I can't imagine why NYT editors keep Ben Stein around, except perhaps as some weird penance for running his wrongness in the first place, but this really is pretty bad. Enough with the singing Free Credit Report dot com guys, too.

Comments

[Kim]

OK I'll do it. Bueller...bueller...bueller...

[Roch101]

"I am a... Anyone? Anyone? A shameless greedy shill."

[Beelzebubba]

Stein believes that humans cause depressions by saving. He believes that growth comes from spending instead of production-even if it's deficit spending. Who can argue with that? It must be true. It was the consensus of Republicans on Sept 7, 2008. In the land of the blind, a man who can get the red out of everyone's eyes must be some kind of king.

[A. Bulluck]

If they're the antithesis of Krugman and Keynes, they're obviously wrong. No argument. If you disagree, you should be shot.

[Ed Cone]

No, what makes him obviously wrong is that he was obviously wrong, writing in August '07 -- when even pissant local bloggers could tell something had shifted -- "This economy is extremely strong. Profits are superb. The world economy is exploding with growth...Some smart, brave people will make a fortune buying in these days, and then we’ll all wonder what the scare was about."

[cheripickr]

What a crime it is daring to make forecasts about the future. Better not to
risk it because you might end up wrong, rendering you forever unworthy of future
usefulness for some. And Oh, such consequence to our fragile society of the reckless misguidance from those wielding such influence as Mr Stein!

It does , however, serve the purpose of creating a cottage industry for people whose field of expertise lies in predicting the past. If you can't have insight or foresight, have hindsight. Works 100% of the time, insulates you from risk and scrutiny and makes you feel smarter than the fools who prefer to dabble in the future. And at the end
of the day isn't that what really matters?

The most potent tool the more accomplished practitioners have for enhancing their prestige within this industry is a zero tolerance policy for wrongness (with their left eye closed of course.)

The Times should be ashamed of its brazen 1:100 conservative:liberal op-ed ratio and for blaspheming the gospel of the Kru-fu Crew.

[Ed Cone]

His column runs on the business page, not the op-ed page.

If you don't think analysts should be judged on the value of their analysis, well, fine.

We conservatives believe that there is such a thing as objective reality, and that things that happen in the real world actually matter.

Those who think everything is political and subjective -- perhaps you are disciples of French literary theorists? -- are of course free to argue otherwise.

[winstongator]

People are always going to make predictions about the future, but Stein has also completely missed things happening, as they were happening. It was fairly obvious that MEW was fueling consumer spending at an unsustainable pace, and that when the MEW stopped, consumer spending would drop.

The issue moving foreward is who do you listen to: the people saying in 2007 that there was no housing bubble and everything was fine (Stein included), or the ones who said housing was hugely overvalued in many very large markets and the correction would be extremely painful (Shiller, Roubini, Taleb)? It's not just making projections, it's the analysis and motivations behind it. I think Stein just dislikes some of the people who were cautious in 07-08, and has a too firm belief in the 'magic of markets'. The NAR otoh has a clear motive to increase sales volumes and will say nearly anything to justify that.

This is completely besides the point that something described as 'free' is actually not.

[cheripickr]

Sorry for the error. That changes everything. I guess "conservative NYT op-ed columnist" is a bit of an oxymoron.

[Ed Cone]

I do think that the role and expectations of an economist writing in the business pages are somewhat different than those for an opinion columnist.

Perhaps you disagree, CP, and disagree as well that there's a difference between forecasting and analysis.

And I'm sure Safire, Kristol, Brooks, Douthat, and others in the long tradition of more-or-less conservative NYT op-ed columnists, along with Iraq war cheerleader Friedman, would appreciate your well-informed comments about the composition of that page.

[Roch101]

Stein said buy, that you weren't smart enough to know he meant buy short funds and inverse ETFs is not his fault.