Category Archives: ben stein watch

Ben Stein this week uses his column to lay a thousand-word guilt trip on his son. Never mind that entire book he wrote about the joys of fatherhood, the main point that Stein wants to get across right now is … Continue reading →

Ben Stein is worried about oil prices. We know this because he uses words in his column this week like "frightening", "extreme hardship", "overwhelming trouble", "peak oil" (twice), "true crisis", and "emergency". Plus: If we keep acting as if the … Continue reading →

Ben Stein admits this week to having a "febrile brain". Does that mean he has meningitis? I’m not sure that would necessarily explain much, but maybe it helps us a little way along the road to understanding why the NYT … Continue reading →

Ben Stein’s column this week is the first since the NYT kicked off its formal review of his film thusly: One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” is a conspiracy-theory rant … Continue reading →

Ben Stein has a lot of money invested in the stock market, and tends to think of the stock market as a proxy for financial markets as a whole. So last summer, when the credit crunch first hit, he was … Continue reading →

I went to a screening of Ben Stein’s new movie this evening. My favorite bit, unsurprisingly, was when the film quoted Pamela Winnick thusly: If you give any credence at all to Intelligent Design, you are just finished as a … Continue reading →

Ben Stein is back in the NYT again this week: after filing just one column in all of February, he’s managed no fewer than four in March. Doesn’t he have a film to promote or something? Stein this week turns … Continue reading →

Now that I’ve left the desert and I have proper internet access rather than trying to update the blog from my iPhone, I can finally get around to Ben Stein’s NYT column from Sunday. Given that I’m still on holiday, … Continue reading →

I apologize for completely missing Ben Stein’s NYT column on March 9, telling John McCain to balance the budget by raising taxes on the rich. So, for the sake of completeness, here’s a link to it. You might be surprised … Continue reading →

I have to admit I harbored some hope that Ben Stein wouldn’t have a column in the NYT this week. After all, he had three columns in December, two in January, and only one in February – simple extrapolation would … Continue reading →

One of the more subtly irritating things about Ben Stein’s NYT column is the fact that he seems so cavalier and ungrateful about the fact that he has such an influential pulpit from which to broadcast his biweekly blather. The … Continue reading →

Marek Fuchs on Ben Stein this week: I have seen a lot of bad business journalism in my day, but nothing as irresponsible and so wholly unsupported by facts. Actually, by even a single fact. See also: Yves Smith, Henry … Continue reading →

What is it with Ben Stein and his conspiracy theories? When he first started blaming Goldman Sachs traders for causing the market’s sell-off, it was easy to laugh at him. But he doesn’t seem to be letting go, and at … Continue reading →

Is outsourced to Sandwichman. I don’t do Stein’s Yahoo columns, I’d go mad.

It’s been three weeks since the last installment of the Ben Stein Watch: had no column appeared today, I would have been ready to declare victory. But it was not to be, and a predictably bad column has arrived, along … Continue reading →

Oh yes he did. Not content with penning what was probably the most thoroughly fisked column that the NYT ran all year, Ben Stein has now revisited the scene of his embarrassment, only to compound the crime. Stein has a … Continue reading →

Ben Stein dedicates this week’s column to the mistakes he made in 2007. Those mistakes include bad stock picks, bad hotel-room picks, and spending too much money. Weirdly, however, he admits to no mistakes whatsoever when it comes to his … Continue reading →

Dear God what hath Ben Stein wrought? His latest column was as dreadful as most, but it seems to have touched one hell of a nerve. I have a weekly Ben Stein Watch; I had to respond to it. But … Continue reading →

Ben Stein pops up in a lot of places: Yahoo columns, Fortune videos, scientifically-illiterate movies, brain-dead TV shows, even Portfolio features. One place he doesn’t seem to have much presence, however, is the UK. Which is just as well, because … Continue reading →

Ben Stein’s NYT column is called "Everybody’s Business". Today he uses all of its 1,150 words to eulogize a Hollywood restaurant about which Citysearch says that "larger-than-life prices make it a ticket few can afford". He also manages to drop … Continue reading →

Ben Stein’s big idea this week is that if banks have taken large losses, their board members should be held responsible. It’s something I’ve said in the past, so I should agree with him, right? But this is Stein, of … Continue reading →

If last week’s Ben Stein column was a reversion to mean, a bad column following a vaguely reasonable one, then this week’s is a momentum trade. You thought that Stein couldn’t get any worse than he was last week? Well, … Continue reading →