Ben Stein Slams Tax Cuts, Tea Partiers, Bush, and Obama as ‘Careless,’ But Praises Clinton

NewsBusters.org ^ | August 1, 2011 | Brad Wilmouth

[sinanju]

"STEIN: This comes to mind because of the budget, taxes, debt ceiling crisis the nation is going through. What we are seeing is a stupendous pile-up of immensely careless people who have been heading for trouble for more than a decade now. There's no doubt that Bill Clinton for all of his issues left the federal budget on a sound financial footing. It was undone by the bursting of the Internet bubble, the two wars following 9/11, but mostly because of the folly of supply side economics, which falsely assured Americans that they could have their cake and it a eat it, too. That large tax cuts would yield higher government revenue. There never was any convincing data to back it up, and there’s also supply side tax cuts were immense government deficits under Bush 43.

There was also another problem, an inflexible belief by some on the GOP side that low taxes were an American birthright. They're not. We're not immune to arithmetic. If we spend a lot, we have to tax a lot. Then came Mr. Obama's carelessness. His wild raise in the federal expenditure so that what had seemed like huge deficits under Bush 43 suddenly seemed modest. And then came the Tea Partiers who insisted on the basically impossible, an immediate cut in federal spending, large enough to balance the budget without tax increases. In this age of Medicare and Medicaid, two wars, massive federal debt, interest payments, staggering Social Security obligations, that was simply impossible..."

[GlockThe Vote]

Stein is a moron. Just check out his clip on youtube w peter schiff.

[Ann Archy]

Is she a big lefty?? Most likely.

[Past Your Eyes]

I’m 64 and have had cancer. I figured he was at least 5 years older than I am.

[catfish1957]

Ben Stein is suffering from progressive liberal rotting brain disease. This affliction is very similar to Mad Cow, except it gives you an obsession to think poor people deserve rich people's money.

The disease reportedly affects about 30% of the population, and symptoms range from catatonic stupers to frothing nonsense.

NO known cure to date.

[sinanju]

Believe it or not, he went to junior high with Sylvester Stallone.

[sinanju]

All those prescriptions can definitely bend your mind.

I remember ten years ago when he wrote about taking Cipro during the Anthrax scare. He wrote that spectacularly wigged him out, and not in a good way.

Maybe there was a permanent effect?

[Madame Dufarge]

Stein's 66 years old, but may have been this age from birth.

Among his many sins, he was a speech writer for Richard Nixon and a "poverty lawyer."

Years ago when I subscribed to The American Spectator I would usually avoid reading his column. His hypochondria, cries of poverty, slobbering encomiums to his batty Hollywood friends and painful accounts of his son's bratty behavior got to be too annoying to bother with.

Ben Stein bio

[SMARTY]

“Ben Stein Slams Tax Cuts, Tea Partiers, Bush, and Obama as ‘Careless,’ But Praises Clinton”

There is more than a slight wheel wobble to THAT logic.

[miss marmelstein]

I guess I’m a meanie but I used to cringe yet enjoy his terrible columns about his kid - who apparently grew up and has a wife and child (although BS still takes potshots at his laziness).

Stein was like the character Jim Bachus plays in “Rebel without a Cause.”

[miss marmelstein]

He actually thought he was going to be killed by Anthrax? This alone shows he’s as mad as a hatter! Even my mother - the biggest hypochondriac in the world (and it ain’t a funny disorder) - didn’t resort to that, lol!

[G Larry]

Ben is among the guilty rich, who spent most of his life giving away his money. And he believe everybody else should too.
What Ben fails to recognize is that it is NOT the governments job to spread my income around and they do a lousy job of it.
The government only wants MY MONEY to buy votes with.
Being effective in the management of government programs is not important.

[BfloGuy]

mostly because of the folly of supply side economics, which falsely assured Americans that they could have their cake and it a eat it, too. That large tax cuts would yield higher government revenue.

In defense of Supply Siders (I'm not one), nowhere do they suggest that tax cuts always yield large revenues. The Laffer Curve merely points out that there is some tax rate -- which can vary with circumstances -- that will maximize revenue.

Now, as we all know, Bush should have whipped the GOP Congress to cut spending by roughly the amount of his tax cuts. But, Bush is not a Supply Sider; he and Pappy are dyed-in-the-wool Keynesians.

Remember when H.W. referred to Supply Side economics as "voodoo"?

[elcid1970]

Ideology aside, Ben is incredibly self-absorbed and narcissistic. Like we care about his dogs and his meds.

He should simply call his column “My Day”.

Hmmm..... somebody’s done that already.

[Recovering_Democrat]

How many people does Ben employ?

[y6162]

Stein must have had a stroke and has not been himself on taxes.

[dfwgator]

" In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.

[LowOiL]

Hey Ben... does “Contract with America” strike a bell?

[Georgia Girl 2]

I always kind of liked Ben but I think his cheese has slipped off the plate.

[EyeGuy]

“He’s hardly a conservative. He backed Al Frankenstein and Ralph Nader in 2008.”

####

Indeed.

Additionally his column in American Spectator bordered on the embarrassing at times; suffused as it was with neuroses of all types, and occasionally, outright cowardice.

Very Un-Conservative.

[dfwgator]

I think people are being a bit hard on Ben here. I think he wants less spending, but his point is, as long as we are spending what we are, we can’t cut taxes.

I would be all for cutting spending first, then taxes, if I knew the government was capable of doing it, which they are not.