 1990s as the economy improved how all the lazy people from the Reagan-Bush years suddenly out of the blue became responsible and got good jobs (granted some of us did not have that much improvement in our lives if we went for re-education and had student loans whipe out our paychecks), but it's amazing how many of the "Lazy people" from the 1980s suddenly were working 48 to 72 hours a week in the 1990s. I don't think it's different today, just that Ben Stine is repeating the old Reagonomic's blame.

Kevin| 7.22.10 @ 10:49AM

Ben Stine is simply repeating the old Reganonmic's view of the 1980s to talk about the unemployment for college graduates in the 1980s. It's amazing how many people who were accused of being lazy and out of work for being unpleasant and poor work habits durring the 1980s, suddenly had wonderful personalities and outstanding work habits in the 1990s. It is amazing how many who must have had wonderful personalities and outstanding work habits during the 1990s and early 2000's must have suddenly become lazy and nasty.

Eugene Humbert| 7.22.10 @ 1:24PM

I was laid off in 2002 - when I hit my 30 years of employment at Qwest (formerly U.S. West, Mountain Bell, et al) It wasn't because I wanted to retire, or because I didn't do the job. They needed to clear out old employees, and I was a disabled worker. I pulled all my retirement money from their retirement plan, and invested it with a brokerage firm that promised with the amount I put in that I could pull $2K/Mo. for the rest of my life.

Well, that didn't quite happen. They had me heavily into the mortgage funding escapade, and now my IRA is worth about a third of it's high point, and less than half of what I initially put in. The income, which was supposed to keep refreshing my account, is now less than half of what I have to pull from it each month - and that's after reducing the amount I'm receiving by $500 a month!

Sometime the smart thing turns out to be the wrong thing. I'm unable to find work, and unable to perform the work I was trained to do.

Ralph Novy| 7.22.10 @ 1:28PM

Just concurring with millions that the view of society expressed by Ben Stein in this piece is historically delusional and morally disgusting.

William W. Wexler | 7.22.10 @ 1:36PM

Hey Ben...

Pull your head out of your ass. You can't put the false equivalence of the oil shock and COLA contracts in front of someone who lived through it and expect to get by with it.

The oil shock defined the 70s inflation, and the rest of it followed. Thanks to GOP dungheaps like you, no Presidents have had the guts to deal with it openly and honestly so here we are again.

Thanks a lot, pal, for your whole-hearted hatred of the American people, our society, and our nation at the expense of your corporate fat cats, who always skate away with the $$ no matter HOW much you fuck it up.

-Wexler

PS to posers... since this site does nothing about posers, go fuck yourselves. If you click my name and it doesn't go to my website, it's PROBABLY a poser.

Mark Schreiber| 7.22.10 @ 3:46PM

I went to your website and took a look around. I do not care much for Glenn Becks show but you are definitely over the top. You sound very threatened. I feel sorry for you.

William W. Wexler | 7.22.10 @ 10:47PM

I'm fine, Mark. I don't feel threatened at all. Threatened by who?

Why do you suppose that you read my reporting and opinions about Glenn Beck, which are grounded in fact, and then conclude that I must feel threatened? Why? For reporting the facts?

I think you actually do actually like Beck's show (there's an apostrophe because it's possessive). You're not the person I read off this afternoon for posting that you thought he was "spot on" for smearing Van Jones, are you?

If you are, I feel sorry for you, because when you say crap like that, or that you "do not care much for Becks show", you are demonstrating a degree of ignorance that can only be had by 3rd worlders who have not yet gotten the benefits of technology OR self-absorbed 21st century Americans who have the best communication technology in the world and still can't tell shit from Shinola. I think it's likely to be the latter, not the former.

But thank you for visiting my website. If you would like to post there again, I suggest you try to post something that makes sense. I get really tired of the ignorance.

-Wexler

Bill| 7.22.10 @ 1:41PM

I have been fortunate in that I have been successful at my job. Nonetheless, I am anchored by my German heritage (father, grandfather). Early on, I was focused on growing assets and shrinking debt. I recall playing golf with my father in law and one of his friends was mocking someone as "one of those west side germans who wants to burn his mortgage." I was tempted to say "that's me too." I am guessing that many of those west side germans are feeling much better financially than those who mocked them.

Richard Wicks| 7.22.10 @ 1:55PM

Allowed Lehman to fail wasn't a mistake, bailing out a bunch of corrupt incompetents was a mistake though.

I despise Neocons.

jgo | 7.22.10 @ 2:20PM

Ah, right, except that the cost of living indexings were merely an attempt to keep up with the federal government increases in money supply, which were eating into earnings. It's the federal over-spending and subsequent monetizations of debt that were the causes; price, wage, benefit, "entitlement" changes were effects. (Of course, the union violence, and other excesses are inexcusable.)

Carter & Reagan tax changes which boosted bodyshopping beginning early in 1983, Simpson-Mazzoli, rule 1706 and H-1B visas (which also facilitate off-shoring) created much bigger job market problems, and congress has only made them worse, since. The effect has been that bright, industrious US citizen workers from the 1970s and 1980s have had trouble landing long-term work in the 1990s and since. Just recently, the Obama admin has entered a totalization agreement with India which worses the effective compensation differential. Meanwhile, lawyers are still teaching clients how to place job ads so as to avoid getting many responses from able and willing US workers, and then how to find legal pretexts on which to reject even the more able US applicants in favor of cheap foreign labor.

They should have let Lehman, Goldman Sachs, AIG, etc., fail, eliminated quangos Fannie and Freddie and Sallie, and censured the congress-critters like Waters and Frank who pushed them to give out loans to people who could not pay them back. Instead, they bailed them out and expanded the quangos.

As you say, this isn't happening to far away people; it's been happening to relatives, colleagues... and me. People who are in the habit of working 16 hours and more a day (with 30-hour "shifts" at crunch times) have been affected; people who are gifted; scientists, engineers, construction workers... For many of us, our only remaining retirement assets are our brains.

(You left out Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch, and obviously Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Lexington and Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, Evansville, Indianapolis, Springfield, Effingham, Lexington, Chattanooga... never meant much to you.)

Roy| 7.26.10 @ 11:19PM

" effective compensation differential" . . , Ooooh. Nice term. I like it. Let's all practice using it.

The concept it represents, as well as similar issues, are central to the cause of the global economics mess and must be addressed.

Here we go.
" effective compensation differential"
" effective compensation differential"
" effective compensation differential"

Jimmy | 7.22.10 @ 2:50PM

Corporations, when they lay off, they do so by division, usually. When I was with AT&T, they laid off according to office and seniority on the union side, and according to redundancy and, yes, productivity on the management side. Offices get closed and work gets moved to another locale within the corporation's structure. People get laid off because it saves the company money to lay them off, period. Stein's ruling class mentality betrays his real feelings about working people.

Edmund Muskie| 7.22.10 @ 2:54PM

How about all those lazy, unpleasant people on unemployment Ben? You are really despicable. You want to talk unpleasant? How about your buddies in Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage and Malibu who mainly profited from the derivatives scams? How about the guy who made you?: the most vile man who ever held the Presidency - your mentor, the king of dirty tricks, Richard Nixon?

Anyone who supports Stein should feel pretty dirty themselves.

Tag Magnet| 7.22.10 @ 3:48PM

All this coming from the Visine "Dry Eyes" guy?
Dr. Emmett Brown: ...And Jack Benny is Secretary of the Treasury.
Ugh.

Bob Bogus| 7.22.10 @ 3:48PM

"I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities..."

Yeah, just listen to a couple of Ben's Clear Eyes commercials.

DogMan| 7.22.10 @ 3:52PM

I am 66 and lost nearly everything. I did not engage in magical thinking. I invested carefully and conservatively and thanks to the machinations of Dodd, Frank, Schumer & Co, and a bunch of Wall Street Masters of the Universe I had to go bankrupt. I lost my marriage and what I had envisioned as a comfortable, modest retirement.
I am living a very modest retirement in SE Asia, because I can no longer afford to live in my own country. I worked from the age of 8 when I started sweeping my grandfather's offices and never stopped until this year. Never had the summer off, paid the lion's share of my education expenses and worked ten years to pay off the loans, I tried to be responsible. Had a credit score over 800. Gone.
Sometimes life just ain't fair, but I have managed to find a little joy amongst the ashes.
Pardon me If I don't get too misty eyed over a bunch of unemployed lawyers. It's been coming for a long time.

Berserker| 7.22.10 @ 7:07PM

DogMan, I am a little older and understand, I think, exactly what your are saying. I lost my job after working with no break (except 1 week vacations; I liked to keep touch and would call in each week) for more than45 years. Then I found my age working against me...but I never filed for un-employment. I found a job driving for a car company, then got a temp job that turned into full time. I think that most people I talk to today that are younger expect someone else to solve their problems for them. I was raised to understand that if I did not solve my own problems, I was going to starve and die. And that was NOT someone else's fault...and not necessarily mine either as long as I did what I could. I did own my own home and when a friend quoted me a price that I KNEW was at least twice what its value was, sold and rented. But...even if I had not, it was still my house and the value was what ever it was...I could live in it. Stuff happens and we become government slaves if we take their handouts...land of the free no more. And I, too, am moving out of the country before the rest of you-know-what hits the fan.

ribbie149| 7.22.10 @ 4:44PM

Ben has such a sparkling personality. I am sure that is why he has done so well. And what an actor. When someone needs an actor to play someone without emotion or empathy he is at the top of the list. He is playing himself.

John Kelly| 7.22.10 @ 5:17PM

Talk about kicking people when they're down.

I've been out of work for over 2 years, and if you asked any one of my employers, they would give you a stellar review of my work. My last employer let me go reluctantly, because the division I was working in wasn't making enough money.

Since then I have sent out hundreds of applications, and not a single interview. I've gotten some freelance work, and every single client was happy.

I'm not alone. Ben Stein is lucky that he's not unemployed, especially if this column is any example of his talent as a pundit.

GayJesus| 7.22.10 @ 7:31PM

Wow. Writing this and publishing it on a website was a terrible, terrible idea. Ben, you look completely foolish... yet again.

Berserker| 7.22.10 @ 7:48PM

I do not doubt for a moment that Ben is correct statistically. The problem is that each one of us is an individual and each one of use generally reacts badly to being lumped into ANY group. So, not only is the article right, ....so are each of the posts. While I do wish that "Big Daddy" were here to fix things, that isn't gonna happen, so we each have to find our own answer (or place to hide from the answers)...freedom of choice is NOT freedom from consequences.

Mikhail Sagarduy| 7.22.10 @ 8:17PM

I like Ben, but this piece fails the character test. Practice charity, Ben, not psychoanalysis. I guarantee you'll feel better. "Give to everyone who asks you...And if you lend only where you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you?...lend without expecting any return; you will be sons of the Most High, because he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6).

The piece also fails economics. Financial predators are collapsing America. Catherine Austin-Fitts calls it a "financial coup d'etat" and that is no business cycle.

Tom Human| 7.23.10 @ 1:14AM

It astonishes me that anyone can read this man.

Perhaps many of you haven't noticed that many companies have simply gone entirely out of business - leaving everyone there out of a job?

Perhaps you haven't seen the statistics which show that a lot of these people who can't get jobs are kids fresh out of school who simply haven't had a good job before?

Why do you publish the ravings of this man?!

If you're the editor of this garbage, I really wonder how you sleep at night. Did you go to college to enable this sort of thing?

NOZZLE| 7.23.10 @ 6:04AM

Hey Ferris, call the laundromat, your brain just popped out of the dryer.

You have a tremendous number of skilled people who are either out of work or working at jobs typically reserved for teens and college kids just so they can feel productive and not look to inteligent employers like they have been doing nothing. Their unemployment has nothing to do with their lack of a go along get along personality.

Too bad your friends in rich areas are feeling the pain, get used to it.

The rest of us are waiting for the public employee loafers to feel the pain.

Cathy| 7.23.10 @ 8:23AM

Ben,
Seriously? Laid off because I'm not producing, smell bad and have a bad attitude? I got laid off from a tech firm after winning three performance awards within one year--and was laid off along with 13 other workers at the same time. They tried to bring me back, but the stimulus money that was supposed to go to a manufacturing company to create jobs that would enable that manufacturing company to hire our tech firm to do some mechanical retrofitting to make them more profitable never came through.
And so I wait. I've been on several interviews. Always positive reviews. But I have TOO MUCH experience. I lose out on jobs because my salary history trumps that of younger workers.
I don't hang out in tony neighborhoods. My husband holds a decent job and we're living paycheck to paycheck. Now our daughter has to take a year off from college because we simply can't afford to support two kids in college at the same time.
Additionally, one of the main questions employers ask is, "What have you been doing for the past year?" Luckily I'm a freelance writer, so I can whip out some newspaper clips and show them that I am trying--that I am staying relevant. That I am working damn hard at keeping myself "out there." But at $50 an article I'd hardly call that employment.

Robert MacEwan | 7.23.10 @ 10:25AM

Living in Washington, NC has prepped us well. Now the rest of America is experiencing what it is like to live in the rural south. Welcome to doing without.

jonathan| 7.23.10 @ 10:45AM

This is reprehensible writing that reeks of Marie Antoinette's supposed line when told that the poor have no bread, "Then let them eat cake." Out of touch and lacking sense and human decency.

jurassicpork | 7.23.10 @ 11:21AM

Typical right wing bullshit and something one can expect from a narcoleptic actor and failed game show host.

Ben, has it ever occurred to you that every recession under which you've lived had been started by a Republican? 1958? The early 80's? Who was President during those times?

Worker re-education camps? Been reading the biography of Stalin, lately? Buehler?

Lazlo Toth| 7.23.10 @ 11:54AM

Given the ethical monstrosities that I've seen pass for "good work habits" in various corporations -- not the least of which being, say, getting paid to lie for Nixon or lie for the anti-evolutionist crowd -- I don't know if I can really take offense at his blame, absurdly stereotypical conservative case of "Blame The Victim" as it is.

But I still can't do much more than laugh at his conjectures about the "lazy and unpleasant," given the best evidence this supposedly educated and experienced old pseudo-celebrity can offer for them is "Well, I see people..."

Yeah, every opinionated nitwit in this country can see things and jump to a knee-jerk reaction that just happens to retrofit their political prejudices, without a shred of evidence. But how about a nice study, or an opinion from a real expert? Is that so difficult? Wouldn't that be a little more worthy of a celebrity columnist's salary? Or is Mr. Stein from the Thomas Friedman school of "Meh, I'll make it up on the plane" journalism?!

It's just that not all of us are lucky enough to get paid for arse-pulls like this article. Looking at some of the bizarre and inane pseudo-achievements -- like Mr. Stein's -- that pass for wealth-generating success in the USA, I can not possibly be expected to take seriously the idea that the job market is a real measure of anything -- except, possibly mass hysteria on the part of those who have power over who earns and who's left out in the cold.

M.| 7.23.10 @ 1:02PM

Hi Ben,

A few years ago, you set on panels and laughed at people who were worrying about the upcoming financial crisis. There is no crisis. No way, you said.

As far as I can see, you made your entire career on pronouncements that largely fail to pass (not counting that tidal wave of mendacity, "Expelled"). The most amazing thing about american economy is that so many good people are out of work, while you are not only employed - but there are still people willing to listen to you.

It boggles the mind.

Jane in IN| 7.23.10 @ 1:12PM

My company has had multiple layoffs -- my original team of 16 is now whittled down to 4, and that pattern is reflected in the rest of the company as more and more jobs are outsourced to offshore vendors. The idea that my colleagues who were laid off lacked a work ethic or people skills is absurd. In some cases it's the opposite -- employees with seniority and less enthusiasm for the job were retained, while eager newer hires were let go. No one deserves a layoff. Layoff is NOT the same as termination for cause.

skbird| 7.23.10 @ 8:05PM

Thanks for kicking people when they are down, Ben. I've been unemployed for almost a year and a half, after working solidly for ten. When people get trained to work in a field, such as internet companies, and then they dry up, the jobs aren't there - it's not because the people laid-off are "unpleasant" don't have nice smelling clothes, or don't know how to get along - it's because the jobs disappear. Even like your scared friends in Beverly Hills. And - you really think that the government should have done something to save Lehman Brothers? I thought you were against big government? I'm just curious about this flaw in your logic, even though I know that will now brand me as "unpleasant" with smelly clothes and not worth employing. I'm sorry you have such a closed mind. Enjoy your wealth.

gorjess| 7.23.10 @ 10:00PM

I can agree to some extent. However, Over the past 7 years I have been proudly employed. First in the residential and commercial industry, which slowed down tremendously and as a result I looked for other fall backs. Then working in the advertising industry for over 3 years. Then this past year that industry slowed down drastically as well. I had submitted my resume to numerous places including lower paying retail jobs and such. Those job opportunities turned me down for being "over-qualified." Who knew that a successful decade in both the development and advertising industry in Los Angeles would be a burden to me now in this current economy. So while I agree there are many people out there who are un-prepared and uneducated, I am part of those who are apparently too overly prepared and overly educated for today's workforce. The Movie Idiocracy comes to mind, and it feels we are heading in that direction, unless we get some solid leaders who really want to see their people excel rather than put us all in the "stupid american" category. That is all.

Benno| 7.23.10 @ 10:29PM

I'm not unemployed, Ben, but on behalf of all of the people who saw their jobs go away because the economy was wrecked by laissez faire financial policies that YOU SUPPORTED, go fuck yourself.

seadams| 7.23.10 @ 10:46PM

Ben, you live in more of a dream world than anyone you know. You need to look inside and really take stock.

Either that or become a comedy writer. Because if any of what you wrote you truely believe and is not tongue in cheek commentary, you are one out of touch person.

People that are out of work are not smelly, there are just not enough jobs to go around. I'm working now what used to be 4 fulltime positions, and I'm thankful I'm employed. But, those 3 other people that had to go because of downsizing, how is it they are at fault? I have not had a raise in 5 years due to a hiring/raise freeze. Maybe I need to change deodorants.

I've work hard for years, I support myself, but that's all I can do. There's no extra for meaningful savings, no assest to diversify. I'm a professional and I'm proud of my work, but you just don't get it. You just don't get it. I'll say it again, Ben, you just don't get it.

If you really want to grab a cause and make America look at themselves, look at entitlement. Those who think because they are rich, famous, etc, the rules and consequences of life don't apply to them. Those are your friends, Ben. That's who are coming to your door step asking for a handout. Real people know.

The strength of America used to be we had a strong, healthy middle class. With a minority at the top and a minority at the bottom. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that solid base is eroding. Then when hard times fall, the ones at the top that thought they were untouchable are crying and the poor just keep on keeping on.

I have a lot of friends struggling to make ends meet. Whether they are unemployed, single moms, single income families, or just not making enough to meet the costs of living. Not one has come to me asking for money they can't pay back in a week. Those are MY friends. And we cover eachother a lot. $20 loan for a week can buy some groceries. How a about that, Ben? Are your friends hungry?
Or is it the classic "let them eat cake".

Wake up, you are living in a dream world. And this has been fun, if I thought for one second you'd really read this, I'd have some sense of accomplishment, but even if you do, you'll think "Oh not me! I'm special, this doesn't apply to me at all, I'm entitled! I'm Ben Stein! I mean what? I'm Ben Stein! My thoughts are golden! I'm opinion is truth! I'm Ben Stein" Whatever.....

AC| 7.23.10 @ 11:53PM

"The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities." Seriously? But, **you're** still working, aren't you? This fact sort of undermines your conclusion, doesn't it?

Actually, Ben, the reason so many Americans are unemployed has more to do with geography. Specifically, the fact that the jobs are in other countries (where things are actually made), and we are not.

Wage-differential import tariffs would go a long way toward solving the problem.

JRC| 7.24.10 @ 8:16AM

Ben Stein is an idiot. He proved it with his little ID movie, and continues the proof with this post. He spends the first half of the article describing his closest social group affected by the economy to the point of losing their homes. Then calls the unemployed unfriendly and lazy. But he never connects the two. A simple "including my friends" would have made him seem somewhat objective, though he would still be wrong. Instead, he shows a schism between his two beliefs. His friends are suffering, but everyone else is lazy. Idiot.

Erin| 7.24.10 @ 11:52AM

Ben,
Of course you're absolutely right that today's Americans take every opportunity to avoid an honest day's work and have a distorted sense of proportionality vis-a-vis the choices they make and the attitudes they assume, but why are you so fatally-minded? Hasn't it been these same qualities tat brought you to the lofty position you hold now - Diarist for the American Spectator?

Iowafarmgal | 7.24.10 @ 5:07PM

Dear 12:38am,
The fact that you label Mr. Stein "fatally-minded" denotes that you already compartmentalize his comments. Simple observations are neither good nor bad they just "are". People are like water, they usually take the path of least resistance. I'm glad you're listening to what he has to say, but sometimes an observation is just an observation.

Craig| 7.24.10 @ 12:18PM

When employers are looking to lay off, they look at one thing and one thing only: the bottom line. If their a million short, there goes a million in salaries and benefit costs. Do you seriously think those that make layoff decisions have any idea of the personalities or work habits of the people that actually do the work? I have been in far too many meetings where the phrase "What did that guy do again?" comes up after an employee that performed a critical function was let go.

William W. Wexler | 7.24.10 @ 1:38PM

Dr. Ben Stein and Dr. Glenn Beck.

It makes people with real credentials cringe.

slv| 7.24.10 @ 4:28PM

Just one piece of evidence demonstrating the masses of unemployed became that way because they were unproductive, please. Stein? Stein? Not that the facts matter or anything.

Hoover also ignored the facts in favor of silver-spoon "bootstrap" soapboxing and turned a recession into a Great Depression. Or are you saying our grandparents and great grandparents were all lazy, unkempt slobs only tolerated by the top-hats in times of prosperity?

The Last Fractalist | 7.24.10 @ 4:36PM

Although Dr. Stein has proven himself to be among the intellectually elite, remember his recommendations and prophesies on equity valuations in 2007.
This is a different macroeconomic saturation area than Dr. Stein has experienced in his 65 years.
This is a saturation area that has been artificially elevated by the wealthy elite, who have profited immensely and disproportionally on manipulation of the money system and will likewise profit in asset price nonlinear devaluation that will transpire within the ten trading days.
In Germany what happened to annuities from 1933 to 1945?
In France what happen to the ruling wealthy elite in the 1790's. How well did their accumulated wealth serve them for their old age?
Remember Dr. Stein's recommendations on equities in 2007.

Brian Colvin| 7.24.10 @ 9:25PM

Ben,
You come off as a high and mighty, piss on those beneath me republican. You share the same views as many of your Washington colleagues that are so endearing to you.
"Is the government now creating hobos?" (The question was rhetorical.) — Rep. Dan Heller (R-Nevada)
"You know, we should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to blow it on drugs and not take care of their own children." — Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
"We shouldn't turn the safety net into a hammock. It should actually be a safety net." — Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
"[W]e have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry and said, you don't want the jobs that are available." — Sharron Angle, Republican Senate candidate in Nevada and Sen. Harry Reid's opponent
"[C]ontinuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."— Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona)
"You know, there is an argument to be made that these extensions of unemployment benefits keep people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out." — Former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans [after Hurricane Katrina]. We couldn't do it, but God did." — Former Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-Louisiana)

These were statements by and large about the bill to extend unemployment payments to millions of unemployed.

I'm unemployed myself. I was laid off with 4999 others on the same day. My companies CEO riffled through a 15 billion dollar surplus and the year I was let go, she made my entire careers salary and benefits in less than 4 hours. I also wrote a proposal for the company on how to save over 250M annually in energy and tax revenue. The CEO nearly bankrupted the company, and walked away when the golden parachute started to look like it might get smaller.

We (the 16 MILLION Unemployed) did not CHOOSE to become unemployed. Your buddies, the guys in Washington, do not listen to US. When we told them we want nothing to do with GATT, your buddies called it WTO and helped form it. When we didn't want China to join the WTO, your buddies told us it would help bring China UP to our level. It did not, it brought US closer to their level. And when organizations formed to oppose the WTO, what happens? Corporations who spend billions of dollars advertising in all forms of media make it look like the protesters are violent maniacs, if any coverage is granted at all.
What about NAFTA? As a result of NAFTA, which the public overwhelmingly OPPOSED, the US has lost millions of jobs and Mexico has gained millions of jobs. More than 95% of the new manufacturing jobs in Mexico pay 30% UNDER the poverty level for Mexico.

You Ben, are Anti-AMERICAN but pro-business. They do not mean the same thing. A business has no conscious, does not exist other than to make a profit at ANY cost. Anyone who can act like there is nothing wrong with our economy while degrading the poor and unemployed, all while being sympathetic to the wealthy who are losing their wealth and homes, is an idiot.

Maybe you should come out of your little sheltered world and discover what America is really about.

Brian Colvin| 7.24.10 @ 9:32PM

Oh yeah, and those friends of yours in Washington overwhelmingly OPPOSED a new law to stop BILLIONS in subsidies to the BIG OIL companies since the BP oil spill.

That's right, while you and your friends call us worthless lazy and undeserving of assistance after they helped businesses send our jobs out of the country, they hand billions of dollars over to Big Oil. http://oilmoney.priceofoil.org/
http://www.democracynow.org/20.....ur_oil_gas

Ray | 7.24.10 @ 9:48PM

Paragraph 2 is utter nonsense. Companies fire whoever they think they can do without, regardless of work habits or personality. Proof of that is that most companies are loaded with lazy schmucks. 10-20% of employees do 90% of the work, yet they don't fire the unproductive.

I'm willing to bet whatever you like that nobody reading this post ever worked 140-hour weeks, month after month - but I have. (To save you whipping out the abacus, there are 168 hours in a week. That means I averaged all of 4 hours/day not working. Whoopee! What did I ever do with all that free time?).

I currently work only 50-60 hours/week and do my job better than anyone else in the company. In a few months, I'll be given the gate - and face the bias against hiring some one my age.

Mela| 7.25.10 @ 6:08PM

Good luck finding a job. I hope your skills and work ethic make it easier.

blog responder| 7.25.10 @ 2:45PM

re: "2. The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities."

With this statement, the man who rejects biological evolution (also known as science) fully embraces social Darwinism, showing that creationism and social Darwinism are fully compatible. Let's just make sure we didn't miss that: Ben Stein blames evolutionary theory for social Darwinism, presuming that social Darwinism therefore shows why evolutionary theory is evil; then he himself, as a creationist, turns around and fully embraces social Darwinism, because, in his case at least, piety and "the struggle for existence" are perfect bedfellows. Apparently in Ben Stein's mind, social Darwinism in the mouth of a creationist is just wonderful, whereas social Darwinism when it is (erroneously) presumed to come from evolutionary theory is very, very bad. Doesn't make much sense. Personally, I find social Darwinism repulsive regardless of where it's said to originate.

svquail| 7.25.10 @ 5:14PM

Wow. Left wing economist Ben Stein is deeply distressed that Paulson did not step in with government money and save Lehman Brothers from the ravages of the free market and the consequences of their greed and stupidity. Compassionate economist Ben Stein is deeply concerned for his millionaire buddies and the unfairness of the economic turmoil to which they are being subjected. Right wing economist Ben Stein holds that the market has ruled and those people who didn't work to be investment bankers (like Lehman Brother employees) protected by the government have got what they deserved: their bad work habits (showing up on time, trusting in management, doing what they are told) and indulgent life styles (having families, buying homes, etc. What LOSERS) dictate they deserve their current economic misery. Moral of the story: Why read Ben Stein? First and last time for me.

Mela| 7.25.10 @ 6:00PM

You always seemed smart, and I liked your show, but seriously . . . blaming the victim is easy isn't it? It also makes YOU feel safe because it won't happen to you, because you invest the "right" way. But there isn't a safe way to invest, you just got lucky this time. Next financial crisis the insurance company you laud so highly could collapse and leave you with nothing. Would you blame the victim then?

CMH| 7.26.10 @ 1:17PM

No, when it happens to him he will probably feel sorry for himself.

Renny| 7.25.10 @ 10:42PM

So even though I worked full-time to put myself through nursing school, I'm lazy and have a poor work attitude because I have been unable to find work? I graduated and passed my licensing exam 6 months ago, but hospitals aren't hiring due to the recession. I have a stellar resume with stellar grades and stellar recommendations. I take offense that you claim I'm unemployed because I'm lazy.

Synesthesia| 7.26.10 @ 11:44AM

Wow. I'm not sure if Ben Stein realizes how lucky he is to be rich. Dude should try living in the shoes of one of the 15 million and really try to understand what it's like out there.

Synesthesia| 7.26.10 @ 12:36PM

Furthermore, rather than judge the unemployed, Ben Stein should simply give them jobs.

EB Brauer| 7.26.10 @ 1:19PM

Although I do not work anymore, when I did, I had a crappy attitude and hated most of my Neanderthal employers. But I WORKED AND WORKED AND WORKED, despite my hatred of the industry and upper level management.

I admit this since so many people I have worked with in IT feel the same way. Deceit, backstabbing and harassment are a way of life. So I decided to retire rather than end up in a pine box.

The examples of bad behavior were so plentifully; there is not enough room to post it here. Some obvious examples included sexual harassment (towards me and other females), flaunting of wage and hour laws, outright deception and constructive termination. And then there were the lies by management meant to gaslight people.

And this happened at companies considered to be the best employers in the area!

Thankfully I made a decent amount of money as a contractor (and employee) and was able to give these worthless POS the big finger when I left. I also enjoyed bringing class action lawsuits against employers who did not pay back wages and OT as required by law. Sometimes it was like shooting fish in a barrel - employers can be very stupid. I wholeheartedly recommend legal action against corporations when the case is strong and involves multiple employees. Settlements make the best nest eggs.

So my answer to Stein would be, your attitude simply mirrors that of Corporate America. You are the kind of a**hole most employees would avoid when walking down the hall. Your attitude, over the years, has not changed. Just like the corporate criminals, you feel you are special and above others with your millions of dollars tucked neatly in your annuity.

Speaking of a bad attitude -- Richard Nixon -- he was a real inspiration for Ben, you know.

P.S. Annuities are for losers

Rev. Linda Koprin-Pardue| 7.26.10 @ 2:55PM

You, sir, have been living an obviously fortunate life. Some due to your lauded 'prudence' I would assume, but most due to luck of the draw. ALL of us are but one catastrophe from being destitute - it has merely to be the right catastrophe. Such as a bought of poor health etc. Not all who were prudent survived this current downturn.
As for your comment about the unemployed - how can you justify that statement? When so many industries that were formerly reliable places to work didn't 'lay off their undesirables' as I have heard some put it but actually closed up shop and moved overseas because our minimum wage isn't .50 an hour?
An economist you may be - a humanist you are not. And to think, I used to like you.

Robert C Severson | 7.26.10 @ 7:52PM

I wouldn't be so hard on Ben, he was generalizing. His comments on over extension of debt I thought were more directed to his buddies in the tony Beverly Hills area. I liked his last comment about being prudent. If were unemployed again I would ignore the comments about laid off people..unless they applied to me

Laura Schleifer| 7.26.10 @ 11:44PM

After reading this article, I have determined that Ben Stein has a personality that is, "poor, unpleasant, and overbearing." (I also would not be at all shocked to learn that, due to his privileged upbringing as the son of Economist Herbert Stein, the former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Presidents Nixon and Ford, he might not "know how to do a day's work"). Since he shares so many of the traits that he believes qualify an individual for deserved unemployment, I heartily recommend that the American Spectator immediately fire him.

I might suggest that Mr. Stein--or perhaps, as a member of the class who actually has to work for a living, I should address him as "Sir" Stein?-- take a walk outside "the very tony neighborhoods" where he hangs out, if he actually wants to obtain even a rudimentary understanding of the economic reality in this country.

But then again, after writing this piece of filth, if he did venture out into the world beyond Malibu and Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage, he might discover a lynch mob awaiting him. Because contrary to what "Sir" Stein might think, unemployed people do, generally, know how to read.

Adam| 7.27.10 @ 4:30PM

Brilliant. I was wondering why Mr Stein hadn't been fired, too, as he fits the 'general' profile of the average non-working American.

Frank| 7.27.10 @ 12:49PM

The only honest and productive work Ben Stein ever did was suggesting that Nixon go on Laugh-In. It kept Nixon from trashing the economy even more.

Misti| 7.27.10 @ 3:23PM

I have to wonder about these friends of his that he says are lossing everything. Will they still be better off than the rest of America when it is all said and done? In March of 2007 the estimated percent of unemployment was 4.4%. Today it is 9.5%. Full/ natural unemployment rate is between and %. Whats my point well according to Mr. Stein we not only have had a rise in unemployment but, in a rise in "people with poor work habits and poor personalities.","people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work."
So, what I am getting from this is people who have held their jobs for huge amounts of time suddenly woke up one morning with totally different personalities. Have you actually talked with any of these people? Actually probably not a good idea. I can personally tell you that being called worthless and unpleasent by a man who knows nothing about me will cause me to become quite unpleasent quite fast. We need to stop trying to make up reasons that this is happening and start trying to come up with ways ( intellegent ) to fix it. The unemployed are not the problem , we a side effect of the real problem. As far as savings for the future if you are living from paycheck to paycheck trying to raise your family it is hard to save. And for most of us that did mange to save that is long gone while we are living high on our unemployment checks.

Tom | 7.28.10 @ 1:02PM

While I agree with much of this article, I have a problem with point #2 (when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative).
My entire company was shuttered nationwide. I took the advice to start up my own 'job'. Wrong idea or wrong time I realized just like Harry Truman and U.S. Grant that a start up was not to be my future. I am fighting for every- ANY- interview I can get!
Unemployment- the sad truth:
http://tom-drake.blogspot.com/

ceclg| 8.1.10 @ 6:24PM

Mr. Stein, you have intentionally poked a stick at what appears to be either a sleeping giant or an angry giant. Makes sense given that you want to continue this blogging and nothing's better than conflict for circulation and sales. I was formerly both sleeping and angry, admittedly believing in part employers do let go of either those who don't "get along" or have stopped being viewed as productive. What I would offer is an observation and opinion as to WHY they choose to do so.

First, the prudence issue. I can only speak for myself in saying that I probably and practically should have exercised far more prudence as it relates to fiscal issues in my life, however I have always had very little means to live above and hold no Porsche's, furs or jewels. No vacations, bling or duds. I gladly put in over 30 years of taxation without claiming anything other than unemployment during this recession. This was after having sold, lost and liquidated anything I had to survive, and I have yet to complain about that. No family to siphon so I am happy for you that you even have anyone asking you for anything and have plenty to withhold and/or deny.

That said, I would offer this for the many, perfectly prudent, realistic, non-dreaming or otherwise. They have been witness to instances wherein those with assigned and assumed power in organizations use ANYTHING, including the bottom-line numbers you revere, good or ill to justify larger, more egotistical agendas. Worse, they use them to avoid the exposure and address of their own inadequacies that the "don't get along" folks uncovered, at times inadvertently. Believe me, when the lights came on in that disco any reason- Recession reactions, indicators, projections and more was thrown into the pot to cover or justify their own position, gain or worse, to protect those egos at all costs. These things, as well as other policies, practices or issues they imposed are not reasons that someone who cares for their job, community, industry, country and world employs. Most people do not wake up, travel and suffer through 8 or more hours per day wanting to be having nothing to do with being difficult, antagonistic or not to be a team player.

Intensity and often issues involving style of communication can be manipulated by someone who has fallen more in love with power, position and possession. It can serve as one lethal sword in the back of one's employ, wielding unfair and carefully crafted incidents and issues to be perceived and recorded as intimidation and poor performance. That alone does not make the climate one for person's elimination yet it most certainly helps. What puts it over the edge is the employee's inability to give over the power of conviction to both the aforementioned and in some cases, just plain greed and avarice. That's when the "difficult" and seemingly "non-working" person is on the other end of your stick.

Many more than not actually have an ethical, moral and practical sense of why they work. Not everyone works money, and most people understand they need something else for which to live and work. Maybe you do, or maybe you don't.

S Pohlmann| 8.3.10 @ 11:08AM

Most people go into the family business, be it politics (your dad, Ben) education (my dad) coal mining or farming. It takes some effort - or lack thereof - to jump class, in either direction . A child has a leg up if his successful parent was in an industry that is still viable, like politics, acting, or - putatively - education. S/he's not so lucky if her parent was a farmer, a hod-carrier or a coal miner : those jobs are so 19th century. Many of those you disparage for being lazy did not have the advantage of parents or grandparents in the 'right' line of work. Also, you have conflated ambition with virtue. Madoff was ambitious yet corrupt; there are many folks who are content just to show up on the job every day. They are probably the most likely to get fired, because they are the least likely to call a lawyer for wrongful termination!

You had a huge advantage, Ben. Your father was a successful economist with close ties to power. You had the right stuff to go into the family business.

FWIW, you were born in the same town as my mother (her grandparents' phone number was Silver Spring 7!) and went to the same public high school (one of the best in the country). My great-grandfathers had the kind of jobs that five generations of success provide for their offspring. Alas, my grandparents on that side were poets and that's where the buck stopped, after the family money ran out. They were not lazy, tho the case can be made that they were overbred. Roosevelt gave my grandfather a job inspecting cisterns in the south and his children still blame him for the ills of the world, go figure. I have some 3d cousins in mansions and some in trailer parks: that's America. When we can fire or otherwise dispose of people who are not driven to go beyond their parents' expectations, we will have a Perfect Society. Until then, we're as close to the Judeo-Christian ideal as you can get, without being a theocracy.

P.S. Yes, Brigitte is anti-semetic. The throwaway remark about scripture...

Frank Kovach| 8.3.10 @ 9:34PM

Ben,

First of all, let me say that I have admired you for a while now, ever since I read an article written by you that had something to do with appreciating the military. I was on recruiting duty at the time, and I used your article to point out some positive things about the military to potential Marine recruits. I hadn't thought much about you until then except as some sort of old political guy who got into acting, made some money in investing and had a game show that was intelligent and funny, and did some commercials. Not that I thought you weren't "any good," I just didn't know you were a current political thinker and contributor. I like the way you think. I don't agree with you on everything, but I am humble enough to say that I would really have to have you in front of me explaining everything I think I don't agree with to make sure. There is a lot to read between the lines and I admit I'm not good at that sort of thing. I like your blog type articles in The American Spectator, just because I enjoy reading what you write. I don't comment much, many times because I am in such a hurry, but I wanted to take some time out of packing for my vacation (I hate packing, even for a vacation) to write you. I hope you read this. I did not read all the previous comments, because it would have taken too long, and my wife would be mad at me. I see usually that you have a tie between those that agree with you and those that think you are a nutcase. I find it amusing to read the ones that say that they used to like you and now they'll never read anything you write again. I wonder how many times they have said that. I do think the dog thing is a bit weird, but I don't have a dog, so to each his own. Actually, I just wrote that last sentence to seem as if I had at least ONE thing to criticize you about. So you're a dog lover, why should I hold that against you? Well, I seem to have got way off topic here. In fact, I almost forgot what I originally wanted to say. This article you wrote for American Spectator - I have one thing to say: Amen, brother. Sometimes you don't have to write about the deepest political issue and the "magic pill" solution to the problem. Sometimes you don't have to think up some new legislation that will be the perfect bill that no one could ever argue over and no critic could ever critique and the history books will all say was the saving grace of the 21st century. Sometimes you just have to recognize common sense and communicate it. Good thing for you that you have a medium in which to get the word out. Even if nobody likes what you say, it gets them thinking. I know you're not the first one to say these things, but I just like the fact that you speak the truth and don't hold back. While we're on the subject of truth, I own a copy of your movie "Expelled" and I love it. It's great. Wish I could have an autographed copy of it. By the way, did I mention that I was going on vacation tomorrow? I'll be visiting my brother near San Diego, for his wedding. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my brother again, and being the best man at his wedding, and visiting beautiful southern California again. It's been so long since I've lived there. While I'm there I'd love to buy you lunch and pick your brain. :) Well, I just hope that at some point you read this and get some encouragement from it. Keep speaking the truth, and keep fighting the good fight. I'll keep reading.

Frank Kovach| 8.3.10 @ 9:48PM

Wow. I just read a few of the last comments before I wrote mine (above). Without intentionally sounding uncompassionate, you guys need to take a look in the mirror. As my buddy (figure of speech, I've never actually met the man) Dave Ramsey says, "personal finance is 90% behavior." Or something like that. My point is, if we had been living right before this recession, as Ben Stein says in his article, we wouldn't have been hit as hard. Even if you were out of work, you would still be okay. If you hadn't lived the entitlement, "I deserve it" lifestyle until everything went haywire, maybe you would have been in a better position. And as soon as you look to D.C. to solve ANY of your problems, you are going to lose. No matter what party is in charge, no matter who is in the White House, no matter what. YOU ARE IN CHARGE of your life. THAT IS WHAT IS GREAT ABOUT AMERICA!!! I'm not saying that everyone is going to be wealthy, but I'M TIRED OF HEARING EXCUSES!!! It's not the job of ANY government to make you successful, it's YOUR job, and ANY government that tries to make that its job takes your FREEDOM!!! (Braveheart yell there) LOOK IN THE MIRROR and make some changes. BE POSITIVE! You CAN get through this. America is full of stories of people who lost everything, then got it back tenfold BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T GIVE UP, THEY QUIT COMPLAINING, THEY GOT TO WORK, MAYBE TRIED SOMETHING DIFFERENT, BUT BOTTOM LINE IS THEY DEFINITELY DIDN'T WAIT FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO BAIL THEM OUT OF THEIR MESS!!! Whew! I'm out of breathe. If the shoe fits, wear it.

S Pohlmann| 8.4.10 @ 11:32AM

Oh Frankie, my dogs are barkin! Nothing like a good rant to get the juices flowing.

Hope you found California soothing. I grew up there & found it beautiful but mentally unchallenging...

So what were your peeps up to in 1938? I do hope they were not forced to take any government handouts!

I am curious about the hard line you espouse & wonder if you or your family has ever personally benefited from from public education, Social Security or Medicare. If not, you're in the clear; but if you have, you got some 'splainin to do! In any case, I hope you have a great relationship with your (future?) mother in law 'cause if the latter two were eliminated - as the above rant suggests would improve our country - she's your future tenant & patient. Or vice-versa. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

P.S. I think Ben is pulling everyone's leg, he's an excellent comedian. Very dry, is Ben...

Gabriel Ramos | 8.9.10 @ 7:42PM

I loved the article! It was 100% spot on. I am a 24 yr old college grad, put myself through school, and making a great living as a IT support tech. I MADE myself marketable. I went to mock interview sessions, practiced in the mirror, used my dads old clothes for years until I got my own... You have to DO IT! Just go out and do it. You can come up with a million excuses. Yes, younger generations will treat older people like "old farts", that is life. It is how TV portrays them. Remember, boomers, YOU raised us, so stop blaming us. Its 2010, get on the Internet, post your resume on Monster (my last 4 jobs were from monster) and do everything that Mr. Stein said, you will be fine, generally speaking.

Howard C.| 8.12.10 @ 11:59AM

This is one of the most stunningly stupid things written by a human being in the last year... and there have been many. The astounding ignorance of this piece calls into question this man's sanity, but even more so, the sanity of the editors at American Spectator. I am a Republican. I am a supporter of some of the things Mr. Stein also supports, but this piece of writing is so outrageously mindless and out of touch that I pretty much have decided that I will never read another thing he writes. How is that The American Spectator has lost its wits enough to have this "opinion" piece published in its own pages? Why not publish another Stein (or anyone else's) screed on "Why the Earth is Flat" or "Why White People Are Better Than Every One Else"? Has this magazine become so appallingly shallow and without direction that it sees fit to publish the opinions of a glaringly obvious idiot? Has Ben Stein this man stepped out of his mansions recently?

As far as I'm concerned, I have lost complete respect for both Ben Stein and The American Spectator.

Heather| 8.13.10 @ 1:14AM

Let's do some math. Minimum wage comes out to about $900 a month.

One room efficiencies are sitting at $550 a month here (Madison, WI). Deposit is one month's rent. Rent does NOT include utilities. Utilities hover around $150 a month in a well kept up apartment complex. Only driving to and from work or for errands takes about $20 a week. Add lowest available car insurance for $30 a month. I can't rely on the bus running when I need it to or where I need it to, especially in the winter. $110 a month. A phone line? $30 a month about, whether it's a land line or a cell. My employer has to be able to reach me. A phone is required.

$900 - $550 (rent) = $350
$350 - $150 (utilities) = $200
$200 - $110 (gas/car ins) = $90

$90. This is what is left over after REQUIRED living expenses. Now, I need to buy groceries, pay on my student loans, pay for any medications I need, maintain my car, and try to save for an emergency.

I can live with others, in my single room efficiency. I do. Cuts rent and utilities in half, IF my roommate pays on time and we can stand living together in our 200 square feet of space.

Great! $350 back. I can now pay minimums on my student loans, double my food budget to $50 a week and maybe afford minor car repairs or a Doctor's visit if things go badly. Or, if I get sick, I can afford to miss one, maybe two days of work a month now. I can't do all of these, and I have to pick where to cut if something goes wrong. I have no benefits. I have no insurance. I have no savings, no investments, no relatives or friends to lean on. There is no safety net for me, just like there is no safety net for them. If my roommate fails to pay rent or loses their job, I have to pick up the slack somehow or we both get evicted.

The best part? There aren't enough jobs here. What happens if I get sick and need to miss more than two days of work? I can lose my job or I can agree to drop to half time. What happens if my car breaks down and the buses won't get me to work on time? I lose my job because I am one worker and hundreds of people apply to every position that opens. If I have gotten any raises, this is now a certain outcome because my boss can hire a new worker for a lower wage.

I don't play the credit card game. Using them for emergencies has only accrued me $3000 in debt when I was hospitalized and lost my job. I don't go out drinking and partying. I don't smoke. I don't buy clothes, shoes, make up, or hair cuts. I use cheap toilet paper, shampoo, and soap. I patch my clothes. A pair of shoes for the year or glasses are a birthday present from the family and a bought for durability, not looks. I do not have children. I cannot afford to care for them.

My name is Heather. I am 25 years old. I have a B.A.. I have NEVER missed work. I have been late due to heavy snow or icy roads, but I have ALWAYS called in even before I was sure I was going to be late. I do my job well, regardless of what it is, and when I have down time I ask for more work. I'm quiet, and I rarely talk unless I'm on lunch break. I don't carry personal issues to work. I say Sir, Ma'am, Miss or Mister. I don't think I've ever caused a problem at work. My hair is normal, I do not have any piercings or tattoos.

I am also homeless. I lost my housing November of last year. I lost my job this February, and I have had no income since. I survive off of food stamps and generosity. For every five of my friends, 2 are in the same situation.

Tell me, Ben, what am I doing wrong? I have done everything that is expected of me. I have the college degree. I don't smoke or drink or sleep around. I have had only long term relationships, one of which is now an engagement. I don't spend money I don't have. I have ONLY student loans, medical bills, and $3000 in credit card bills from a surviving after a Hospital stay. I own my car, built in 1996. I have never turned down a job, and I have applied for everything available within my skill range. I am not above working a drive through.

If it is my fault that I am hungry and homeless, then TELL ME HOW.

s pohlmann| 8.13.10 @ 4:06PM

Heather, your mistake was made before you were born. If your dad had been well-connected like Ben's, you would be working for one of his friends' friends. And you wouldn't be homeless, either, 'cause you'd be in the country house.

Gabriel: stop patting yourself on the back. Your last name opened doors you didn't even know were there, regardless of your other no-doubt well-earned attributes.

Jennifer Cecelia Stanley| 8.14.10 @ 12:46PM

I remember (I am 20) one day in high school, a (temporary, or so he ended up being) mathematics teacher told us to come to class ready to present (I forget what we were
each presenting) dressed as though we were going to work. Suit and tie or clean-cut dress kind of attire. It was irritating, but it seemed to get the point across. Life is not a game, it is not "The game of life" it is life. Life is for living, not just dreaming. I agree, wishful thinking (my dad constantly reminds me to not do that too much) is a problem, especially in the working world. I am taking an economics class at Florida State College at Jacksonville during the summer so this has been on my mind more than usual. I realize that with money, people seem to forget that once you have money, that does not mean that you are going to get what you need with it, the need that got you to work for that money in the first place. That item or whatever it is that you need, might not be available, if the person that provides it or makes it (or potentially could do so) decided to not go to college or is currently laid off. In other words, if everyone had that mindset, people who have a lot of potential would not be working. If I work and earn money from someone, I might not actually get anything for that money if there is no one available anymore or at that time, to provide it. So, just wishing that things will be alright is not enough. You have to work in something that someone needs, but so does everyone else. If person A is something, but Person B is not, then even bartering would not work. My point is that money sometimes, I think, makes one forget about the person on the other end who completes that supply and demand aspect of the business cycle. Supply and demand involves give and take. One person gives (works) and the other, the consumer, takes (buys). Well, after that happens, the person who took (the consumer who bought something) also needs to be giving (working) because that person who first gave to them (provided as a producer) is going to need to keep their consumer's in business by buying from them as well, so that they can afford to continue to buy from them. I might sound confusing but I am trying to explain that I get that in order to buy, you have to sell, so that you have money after you buy. You buy something one week, you work, and you buy later again. The producer that you bought from has to buy things for him/her self, so he/she buys (potentially) from you, and you buy from them. If everyone does not get bought from and sold to, then eventually someone creates a domino effect, and everyone or alot of people at least, are financially burdened.

So you may think everything will get better because you are doing your part, but that does not mean that every single US person is thinking that/knows that as well as you do. So they may not do their part, and then, don't be surprised, when things don't get better.
I get it, but I don't know if (and don't think that all do) everyone else does.
I think a course like you were mentioning is a very vital idea. I feel like I could not do much to fix things, and I am probably not the only one thinking that. So that means their are more people than just me, not doing anything to fix the problem. I am just a girl living at home and not working (both of those just for now), taking college classes for her career that hopefully will make me an income from people who have jobs to pay for what I have to offer for them. I am going into Neurofeedback Therapy.
Ben Stein, you and my grandfather (my father's father) look alot alike. :) He passed away many years ago, but I came across your blog here, so I really wanted to mention it. Your commercial with (I think?) Shakeel O'neel was hilarious and well made. I missed your appearance in Jacksonville, FL which took place I guess a year or two ago, I wanted to go though. I lost track of the details and could not find a way to buy tickets et cetera in time.

Paulo| 8.18.10 @ 8:08PM

I am deeply disappointed in you, Mr. Stein. I have been a fan of your work for years. I have enjoyed your droll presentation of sometimes insightful viewpoints.

However, I suggest that you open your eyes and/or have the courage to tell someone who has been unemployed and is in danger of losing their home (or has already lost it) that they're the victims of a poor work ethic. Go ahead, please. Try this out on a real, live unemployed person: perhaps someone in the tech industry; a reporter or an editor; an HR professional who was laid off. My goodness, just open your door! They're all over the place.

In my church congregation, there are professionals in the pharma industry who worked like dogs, and who were simply cut loose; there are technology professionals, documentation writers, a journalist... All hard-working, ethical, good people who are responsible parents; all of whom are searching, and worrying.

So, Mr. Stein, my suggestion to you is that you should try out this "life is hard, don't be so lazy" to one or two unemployed people. I know you wouldn't, of course; they'd knock the smug right out of you.

Shame on you, Mr. Stein.

Jennifer| 9.5.10 @ 10:14AM

Ben Stein, Are you kidding me? Is this the best you've got? You are supposedly educated with a supposedly high IQ, and you produce this garbage?? An ignorant, arrogant, pompous condescending article that AMSpec actually printed. You my friend are what they call, clueless, smug, and obviously disconnected. This article is Lazy, not the folks youve written about. This magazine is lazy for actually printing this garbage. And this administration is Lazy for vacationing instead of addressing the unemloyment crisis. Mr Stein, you can kiss my lazy, unpleasant, extremely educated long term unemployed Arizona ass. I will no longer support or respect your viewpoints, articles or television shows that you appear on.

paul hutchison | 9.22.10 @ 2:06PM

so typical of a rich spoiled kid,ben you woulndt know what hard work was if it hit you in the silver spoon in your mouth.come the reveloution i hope your one of the first too be killed

Ellen| 9.22.10 @ 4:41PM

Dear Ben: I am embarrassed and ashamed at this column. As a fellow MBHS candidate, you hold a special place in our panthenon, heretofore! This particular recession (and you should know this) has uniquely hit those well educated, with advanced professional experience, and middle-aged. "Middle age" includes 45 and above and unfortunately in my suburban middle class/upper middle class community, many have lost their jobs. Some have done so precisely because the organization wants to pay closer to entry level and not anywheres near what a more advanced employee, with excellent work ethics and competence would command (on a decent middle class income). Insofar that there is a slight recovery, it has not included those who are educated, competent, experienced and middle aged (mid-40s and above). Please issue an apology to your fellow alumni!

FlufferFreeZone| 9.29.10 @ 6:47PM

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. Ben Stein is a freaking desperate moron.

Dar| 10.3.10 @ 6:38PM

Tell you what, Ben. Come to my home, sit down in front of my wife, and repeat that to her face.
I'd just love to see the outcome.

pigbitin mad| 1.7.11 @ 4:10PM

Boy I used to like you when you were the host of Win Ben Stein's money. Not everyone who gets laid off is an unwashed negative creep. Others made the point which bears repeating. Do your "friends" fall into that category too? Reminds me of this despicable James Sherk who, on Hardball, said he had tons of unemployed friends and in the same breath suggested that everyone load up the wagon and go to Nebraska to look for work because they had an unemployment rate of 4.2% When Christ Matthews asked if he thought HIS friends should move to Nebraska to work at Arby's he kinda shut up. So. Should your friends learn to bathe? Is that what you are saying?

KH| 7.14.11 @ 5:10PM

What a ugly deeply damaged soul Ben Stein has.

A blame the victim article if there ever was one.

Him and all his “very tony neighborhoods where I hang out” buddies caused this mess, and now, boo-hoo, a (little bitty) bit of it is coming home to rest. You won’t see any river of tears for them in my not so tony neighborhood that's for sure!

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