Ben Stein: "The wealthy are actually good for democracy-The poor are jealous, lazy drunks"

[kpete]

The wealthy are actually good for democracy, Stein argued.

“We want for there to be a high number of rich people who function as a brake on government just as the nobles did on the crown in long ago England,” he said.

On the other hand, Stein argued, poor people dragged down society with their slovenly habits and appearance.

“My humble observation is that most long-term poverty is caused by self-sabotage by individuals,” he argued. “Drug use. Drunkenness. Having children without a family structure. Gambling. Poor work habits. Disastrously unfortunate appearance. Above all, and counted in the preceding list, psychological problems (very much including basic laziness) cause people to be unemployed, have poor or no work habits, and enter and stay in poverty.”

.......................

the rest:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/09/ben-stein-poor-people-are-jealous-lazy-drunks-who-dont-appreciate-indoor-plumbing/

[Orrex]

1. I have this recurring dream

In it, a small, stray planetoid streaks past the Earth and causes no harm except to pluck Ben Stein out of his smug, over-paid lifestyle and carry him away into the vast universe beyond.


What do we have to do to make this happen?

[Daemonaquila]

11. That's a beautiful dream.

Maybe transporter technology would be more achievable than said planetoid?

[Orrex]

15. Sure! I'm not picky.

Transporter. Planetoid. Extraterrestrial dragon. Whatever.

The main thing is the plucking and subsequent removal. The precise mechanism isn't important.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

27. all it takes is time pretty soon, when he is at his smuggest,

the great big, invisible hand of social karma (A bit like Adam Smith's but without all those graphs, numbers and equations) shall come down and do him justice. I suspect that at that time, he will suffer a revelation (although given the gallons of black bile that has built up within him)that will make him rue his ways.

On the other hand, he may simply ascribe it to indigestion.

[skypilot]

50. Well, to start...

...drag him to the highest mountain peak and leave him there. Then, just wait for that stray planetoid.

[Arkana]

2. And Ben Stein is a bland, elitist sack of horse dung.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

28. I strongly disagree.

He's not that bland. Irritations, by definition, cannot be bland.

[Initech]

47. At least horse dung can be used as fertilizer.

[sakabatou]

48. He's also dishonest and possibly against evolution

[n2doc]

3. Projection

I guess it is ok to make your billions off of vices (Sheldon Adelson). It's ok to be a drunk (Walton), a child molester (duPont), drug addict, etc, so long as you are a 0.001%er.

[djean111]

5. Yes, it is.

[adirondacker]

34. Bill Bennett. Appointed Drug Czar who was an alcoholic, smoker, and high stakes gambler and

wrote a book about virtues.

What a twisted society they live in.

[djean111]

4. Yes, he has alsways been an entitled ass. I would never buy any eye drops or whatever else

he is shilling.

[Wounded Bear]

6. So, he wants us to return to feudalism?

Sure, as long as he's one of the nobles.

[deutsey]

7. What a repugnant, classist weasel

I knew this cretin was in the Nixon White House, but I had no idea he was such a virulent, dyed-in-the-wool reactionary.

These quotes of his really piss me off, but at least they articulate how the elites really feel about all us unwashed masses without the smiley face of Reaganism masking it.

[G_j]

23. I remember a very nasty diatribe about OWS on some talk show.

and I mean NASTY. He is a freak.

[Lizzie Poppet]

8. In many cases, those "causes" Stein lists are symptoms, just like poverty.

Symptoms of a dysfunctional economy, an inequitable society, etc., that is. While there certainly are plenty of self-sabotaging people, Stein's idea that they are the majority derives from thinking firmly rooted in a past that's a good three decades or more old. Back then, the playing field was at least a little closer to level (especially if you were white...).

Nowadays, a person can do everything "right" and still end up scrambling for survival. Such persons are no longer anomalies, they are a very substantial minority...and one that's growing every day as more and more capital is hoarded by a tiny few. Stein's worldview is obsolete.

Oh, and his example of landed nobility acting as a brake on the Crown is somewhat valid, but it's probably not an example he really wants to employ. Those nobles were able to restrain the Crown because they possessed the military force to do so. While force lies at the heart of political authority and probably always will (sadly...), ultra-rich wealth hoarders might well be on their way to an object lesson in the "we are many, they are few" principle once people have finally had enough. Not an outcome Stein's likely to enjoy...

[tridim]

9. And that 'tude, Mr. Stein is why your party is in a death sprial.

BTW, does Stein have a job?

I know he did a few cameos in the 80's and a commercial for eye drops in the 90's.

Since then, occasional Faux pundit? That's not a job.

[2pooped2pop]

33. that's why he has to say outlandish shit to get attention

He's just a rather droll version of Ann Coulter. They have nothing but saying shit so far out that it gets them attention. Otherwise they have become invisible. I don't think this guy ever was a somebody. Just a tired old redneck.

[Junkdrawer]

10. Seen from above, I'm sure it looks that way....

Ben needs to be dropped off with the clothes on his back in the middle of Manhattan, with the education, without the degrees, and let's see how he fares.

[Paladin]

12. "Mr.Stein? Pat Buchanan on Line 1. He says he wants to blow you." (nt)

[kelliekat44]

13. I guess he forgot about the wealthy drunks, druggers, gamblers and slovenly folks that never

had to do an honest day's work? Wealthy people are not lazy...that's why they hire so many people to wait on them and clean up after them...

[Tsiyu]

14. And we've never seen

wealthy drug addicts or alcoholics - hell, they sip and snort the best of the best intoxicants!

And we've never seen affluent families without any structure. All wealthy families are wholesome and well-adjusted.

And Bill Bennett never gambled so stop saying that. And Wall Street never gambled so stop saying that, too!

AS for clothing, poor people have trouble buying decent clothes. Fuck off, Stein. I suppose you think the death of the middle class is a good thing? That all the malls closing is a good thing?

Come work beside me one day. I'll outwork your lazy self-important ass with no trouble at all. My hands are working hands, and if that makes them disastrously unfortunate-looking, let's see you do some real hard work and make your hands look the same way.

Entitled prick from HELL is what that ass is.

A curse on his name AND his happiness until he is humbled, I say....

[laundry_queen]

37. Good post. Spot on. nt

[yellowcanine]

16. “My humble observation is that most long-term poverty..."

I didn't even know that Ben Stein spends time hanging out in homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Who knew?

[jwirr]

17. Hmmm. I think he is forgetting that the nobility in other countries have lost most of their real

power. They have status but they do not have ruling powers in England - that is pretty much left up to the PM and Parliament. He has also forgotten that they lost that power because of "brakes on government".

[yellowcanine]

18. "They get food stamps. They get free medical care. They get vouchers for many of the needs of life.”

Those lucky duckies!

[shanemcg]

19. Says workaholic Ben Stein n/t

[Solly Mack]

20. Pompous. Pompous. Pompous.

[CJCRANE]

21. The lords wanted a bigger piece of the pie

and not leave it all to the king.

The serfs got sick of living off the lords' crumbs, that's how we got democracy.

We all make the pie, so we should all get a share of it.

[Junkdrawer]

30. I believe that objections to financing the king's foreign adventures...

also came into play.

Magna Carta came from noble's cornering King John. Once firmly established, extending Parliament (albeit with a separate House) to a wider and wider audience became possible.

[Iggo]

22. Cash that check, Ben.

[Tsiyu]

25. Hey! Don't judge!

It's really, really hard work to make that putrid stream of bullshit fly out of his mouth!

[CJCRANE]

24. People are good for democracy

because that's what it means, rule by the people, not by lords and kings.

[BeyondGeography]

26. Vile

That is all.

[Laelth]

29. Ben Stein sux. He has always sucked.

He will always suck. I hate giving him exposure by re-printing his name and kicking this thread on DU, but I couldn't resist. He sux.

-Laelth

[oldhippie]

31. Just Wow!

Really.

[G_j]

32. a sick man

very sick, with the right schooling he could have been on the SCOTUS and fit right in.

[Junkdrawer]

35. I see what you did there....

hit em where it hurts....

[Johonny]

36. In the real world rich people have raped their own daughters...

That statement is so stupid it makes you think he doesn't actually know a single rich person
Because I think we can all name rich people that "Drug use. Drunkenness. Having children without a family structure. Gambling and have poor work habits.

If the House of Lords is so great why is there a House of Commons?

[Oakenshield]

38. Reading that story makes me yearn for a French style revolution.

This COMPLETE blowhard can be the first thrown under a guillotine.

[nilesobek]

39. When you look at this 1%er Stein,

its obvious to me that the man does little if any labor at all. If he can come down here and work 2 jobs and perform the labors I do at my age then he can talk about, "brakes on royalty."

I'm honestly glad that my life is full of toiling and sacrifice, I've been outliving a lot of so-called elite 1%ers.

[Thinkingabout]

40. Many wealthy are very good in taking advantage of the lesser group such as corporate

Raiders who take from the less fortunate. Having the 1% paying a tax rate of 15%.

[hfojvt]

41. I've actually heard that on DU more than once

that I am just jealous of some rich "liberal" like George Clooney, or Thomas Hanks, or Ron Howard, or some hard-working union man like Thomas Brady.

I think though, we should admit that there IS a lumpen-proletariat. That some people are self-destructive that way, and are NOT hard working or virtuous - not honest, not reliable, not kind or generous.

And on the other side that there are some talented, driven, and hard working people who are fairly well off. Certainly I would say that my parents are that way. Not members of the top 1%, much less top 0.1% or 0.000001%. But, thanks to kind of a lucky real estate purchase, members of the top 10%.

But in spite of that, our society should have the resources to keep people from starving or dying because of lack of simple medical care or being homeless.

[frylock]

42. i can't even watch ferris bueller because of this pompous shitbag

[BeyondGeography]

43. Lol...but he plays a pompous shitbag so it's ok

[onethatcares]

44. he quit "win ben steins money"

because he was losing his money.

Hell, Jimmy Kimmel was smarter than him back then.

[WillyT]

45. Sorry kpete... Your Post Didn't Come Up In My DU Search... K & R !!!

[City Lights]

46. Crazy old coot.

Never liked the douchebag.

[Skittles]

49. let's all take a big fat guess how many poor people Stein actually knows

what a prick

[pacerbluedrum1949]

51. Stein

That's the problem HE DOESN'T KNOW ANY !!!'its the script that's been going every since President Obama was elected the poor are the real drain on the society the unemployed are bums the rich are the poor widdle people that are really oppressed And Stein is just another well to do jerk thats more than happy too further this AWFULL narrative .

[Enthusiast]

52. Ben Stein made Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed, one of the worst movies ever.

This was pure crap about how unfair it was that our learning institutions didn't include creationism and "intelligent design" in science class.

[tabasco]

53. We outnumber you, Benny Boy

Might be wise to keep that in mind.