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A Further Perspective
Joblessness and Recovery
These continue to be difficult economic times for far too many Americans.
These have been and continue to be difficult economic times for far too many Americans. Far too many are out of work and cannot get work. It’s painful to see this. I recently wrote that in my small circle of friends, I was seeing real economic pain for the first time ever. I also noted that among my circle of friends in Hollywood, many if not most who were unemployed did not have great work habits and had personalities that made it hard for them to work with others.
There were glaring exceptions, I said, and in the nation at large, the situation was different, with many people with fine work habits and great personalities who could not get jobs.
Somehow, this has gotten wildly distorted in the media, so let me set it straight once again — although people who want to distort it will distort it no matter what I say. (My favorite is a magazine in New York who totally made up a quote from me that the unemployed were “lazy.” I didn’t say that any time, anywhere. For magazine writers to write it, for editors not to check it — that’s pure character assassination and, yes, lazy.)
However, to get a little closer to what I did say…There are people, in Hollywood and elsewhere, who do not have good work habits or who have unrealistic expectations of what kinds of jobs they should have. A daydreamer who expects to move right into being a movie director will probably be long-term unemployed as a movie director for some time. A clerk who shows up chronically late will tend to be unemployed chronically. A person who starts fights with his boss will not work for that boss for long.
Obviously, this kind of problem would comprise only a limited amount of the work force. In some industries like auto making and in some areas like Detroit and many other places, jobs are extremely difficult to get for even the best workers.
But my observation, in my limited world, is that men and women who are eager and focused, who have kept up with the latest job skills needed in this labor market, who are willing to move to get work, who are able to communicate and get along with their fellow workers, will, even in a painfully hard labor market, be the first hired and the last fired. It is a bit puzzling to me that this observation is considered controversial.
I have been told over and over by men and women in HR that this is the way their companies work as well. Again, there will be many areas and occupations where even this kind of preparation won’t help in an economy as poor as today’s. In 2010, this may be true in most areas. But in other situations, it works pretty well to be a good and pleasant fellow worker.
So, get angry at me if you want for my observation. And use your typical smear tactics, those of you for whom the big and oft-repeated lie is your stock in trade. But again, as I see my little slice of the world, and as I hear from people who hire, what I said is true. Even in today’s very difficult economy, who the worker is and what he can and cannot do often have at least something to do with employment, not every time, but often. I know it’s taboo in this country for anyone except the rich to be anything but victims, but sometimes we are victims of ourselves. Sometimes. Not every time, but sometimes.
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 (96) | Leave a comment
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Tim*| 7.27.10 @ 6:42AM
The U-6 Unemployment Rate is 16.5 Percent .
"It's The Economy."
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .
Remember In November .
JimH| 7.27.10 @ 8:10AM
Ben, it is certainly true that many people have unrealistic expectations in the market and unjustified opinions of themselves and their ability. But I think that you being in Hollywood see a disproportionate amount of people like these who are lured there by the possible big payoff. A good education, a positive attitude and hard work can certainly help one succeed. But it is not a guarantee of success. In showbiz, for all the left wing blathering, is as market driven an industry as there is, I’m sure you see many mediocre hacks doing rather nicely and real talent (if only temporarily) unrecognized. In the general workplace I think because of the changing nature of industry, out-sourcing, increasing regulation, beuracracy and increased credentialism opportunities for a well paying job now are harder to come by then they used to be. Fifty years ago an intelligent person with a high school diploma could get themselves a pretty good job right out of school or with a modicum of training. That is no longer the case. Now unless one is in a trade you need a Bachelors degree to even get an interview.
vtwin| 7.27.10 @ 10:15AM
Ben Stein: "mediocre hack doing rather nicely"
BH| 7.27.10 @ 2:28PM
MEDIOCRE ? Did'nt you see Ferris B's day off ?
ALHill| 7.27.10 @ 3:32PM
I wonder if the problem is that Mr Stein is not getting enough attention lately, and that is why he wrote these articles. I haven't seen much of him on television lately.
Jim Dexter| 7.27.10 @ 9:17PM
Wake up and watch "Sunday Morning" on CBS. Ben is a regular, but not weekly, commentator.
Delores Smith| 7.28.10 @ 3:50AM
ALHILL,
You are not watching th quality channels.
Delores Smith
Alan Brooks| 7.27.10 @ 1:04PM
Ben, you are becoming senescent:
this piece is smarm.
Alan Brooks| 7.27.10 @ 1:05PM
... Watch out:
crocodile tears taste too salty, Ben.
Margie| 7.27.10 @ 4:47PM
Totally untrue and uncalled for. So there.
Herb| 7.27.10 @ 7:40PM
Your thoughts remind me of similar one's I've had. I believe a majority of people 30-50 are running into difficulty, because they didn't listen. They were told by parents, teachers, relatives, friends to: work hard, study in school, listen to your parents, delay gratification, don't do drugs or alchohol, put aside for a rainy day, etc. Like the grasshopper in the fable, they simply played and dissipated themselves, their skills and their futures. They were warned of what would happen, ignored the warnings, and are now paying the prices they were told they would pay. Unfortunately, many in our government and on the left are all too happy to step in and save them from paying the price. The next generation is watching and learning- ignore the guidance. We are in trouble.
Appleby| 7.28.10 @ 7:33AM
Generation Whine believes that they can make a fortune bouncing a ball, even if they have a rap sheet longer than their legs -- or that they will take their degree in Gender Identity in Rock and Roll and step directly into a job in Entertainment Law or a corner office in Wall Street -- because their Helicopter Parents tell them this is true, and lead them by the hand with their lawyers close behind ... which they can do because Junior and Susie live in their parents homes until they are 35 years old.
You cannot get adult privileges if you refuse to grow up. And parents who refuse to let their children grow up are furthering the destruction.
Fortunately the children who are not aborted are largely being born into families that do not think this way.
Angee Woodman| 7.30.10 @ 11:15PM
No there are some of 30-35 year olds who worked hard and despite our best efforts had to move back in with mommy and daddy or starve. Trust me, with some of us, its was the absolute last thing we wanted to do but sometimes circumstances happened beyond our control and we are going to back to school to make sure that doesnt happen again. If youre going to make that comment think about the exceptions to the rule. Thank you.
Fist of the Fleet| 7.28.10 @ 2:15PM
Herb, did it all. Worked hard, saved, learned new skills, hardly ever played. Lived within our means.
Starting all over at 49 years old.
I've been out as long as Obama has been President.
Now, what's you answer ?
Appleby| 7.27.10 @ 6:47AM
And of course if you are a handicapped transgendered Hispanic/Black war veteran whose first language is not English, you can be sure you will be hired almost anywhere.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.27.10 @ 6:58AM
While I agree with your concept that hard work and skills are rewarded many young people, a major group who voted for Obama, are seemingly getting their just rewards for being political waifs.
The current recession's unemployment for those in the 20-24 year old range is the highest ever, 5 percentage points higher then in 1975.
However, no matter how smart and skillful you are there are circumstances beyond your control.
For instance, the CRA acted like a 30 year bear trap, catching many when the trap was sprung.
The same thing is happening now as the government continues to expand central economic planning, after central economic planning failed.
The 20-24 age group is a group full of anger. They are too liberal to realize that failed economic policies are the source of their pain.
Perhaps they will wise up by 2012.
In the meantime Mr. Stein has a point. Train yourself and stay on top of your game.
vtwin| 7.27.10 @ 10:25AM
“The current recession's unemployment for those in the 20-24 year old range is the highest ever, 5 percentage points higher than in 1975.”
Thirty years of supply side economics (Reaganomics.)
“They[20-24 year old] are too liberal to realize that failed economic policies are the source of their pain.”
“Failed economic policies” are why they voted overwhelmly for Obama.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.27.10 @ 11:29AM
Reaganomics started after he was elected which was 5 years after 1975. The truth is we've had 50 years of the Great Society and it has completely failed.
DannyTheGun| 7.27.10 @ 3:50PM
Thirty years of supply side economics (Reaganomics.)
Hmmm, the last 20 years haven't been exactly Reaganesque. Yet the good he did while in office was enough to last this long.
“Failed economic policies” are why they voted overwhelmly for Obama.
Yep, they sure are. Problem is, they voted for more of those same policies.
Tim*| 7.27.10 @ 7:02PM
" The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).
Republicans hold a ten-point advantage on the Generic Congressional Ballot. "
carnot| 7.27.10 @ 9:05PM
and the same will apply in 2012!
JP| 7.27.10 @ 7:14AM
There's a Univ of Chicago economist, a Dr Rajan, who recently wrote that since 1992 all of our recessions featured jobless recoveries. He was able to correlate the deindustrializing of the US economy and the jobless rate. Not unsuprisingly, the biggest job losses occured in male dominated fields such as manufacturing, engineering, distribution and transportation as well as construction. This is a two edged problem, First, the servicie, technology, healthcare, and finance fields are more and more being dominated by women. However, many of these positions are also being outsourced. Finance, IT, customer servicie, and marketing are not immune. Women may join men in future downturns.
Dr Rajan wrote a series of essays which were quick to the point. Our nation has become highly bureaucratized. Even the private sector now relies more and more on centralized, Fortune 1000 firms to supply jobs and growth. The growth engine is not small businesses, as in past economies. But these large firms are driven by an entire set of circumstance that are both macro economic and global in nature. If the host government becomes too costly (such as Obama/Pelosi/Reid run government), said firms will just leave and take thier jobs with them. Hence, the jobless economy. Besides the Fortune 1000, the federal and state governments are the only game in town. But they cannot and will not continue to provide employment -there just isn't any money.
This all leads to a serious problem. It doesn't matter what credentials one has anymore. No job is safe. Not even lawyers and doctors are immune. And the staggering number of new regulations that govern small and large businesses (ObamaCare, new finance rules, EPA, OSHA, etc...) virtually guarentee none of this will change anytime soon.
tdiinva| 7.27.10 @ 2:24PM
The US economy has not become de-industrialized. Industrial output as percentage of GNP has remained remarkably constant since WWII. The work force has become less industrial based because of the accumulation of capital. It takes far fewer humans to build a car today then it did even 10 years ago. Robots do much of the hard work.
JP| 7.27.10 @ 2:46PM
Here are a list of industries that have left this nation:
Consumer electronics (that includes almost all of the jobs that benefit from the market such as plastics, precision tooling, chemicals, robotics, engineering, etc...)
Consumer appliacnes -yes some are still assembled here, but the vast majority of consumer appliances are manufactured overseas (and add all attendent businesses such as steel fabrication, tool and die, electrical motors, pumps, wire harnesses, etc...)
Precision Tooling - this includes CNC machines, PLC manufacturing, mills, grinders, etc...
Steel fabrication and manufacturing
Automotive and truck OEM parts, the majority of OEM parts now come from overseas sources.
As a proportion of our work force, manufacturing is at its lowest level since the Great Depression. Automation only accounts for a small portion of the job loss, as nations like Brazil, Signapore, Mexico, China, and India all benefitted from plants moving overseas from these markets. In recent years Fortune 500 firms have also sent jobs in Customer Service, IT, engineering, finance, and even corporate law to overseas firms.
tdiinva| 7.27.10 @ 3:02PM
How about the list of industries that have been created?
Here is the actual data on industrial production...
http://www.clevelandfed.org/re.....1507-3.gif
http://www.coyoteblog.com/phot.....turing.jpg
dandy dale| 7.27.10 @ 10:20PM
Thank you for correctly identifying the problem. In the 60's we exported the entire electronics industry. Today with stereos, computers and televisions what number could be placed on the job loss? In the 70's we outsourced steel. In the early 90's we signed NAFTA and out sourced the textile industries and manufacturing. The US was to have the High tech jobs that moved to Pakistan and India. While what was left in the US employers claimer for more HB-1 visas. Where the production goes, so goes the research and development. New economic words coined that never existed to placate the public "service economy" so more smoke could be blown up their backsides. We didn't teach a man to fish, what we did was give him our pole, hook, line and sinker, leaving us to starve and wages stagnate. Has anyone bothered to think why we sent Sec. of State Hillary to China to borrow money to fund our debt? This money was once profits generated by American business and taxed in the USA and would have been in this economy. Before NAFTA we used to said every dollar spent rolled back through the economy 7 to 11 times. Now the dollar rolls once maybe twice. 8 million jobs were outsourced, we have 8 million unemployed, simple math to me. This leads to another new word "jobless recovery" Is it any surprise?
Fist of the Fleet| 7.28.10 @ 2:25PM
20 years ago as the manufacturing plants, mills and machine shops were closing across Upstate NY, the major concern was the job loss to those workers.
No one gave thought to the young people who would have followed the retirees into those positions if those factories were still open.
Outsourcing has doomed an entire generation to a life of low paying service jobs, if they can get them.
Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, Pittsburgh, Scranton and up into New England. You do not have to look far to see it. Liberal policies only made a bad situation worse.
SpiralArchitect| 7.27.10 @ 4:00PM
"It takes far fewer humans to build a car today then it did even 10 years ago. Robots do much of the hard work. "
Correct. Humans are mostly kept on site to oversee the robots and to ensure they do not become 'self-aware'.
Appleby| 7.28.10 @ 7:36AM
And what caused this to happen? UNIONS.
Why pay some high school graduate $40.00 an hour plus benefits with a strike threat looming every day, when a robot works for free? (AndP.S. to women: robots do not get pregnant and take a year off with pay either.)
oldblue| 7.27.10 @ 3:52PM
Don't encourage ANYONE fron Chicago. Please. EVER again.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 7.27.10 @ 7:52AM
Every day I take screen shots of the National Debt Clock [http://www.usdebtclock.org] as soon as possible after the New York Stock Exchange closes. I use these screen shots to compile a database of several of the economic factors given by that resource. According to these numbers, 2010 United States work force peaked on June 4 at 140,658,480. On that day the U.S. population was 309,422,558, there were 4,259,152 federal workers, 40,604,900 folks receiving Food Stamps, my employment rate (which I calculate by simply dividing the work force by the population) was 45.458%, the percent of the population getting grocery aid was 13.123% and the Debt:GDP ratio stood at 90.5640105%. Currently, that site provides the data for 3 different Debt:GDP ratios: 1) my spreadsheet’s calculation using the formula Debt:GDP Ratio = Absolute Value (U.S. National Debt ÷ (U.S. GDP * 100)); 2) The National Debt Clock’s own calculation which I did not record from 6/03 through 6/21; and 3) A second National Debt Clock calculation found in the section listing the Debt:GDP ratio for 10 different countries. usually my spreadsheet and the first Debt Clock ratio agree out to the 3rd decimal place, at least since 6/22. However, their second ratio runs about 4 points higher. I have no idea why there is a discrepancy in their two numbers. On 6/4 that second ratio was a whopping 94.3132848%.
At about 4:15 ET yesterday evening, the same numbers were United States Work Force = 138,551,020; U.S. population = 309,831,931; federal workers = 4,265,128; Food Stamps recipients = 41,308,924, my employment rate = 44.718%; the Food Stamps rate = 13.333%; Excel’s Debt:GDP ratio = 91.6059750%; Debt Clock’s first Debt:GDP ratio = 91.6061123% and its second Debt:GDP ratio = 94.4057912%.
Using these numbers it’s quite simple to establish that in spite of adding 5,976 gum’mint employees, OUR overall Work Force has declined by 2,107,460, and my employment rate has dropped 0.740%. With all due respect to Mr. Stein, whose co-starring role with some sort of rodent in a tee vee commercial is first rate, I really doubt all those newly unemployed are victims of themselves. Just maybe, there are other factors at work like a kommie incompetent in the Oval Office and a complicit kongress. Just a hunch mind you.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“... I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody." bury obummer to Joe the Plumber.
Only 908 days to go.
Margie| 7.27.10 @ 4:04PM
He didn't say ALL of the recently unemployed were victims of themselves. He said some and he makes a very true point when he speaks about the attitude of SOME individuals. Not ALL.
This is reminding me of those who took out the magnifying glass on Jeffrey Lord to make him out to be an offender.
Teresa| 7.30.10 @ 9:38PM
Speaking as an employer .......
We endeavor to avoid hiring "bad" employees. We certainly do not keep them. Ergo all of our employees are "good" employees. In the event of a lay-off some "good" employees will be laid off. The last to go are the ones who contribute the most. Common sense.
All other things being equal between 2 employees(skill, experience, etc), the one who is the most loyal, enthusiastic, dependable and - well - "pleasant" will be the one retained.
Denver Todd| 7.27.10 @ 8:36AM
There are two books that I would recommend for those who need some brushup on behavioral skills in the marketplace. Conduct Expected by William Lareau, and an update Conduct Expected for the 21st Century. I read the former when I had some attitude problems that were hampering my employment, and it was very helpful. If you have an unemployed friend, buy him one of these books.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.27.10 @ 9:11AM
Denver,
pardon me, but THE FIRST book to be bought...or gotten in your local library if you are flat broke...
is "WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE?" (the umteenth updated edition.) by Richard Bolles.
Go to amazon.com and go inside the excerpts.
OK aside from that...
Mr. Stein,
We in the "small business" community... nation wide ...are holding our collective breath until November !
You need to get out to some "beer-joints" and tune into the middle class, knothead!
Jenny| 7.27.10 @ 9:42AM
Don't be so hard on Mr. Stein. He is making very generalized comments, which I happen to agree with. They are just common sense. If you have an employee that doesn't do his job or get along with others, that employee will probably be the first fired. And vice versa.
Vern Crisler| 7.27.10 @ 10:52AM
Ben is being disingenuous. He did not restrict his claims to his small circle of "Hollywood" friends. He did not even mention Hollywood. I was criticized for pointing out that Ben's sample was based in Hollywood and was therefore not the best for generalizing to American workers. Ben admitted his sample was small and may not apply to everyone, but it makes a difference if his small sample is hard-working Smalltown, USA or narcissistic, unrepresentative, Hollywood, Malibu, Beverly Hills.
Ruffian1| 7.27.10 @ 6:34PM
Ben is right, but not in a union environment. I am a physician in a unionized hospital in hard times. Senior individuals who may have lost their skills are protected in deference to less skilled, usually younger. So the hypothesis does not apply everywhere, only generally.
Backyard| 7.28.10 @ 4:03AM
...so you never heard of "seniority?"
Mimi| 7.27.10 @ 10:01AM
The problem....nobody is hiring...nobody is buying....We are all on " HOLD"!! After Nov., After the Dems are SHOCKED.... Watch the country take off... like a rocket. Wait on "WE THE PEOPLE "!!!
Dan Hirsch| 7.27.10 @ 10:10AM
I believe Ben's point was that the reality of the high unemployment percentage was brought home to him by his personal experience of friends and acquaintances visibly suffering in the current crisis.
"A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours."
Right now, 16 - 18% of the people who were working not too long ago are in a depression. Ben was reporting that he is now in a recession because of his 'neighbors' conditions.
His further point was that if you are 'recessed' you better work hard, smart, and happily. If you are depressed, get busy, work hard, sharpen up, it's what we Americans do.
As to a new job, like everything else, it'll probably be in the last place you looked for it.
Nolite conculare me!
Jee Lee| 7.27.10 @ 10:53AM
A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours, and a recovery is when Barrack Obama loses his.
Gail| 7.27.10 @ 1:16PM
Love it!
LiveFreeOrDie| 7.27.10 @ 1:20PM
Excellent!
Alice Moore| 7.27.10 @ 5:31PM
Yes!!!!!
Ruffian| 7.27.10 @ 6:35PM
Beauty!
John II| 7.27.10 @ 2:30PM
No offense, Dan, and your motto has a long pedigree and is well taken, but you've got to fix the Latin so that you don't drive weenie classicists like me nuts.
First, your spelling of the infinitive complement is off. The first-conjugation verb you're using for "tread on" is "conculco," not *conculo (the asterisk in standard linguistic notation indicates a non-existent form, as in *tooths).
Second, the idiom is slightly off. The normal Latin word order would have the pronoun object precede the governing infinitive.
And so: Nolite me conculcare.
Just sayin'.
tez| 7.27.10 @ 4:35PM
Will learning Latin get me a job
John II| 7.27.10 @ 9:41PM
Probably not--but the effort it takes to do so (and especially to KEEP it after you've learned it!) is a kind of calisthenic that prepares your mind to do all kinds of things, including landing jobs and keeping them.
Or so my students attest in emails I get from them 20 years after the fact, when I've forgotten their names.
Of course, it's kept me securely employed for about 40 years now, but who the hell's going to fire someone who teaches Latin and Greek? For some reason I can't precisely account for, I never lack for students.
Dan Hirsch| 7.27.10 @ 6:39PM
John II;
A million thanks - I dug that out of my hopelessly limited Latin education (two years in high school and four hours at a Big Ten school while Nixon was in his first term!) and was waiting for someone of your learning to plumb me up. Thanks.
Nolite me conculcare!
Shamus| 7.27.10 @ 10:52AM
There are things that could be done at a national level that would increase employment.
Currently, employers are burdened with many taxes when they hire an employee. Among them are FICA (for Social Security and Medicare), workers comp, unemployment insurance, and soon the new health insurance levy.
Taxes add perhaps 20% to the cost of hiring an employee. Replacing these taxes with a national sales tax would create a huge incentive to hire workers.
Jeanne| 7.27.10 @ 4:36PM
Add to the tax burden when hiring to the burdensome, confusing and tiresome task of keeping abreast of local, state and federal laws and it is extremely easy to understand why so many companies have moved offshore. (I neglected to add the huge problems associated with unionism.) Until the government at all levels learn to live within their means (as we must) companies will continue to reduce their workforces or move offshore.
Michael| 7.27.10 @ 10:55AM
Here is a rare time where Ben and I part ways on a subject. Once Rush Limbaugh said, "The words that will end a person's unemployment is when the person says, "I'll take that job." I immediately said, "No, Rush. The words that will end a person's unemployment is when someone else says, "I'll give you a job." I have none of the bad work habits Ben discribed, yet I have suffered long spells of unemployment. The problem is not me. The problem is that employers are not willing to take a chance on me. When they are willing to do that, then you will see unemployment totals go down.
BH| 7.27.10 @ 2:46PM
So let me get this straight, unemployment will finally drop when employers take a chance on you ? Are you running for office ?
Michael| 7.28.10 @ 4:08PM
BH--1) Exactly. Me and a lot of others. 2) I wish I were. I do a better job than 95 percent of the ones we got in Washington now.
Clinton nee Publius | 7.27.10 @ 11:00AM
What Mr. Stein does not address is the 800 pound gorilla in the room: the continued failure of our economy to perform due to the inherent structural weaknesses that are caused as a result of the continued "prosecution" of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the use of taxation to fund the costs of government - both of which have repeatedly demonstrated their power to only create more havoc and not solve the central issues we face today in our economic society.
The reality in our economic society is that we are being made to pay a terrible price for the privilege of sustaining a monopoly in favor of the commercial banking industry at our sole expense and risk. This is one of the key issues we face. We know that fractional-reserve banking is just a legalized check-kiting scheme and we know that insuring the losses of bankers by everyone else is just a moral hazard that can only result in ruin, yet we have to give pause and listen to the pious declarations of people like Mr. Stein who take such great pains to tell us that it can't be any other way and this is the best there is.
The reality is it has to be this way because it solely benefits bankers at everyone else's expense and it is the best it can be for bankers. Yet we pay the price each and every day. I notice Mr. Stein appears in commercials for a company that offers credit scoring information.
Isn't that just fascinating?
Credit scoring is state-sanctioned discrimination for the benefit of the banking industry so it can decide who will obtain capital access and who will not - a system that guarantees only corruption and moral hazards and yet people like Mr. Stein heartily endorse this corruption and discrimination because they are part of the insider group that benefits from its continued practice. Mr. Stein would have you believe it is necessary and valuable, yet if you list your credit score for sale on eBay you will find there is no market value for corruption (other than the ability to charge a fee to increase the participation of fellow co-conspirators).
There is only one solution for these problems and it is not to blame us for that which we have no control so that you can assuage your own feelings in this matter. If your feelings have been hurt Mr. Stein I would suggest you get professional assistance and a pet. As for your pronouncements on economics, I think it is high time we stopped taking the prescriptions for that which has not worked and cannot work and put something into place that will work.
My apologies if you feel like you are being banged on the head. Ouch!
Pat Fields | 7.27.10 @ 11:28AM
There can be no lasting recovery as long as we tolerate this virtual 'money' model, because it's ultimately self-destructive and systemically usurps an increasing proportion of our productive capacity to maintain.
The problem lay in that cash is issued at interest and the interest necessitates more issuance of cash to service. That reciprocal co-generation of cash and interest, once begun, continues to reverberate infinitely.
There's only one way to avert the eventual disaster of the interest service consuming basic sustenance of society and that's to 'harden' the currency float with an appropriate form and quantity of specie money to stop the interest generation and its compounding on itself.
In America's case that means converting every banknote unit into a 10 gram copper piece that would thereafter trade on a value par with the abandoned notes, keeping ordinary daily trade undisturbed and freeing up productive capacity to begin actually re-building our country's wealth instead of pouring it into needlessly exploding interest service.
Ruffian| 7.27.10 @ 6:40PM
You mean, like, um, go back on the gold standard? Obama = FDR?
Anthony| 7.27.10 @ 11:41AM
I'll stay away from commenting directly on Ben's comments. Instead, I'll focus on the hapless R establishment, that do, God knows what, over at the RNC each day.
There was an insufferable congressman from Missouri, Richard Gephart, a Denny Hoyer look alike, who made the famous comment that for every 100 pt drop in the stock market, the D's would pick up a congressional seat.
I wonder why the braintrust over at the RNC haven't picked up on this theme, and haven't reminded Americans what a 10% unemployment rate translates into, as far as congressional seats are concerned, with millions of jobs lost, thanks to Obama & friends.
I also wonder why the RNC doesn't daily remind Americans how Obama & friends are destroying the private sector, on purpose, that can create those jobs.
Hey Ben, why don't you bring that mallet of yours over to the RNC and do your famous wack-a-mole on some of these guys? Who knows, maybe they'll wake up, at the very least, we rubes will get an "ouch" out of the RNC, as so aptly put by Clinton nee Publis.
Clinton nee Publius | 7.27.10 @ 11:46AM
Not much chance of that. My point was that Mr. Stein was making excuses for the continuation of the same policies that have always failed us no matter which brand (political party) was in charge of the show as they gain from a continuation of the game at our expense and risk.
If I were in Mr. Stein's shoes I can't say that I would be interested in changing anything either. The rigging looks good from where he's sitting. For those of us at the elephant's feet, well...
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 7.27.10 @ 1:51PM
Would that be the very same tricky-dicky gep-hard who campaigned first for a St. Louis aldermanic chair then later as Missouri’s 3rd district as a pro-life dumbo-crat (I know - an oxymoron), but almost to the moment that he decided to run for the presidency, tossed all those unborn innocents into the medical waste bin since they don’t vote. He also proved his ability as a financial whiz by demonstrating that he had could not balance a check book and had greatly defrauded the American Taxpayer by overdrawing his account at the House Bank. Also, back in the day when my best friend dispensed welfare benefits, tricky dick ordered his supervisor to order him to violate the law and approve medical benefits to a clearly ineligible man who was a voter. He refused. Shortly thereafter he was applying for unemployment.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Those who have prospered and profited from life's lottery have a moral obligation to share their good fortune”
- Dick Gephardt
Only 908 days to go.
Curious| 7.27.10 @ 4:09PM
So it's your contention that cutting taxes without cutting spending (Republican point of view) is the way to go? Continuing down the same path expecting different results is nuts! Until we get a balanced budget the economic condition will not improve much and cutting taxes isn't going to help and neither will increasing them. Just leave the tax structure alone for now until spending is controlled then cut taxes when we have surpluses.
Margie| 7.27.10 @ 4:18PM
It is possible to do both. The Left always tries to sell your line.
ShortNSweet| 7.29.10 @ 3:38PM
SURPLUS?!?!? From the vantage point that we find ourselves today - It Won't Be In Our Life Time.....
Paevo| 7.27.10 @ 11:52AM
"Unrealistic expectations" could just as well be interpreted as far-ranging ambition. Bad work habits might be the result of the inability to work straitjacketed in rut-fashion. While I generally agree with Mr. Stein, I think that the lack of opportunity can in itself create a downward spiral for many who, in a better economy, might have succeeded beyond anyone's imagination. By turning their backs on a career path they are most likely qualified for, they are faced with a sort of existential betrayal that, despite economic necessity, they simply refuse to stomach...
Alice Moore| 7.27.10 @ 5:46PM
Unrealistic expectations" could just as well be interpreted as far-ranging ambition. Bad work habits might be the result of the inability to work straitjacketed in rut-fashion.
In the past, and I hope it's not in the permanent past, these are the people who started successful small businesses as an engine of recovery.
I know what you're saying Paevo. You aren't referring to those Speshul 16 year olds of all ages. I should know; I was one once upon a time.
This engineered recession has made it impossible for new start up companies and innovative individuals.
Rush Limbaugh was supposedly a difficult employee and did not want to be straight jacketed as well. He worked many long hard years to get his syndicated talk show.
Pat| 7.27.10 @ 12:43PM
Ben Stein’s shoe, tasting of diesel fumes and dog urine, was jammed directly into his mouth during a previous column, which means he can now write more columns explaining what he really meant when he previously tried to explain what he really meant. Newsflash Ben: First, you should have apologized to those you’re about to criticize, that’s the politically correct way to slam someone these days. For example, “I have only the greatest sympathy for drug lords, sometimes you have no choice but to kill people, even little kids – and torture, even though you may be a kind and tender hearted individual, is also necessary at times to set an example – but I think it’s very wrong to sell illegal drugs, make millions of dollars annually, pay no taxes and have beautiful women fawning over you – I just think that’s not a good thing – if that’s OK with you?”.
There, you said what had to be said but in the proper way, the modern way. So, let’s try this again and pay attention: “I have only the greatest respect for the unemployed, the vast majority of whom are decent people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. When bad things happen to good people, you good people have no choice but to accept government charity from your fellow citizens who are still working and you may collect unemployment benefits for up to 2 years now - and without any intention on your part of ever paying the money back once you do find a good job. But that’s understandable because you’re only taking the money because it’s not your fault, you’re keeping the money and never paying it back because it’s not your fault - in fact, nothing is your fault. But for the handful of you folks around our country who cycle between low paying jobs and unemployment, thereby realizing a lot of leisure time paid for by others – well, that doesn’t seem right and maybe you should stop doing it – if that’s OK with you?”.
ShortNSweet| 7.29.10 @ 3:35PM
Wow! Good job Pat!
Sam Vaughn| 7.27.10 @ 1:20PM
My take away from Ben's article - "... if you believe you are a victim so you shall be...." "life isn't fair..." "if you wait for someebody else to make your life better it'll be a long wait and come with strings (chains) attached..."
dw| 7.27.10 @ 2:01PM
-14.6 million unemployed, not including those who have given up looking for work
-25% unemployment rate in the construction industry alone
-a ruinous socialist liberal economic plan that is retarding growth by stealing more and more private sector wealth
-uncertainty as to what the impact of all these contradictory democratic policies, especially obamacare, will cause as it unfolds. Any clear thinking individual (liberals obviously excluded from that qualifier) inherently knows it will be another out of control government disaster resulting ever increasing financial stresses.
-No indication that this will change any time in the near future which causes business' to hoard capital amid the fear of impending financial meltdown.
-tax hikes to small businees owners coming up next year adding insult to injury
-no idea as to what will be the next act of stupidity authored by these socialist ideolouges as they continue their journey to save us all from our ignorant selves ( cap and trade, vat tax, who knows, the possibilities for idiocy with these morons is endless)
So, now, the fault and blame for this falls on the unemployed. Easy to say when your not one of them, but maybe a bit disingenuous.
BTW initial unemployment insurance was paid for through payroll taxing and has only become a "welfare" extension due to the horrendous Keynesian economic policies installed by the obamination.
Pete| 7.27.10 @ 3:01PM
Why would any company invest and hire in this anti-business environment? Our rulers have voted themselves the power to arbitrarily punish companies and/or industries they do not favor, and even within favored industries, those who do not show proper deference to their masters will be systematically handicapped.
ALHill| 7.27.10 @ 3:24PM
Amen to this! And don't forget that the government can now legally steal your business and/or shut you down. (See Chrysler/GM).
The only business that is hiring is government right now. Small Businesses are on "pause" for the forseeable future.
Pat| 7.27.10 @ 5:05PM
ALHILL: Coincidentally, Obama is leaving for Detroit soon to visit his auto plantations and bask in the warmth of folks who love him for himself. Detroit’s media is awaiting his arrival with baited breath. Just today, they thoroughly rationalized the expense of his Maine vacation, the $500 a night suite, the lobster dinner, just normal expenses your average vacationer wouldn’t blink at – setting the right mood for his visit is important – although they did express disappointment the family dog, Bo Obama, isn’t making the trip to the Motor City.
Michigan still posts the second highest unemployment numbers in the country so no one within the media wants to report awkward questions about lobster dinners when Detroiters generally dine out at the local McDonald’s dumpster. But awkward questions about unemployment shouldn’t be a problem since Detroit could find only 7 Republican voters during the last census. At the moment in the Big D, there are 3 distinct types of Democratic voters as follows:
Gruntled Democrats: Those Democrats who lost their jobs but got stimulated by D. C. and aren’t presently on unemployment.
Disgruntled Democrats: Those Democrats who lost their jobs, didn’t get stimulated from any source and are presently on unemployment.
Asylum Democrats: Those Democrats who lost their jobs, who weren’t stimulated, whose unemployment has ran out but would vote for Obama again in a heartbeat if given the chance.
joe dokes| 7.27.10 @ 3:54PM
Ben, you are back peddling for all your worth now. Why don't you stick to comedy. That's what your good at. What you said about people out of work is pure right wing crap. You deserve all the backlash you are getting now. It's time for you to retire to your McMansion and fade away.
karl anglin| 7.27.10 @ 3:58PM
The human mind is capable of infinite
self-deception.----Charles Lee Smith (1897-1964)
Margie| 7.27.10 @ 4:17PM
That reminds me of another statement I once heard by a wise man. "Man's biggest drive is to justify himself."
Lord Karth| 7.28.10 @ 7:07PM
Robert J. Ringer put it best: "The perpetrator can always justify his actions."
NEW ECONOMY| 7.27.10 @ 4:24PM
During the 1990's state & local government including schools hired tons of people and fueled the economy by passing out big salaries, it sucked up the excessive labor. Than the DOT.CON bubble burst just as the baby boomers kids started hitting the labor force creating a huge new supply of labor.
The people feeding off the high paying government made government jobs went on a home buying feeding frenzy using their high salaries while the government passed out home loans to anyone who could sign their name so the yuppies could upgrade into bigger houses because there was a market for their smaller houses made by the government giving service industry workers home loans they could never pay.
Corporate America saw a new supply of cheaper labor in the baby boomers kids so why not lay off millions and hire new cheaper help by shifting work to other locations, it's not like the old days when jobs where tied to massive plants, they could just move office jobs at will across the country or out of the country.
Many of the poeple crying the blues probably made enough money over the years to have paid off a modest house, but instead they went for a big house and lived high on the hog like the money would never end and now they expect everyone else to send them a weekly check ?
Margie| 7.27.10 @ 4:34PM
Here is something hopeful. If you find yourself poor and unemployed or underemployed, as we have been. You can move to a less expensive area in the country and if you can come up with a few thousand dollars you can purchase a house that has been foreclosed on. This way you do not have to pay rent anymore and you can own your own home. You can also start your own buying and selling business on ebay. Without it being a registered business. This can make you thousands of dollars each month! You can create a separate buyer i.d. and seller i.d., it is totally legal per ebay as long as you have 2 separate e mail addys. This has saved our lives for several years now and we have become top sellers which brings in more buyers.
I'm just saying, that it is true what Ben Stein is saying, and I think that one of his points is that where there is a will, there's a way and that you just can't give in and give up.
By the Grace of God you as an individual, and we as a country MUST not give up.
God bless America!
Lord Karth| 7.28.10 @ 7:10PM
"You can move to a less expensive area in the country and if you can come up with a few thousand dollars you can purchase a house that has been foreclosed on. "
The only place I can think of where housing is THAT cheap is in beautiful downtown Detroit. The housing may be cheap, but there are other, more fundamental problems with living there.
Margie| 7.29.10 @ 4:58PM
No, it's not Detroit! It's in a lovely state which I don't wish to name here. Just take a look on Realtor.com or Foreclosure.com. Type in any town. True that it seems that most of these houses are partially wrecked by the homeowners who couldn't pay their mortgages, and you will have some work to do, but that's life. You still get to own a home. It's the American Dream! I am sorry for those who had to give up their homes but thankful for this opportunity.
Martin j smith| 7.27.10 @ 4:35PM
I wonder how many of those Ben described voted for Obama ? In any event, not having a job is LOUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. And what exactly is BHO doing to change this ? JOBS--this is the main issue because it connects with everything: Immigration,Healthcare,energy, etc. This should be the focal p[oint of this years election --but there are others. As for Hollywood--being out of work is lousy due to any circumstances. But if it is foolishness, then get a shrink or eat chicken soups.
Wes Davis| 7.27.10 @ 4:37PM
Ben, I agreed with your first article and I agree with this one too.
Keep up the good work.
Brenda| 7.27.10 @ 4:44PM
Ben based his comments on his personal circle of friends, and to be in the personal circle of Ben Stein you’d most likely be extremely smart, talented, educated, and connected. When people like that are unemployed, there’s likely a reason, and Ben’s probably not far off the mark in identifying it. However I can see how a lot of people would take it personally. Ben, you should have seen that coming.
BOB| 7.27.10 @ 4:49PM
Ben, I usually agree with you and always understand you. However, I cannot understand what you are saying in the penultimate sentence of the column.
"I know it's taboo in this country for anyone except the rich to be anything but victims, but sometimes we are victims of ourselves."
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 7.27.10 @ 5:29PM
Based on the National Debt Clock [http://www.usdebtclock.org] numbers collected today about 4:08 PM ET, after the New York Stock Exchange closed, during the last 24 hours, we lost an additional 10,200 workers, added 8,034 folks to the population, added an additional 10,182 mouths to the Food Stamps Roll, the Work Force:Population Ratio declined by 0.004%, we hired another 117 federal employees, my Excel Debt:GDP Ratio stands at a rather daunting 91.6297289%, Debt Clock Debt:GDP Ratio #1 is 91.6298920% and Debt Clock Debt:GDP Ratio #2 is a rather intimidating 94.4076394%. Yep, Ben, the unemployed are victims indeed, but not of themselves.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun. - Thomas Carlyle
Only 908 days to go.
TOV ROSE | 7.27.10 @ 8:10PM
Good points. I think those who are out there to destroy everything decent and good will always attack truth tellers like us.
VinnieCCT| 7.27.10 @ 10:48PM
Can't we just all agree that...
laziness -> higher taxes
Petronius| 7.28.10 @ 1:24AM
? Why does anybody have a job?
If a person has a job, it is triggered by the necessity that tasks be done by others than the person employing them. Most people view a job as a property right once they get hired. Trades men and shop floor grunts in particular view the work they do as a commodity to be divvied up and production controlled at a rate that will not discomfort them. We've all seen the results.
Even though I'm a firm believer in the maxim that the line produces and management interferes, there is plenty of blame to be leveled at everybody who screws up, be they managers or craft, public sector or private. Were this not true, Dilbert wouldn't be amusing in the least.
Most people don't understand the nature of business. Darwin will tell you: survival of the fittest. And they don't care about the nature of government. It has two aspects. Economically, it is parasitic. It does not produce anything. Culturally, it is despotic: that is to say feudalistic.
Both sectors share a common thread. A lot of business has nought but contempt for the customer. He is a mark to be exploited. Government is a great deal more contemptuous of the average citizen. He is an entity to be subjugated. If economics is the dismal science, then politics is surely the evil one.
Respect and honor have been displaced by egotism and spite. These characteristics have no value in the private sector job market. On the other hand, if the railroad tie on your shoulder is big enough, you can get elected President of the United States by empathizing with those who are like-minded.
ShortNSweet| 7.28.10 @ 11:49AM
Ben, your explanations are understandable only to those who understood in the first place. We have become a whiney lot and what's so sad is this may only be the beginning of these "hard times". I say the tough get up and get going and the whiney kick and cry, and pout and BLAME IT ALL ON SOMEONE ELSE. Your comments were generalized from the beginning, and in that general sense they were true.
Ernest Norsworthy | 7.29.10 @ 3:09PM
So I remember the FDR era in the 30s, so we lived in an old farm house with no amenities, NONE; so we lived in hard times but I never went hungry, so I learned to “plow a mule”, so, so, so, so what! My dad had a paper route and I always had a newspaper to read (and to otherwise dispose of).
Not anyone in my family ever whined or complained; we took it and gave back our best. That was over three generations ago. Hard times ginned up our juices and we always were thinking how to make a buck. The ways were as varied as they were countless.
So what do I do these days? I spend a lot of time researching the TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, that abomination of a federal agency that has sucked the life out of the South by stultifying its natural entrepreneurial growth.
Join me and many others in exposing this despised federal agency with supra powers. Check out Norsworthy Opinion on Google, you’ll see plenty of my writings.
Go, Ben Stein!
Ernest Norsworthy
Angee W| 7.30.10 @ 10:17PM
Mr Stein,
I normally love to read what you have to say but you are way off the mark on this one.
I live in Michigan not far from Detroit where life as far as the job market goes is uber tough. I have been looking for work for a long time and can not get hired because I insist on getting an education in one of the most advancing fields in hopes that in a few years I can provide a better life for myself.
I totally agree that there are people are there that are absolutely worthless but theyre are some of us who work hard, try our best to get along with people and work extra hours if needed. I know that atleast in my state with jobs being cut and sent over seas, employers can be picky about who they hire. They can choose not to hire a person because their college schedule doesnt leave them with a 24/7 availability or choose to employ high schoolers because they can pay them less and wont put up a fight. Many good employable people in Michigan are being overlooked because of circumstancial situations beyond their control. I am really tired of the unemployed being deemed as "lazy" when few know what it is like to live in these states with the highest unemployment rate.
And I agree with a comment made about how can we save on minimum wage? This is all Ive ever been payed. With gas prices, lack of health insurance and rising inflation prices, money is gone before the next pay period is due. How exactly can we diversify our portfolio when some cant even get help from the state with food or help paying their medical debt? We are living like paupers not kings constantly deciding what priorities are important and what we can do without. We are not picky people. I know I would take ANY job I can get. People, especially in Michigan can only do so much with what they are given until the situation improves.
I am sure Mr. Stein that you are a very hard working person and I admire your giving heart but spend some time in Michigan and you will see what I am talking about.
beebop| 8.1.10 @ 11:09AM
A couple of things:
1. End the wars/occupations and watch unemployment REALLY climb.
2. No one on unemployment is going to sacrifice sitting at home and watching the telly for some underpaying part time gig. When did we as a nation start looking down our collective noses at working people? Try working a part time job sometime out in the public. All you see is nostrils.