Ben Stein nails it

[hay rick]

Ben Stein is not just a genial game show host. He is also a lawyer, a trained economist, and a writer whose work shows up occasionally in the New York Times. Stein is, by his own description, a Republican. Check out his open letter to John McCain, published in the Times today. He offers a very lucid description of our current economic quandary and available options.

Link to the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09every.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Excerpt from "What McCain Could Do About Taxes":
"What to do? You appear to have changed your mind over time and have recently shown more support for the Bush tax cuts than in the past. If you become president, you can just keep up the (latter-day) Republican game of make-believe. You can propose still more tax cuts, create still more deficits and add to the debt, and say to yourself, like Louis XV, “Après moi, le déluge.”

Or, you can raise taxes. But whom to tax? The poor are, well, poor. The middle class is struggling to pay for its middle-class life. That leaves the rich. It would be lovely if we did not have to tax them. Many have worked hard for their money. Many have created useful businesses. Many of them are fine people.

But as Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks, “Because that’s where the money is.” By definition, the truly rich have a lot more money than they need. If they don’t, then they are not rich by my standards. The first step toward putting our house in order, once we are past the seemingly looming recession, is much higher taxes on the truly rich and serious enforcement to prevent offshore tax evasion.

TO put it even more starkly, the government — which is us — needs the money to keep old people alive, to pay for their dialysis, to build fighter jets and to pay our troops and pay interest on the debt. We can get it by indenturing our children, selling ourselves into peonage to foreigners, making ourselves a colony again, generating inflation — or we can have some integrity and levy taxes equal to what we spend.

You are probably the bravest man to have a chance at being elected president in my lifetime. Do you have the guts to stand up to the myth makers and tax cutters and the rich? Or will you just kick the can down the road?"

Umm, Ben- he's going to kick the can if he doesn't kick the bucket first.

[Hobarticus]

1. Now, how could he say this, which makes perfect sense

....but still push intelligent design?

Ben Stein...the man, the myth, the mystery.

[Deja Q]

2. Many middle class started their own business, and some of the poor tried and failed.

Many work hard and their jobs are offshored to people who may or may not put in the same dedication or loyalty.

And it'd be nice of nobody could get taxes. But then we'd have no government and nothing TO defend. Which surely seems even scarier?

I've listened to Mr. Stein on other shows, including O'Reilly. He's a good guy.

[spag68]

3. taxes

Everyone seems to forget that it wasn't that long ago that 90% tax rates were in effect for the super rich. I don't endorse that, however there is a place for increased revenue from those most able to pay. A real progressive agenda would enforce the tax laws we now have and keep the large corporations from laundering their money offshore. when they squeal, remind them of the over 8000 multimillionaires who pay no taxes at all. The most cost effective thing we as a country could do is to green up the whole place and in the process start to release that "strategic oil reserve". At the least we should stop buying more for it. We could be back on track with one progressive president and 60 senators, so work to elect the house and senate, that is as important as the Pres.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. That's a big part of the problem

Not even that the percentages the wealthy are supposedly paying aren't enough - but there are too many ways to avoid paying them at all. And investment income isn't treated like wages. So you end up with the situation like Warren Buffet paying a lower rate than his secretary. That's nuts.

[hay rick]

7. 90 % rate

Remember, the 90 % rate was the top MARGINAL rate. Income below the threshold for the top bracket was taxed at lower rates. Here's a link:
http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

Notice the prevalence of the 91% rate from 1951-1963. Most families were able to get by with a single breadwinner and the range of incomes between the lowest paid workers in a company and the top executive(s) was on the order of 10:1 - 20:1. Compare that with the current 100:1+. Does anyone believe that a contemporary CEO's labors are 10+ times more valuable than those of his 1950's counterparts?

The difference in income is a reflection of the shift in power away from workers and nothing more. Society should redress this imbalance by means of near-confiscatory taxation at the very highest levels of income. The money is needed elsewhere.

[ljm2002]

26. One correction...

...the pay gap between executives and workers is higher than you cite. From http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0412-10.htm (emphasis mine):

"The United States long has had the industrialized world's largest gap in pay between chief executives and blue-collar workers. CEO compensation swelled from 85 times what workers earned in 1990, to 209 times in 1996, and 326 times the following year. In 1999, CEO pay surged to a record 419 times the average worker's wage, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The gap then declined, to 282-to-1 in 2002, before surpassing 300-to-1 the following year, according to the research and advocacy group United for a Fair Economy (UFE).

Comparable figures for other wealthy nations generally do not exceed the double digits.

U.S. CEOs' pay rose 313 percent from 1990 to 2003, UFE said. By contrast, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose 242 percent and corporate profits gained 128 percent.

During the same period, average worker pay rose 49 percent while inflation climbed 41 percent."

[hay rick]

27. thanks for the info n/t

[maui9002]

4. Surprising op ed

I didn't realize that was Stein's view, which is very un-Republican like (at least the recent vintage of tax cutting, revenue starving, supply siders that came to vogue with Reaganomics). And frankly, I trust the 2009 Congress and either President Obama or Clinton exhibit the same courage Mr. Stein requests be displayed by Senator McCain--not so much to support higher taxes, but to be fiscally responsible--no more earmarks for example, at least not during the current economic situation, and a bit more fiscal prudence on things like spending $42 million to send letters to taxpayers advising them when the tax rebate checks are coming, a waste of money if there ever was one, and cutting some expensive, wasteful, but politically sensitive programs (numerous weapons systems for instance). Much of what we're experiencing now is the consequence of much higher deficits and more borrwing; and Stein is absolutely right that the Republican prescription first advanced by Reagan has never worked.

[mod mom]

5. Ben Stein is an ass-said Plame was not covert on a CBS Sunday Morning show op ed piece

which caused my hubbie to stop watching (never corrected) after 20 years of watching.

[dweller]

11. just a few weeks ago his twaddle was the recession was

being overblown, and everyone should just wait patiently for the *moron's tax rebates to kick in...

minor correction: Ben Stein is a pompous ass.

dp

[verges]

20. Whaddaya expect?

He used to write for Nixon.

[sendero]

8. This is pretty strange stuff..

... coming from the usually Libertarian Stein.

It's about the first time I've agree with anything he had to say in years.

[Mike03]

9. Ben Stein was turned down for a job at a major bank, thanks to someone I know.

Ben Stein is an inept, untalented parasite; not someone to glorify, annoint or admire.

He's a failure at everything but the freak circuit.

He's a loser. Don't trust him. He's a snake. And an awful screenwriter, to boot.

[Redstone]

12. Indeed. I cannot understand why anyone EVER thought he was funny.

Redstone

[hay rick]

17. a stopped clock

is still right twice a day. Guess Ben has one more coming.

That's why I posted this. I think the article is pretty good and the source is surprising. Usually he's defending oil companies. Credit when credit is due.

[devilgrrl]

24. My boss used to be a neighbor of his.

She has a few interesting stories, not much different than you describe.

[CANDO]

10. COMMUNIST! SOCIALIST! MARXIST!

EOM

[hay rick]

13. AMERICAN! n/t

[Horse with no Name]

14. Ben Stein?

OMG...is that RW mouthpiece looking for ANOTHER 15 minutes?

[alfredo]

15. Kick and rec room this

[lonestarnot]

16. Ben reminds me of a flying beetle, one of those real ugly hard ones with horns.

Why is his shell getting soft?

[alarimer]

18. Ben Stein is an ignorant, anti-evolution, Republican piece of shit

Google the movie Expelled.

But hey, even a blind pig can find an acorn now and then.

[hay rick]

19. president of the fan club?

Thanks for the Google hint. I recalled seeing something about his advocacy of intelligent design but didn't know he was making a freaking movie. Whew!

The underlying intellectual argument has been around for a very long time. Google "argument from design."

[sarcasmo]

21. I second this statement.

[4_TN_TITANS]

22. Now this pompous ass sees the light?

Sorry... I've spent too long hearing him preach 'conservative values'. This is just a fleeting atempt to rescue some of his credibility from the Republican sinking ship.

[spanone]

23. Bum Steen

fuckim

[Johonny]

25. Didn't he

claim Evolution is a vast conspiracy?