I never knew Ben Stein was an economist, but this article credits him as being so, and I suppose I have to believe them. I thought he was just Ferris Bueller's teacher. Whatever he is, he also must be stinkin rich, since he had a game show in which he allegedly gave away his own money as prizes, and he is also said (by aforementioned article) to live in Beverly Hills AND Malibu, which last time I checked do not border each other, so you can rule out any possible explanation of a single residence.
Anyway, he is also (and I think I was vaguely aware of this) socially-politically-economically conscious, active, what, and occasionally writes about it as he did for The American Spectator. As far as I can tell this is a conservative-leaning publication, but this particular article wasn't really partisan. In fact, it blamed no one and took blame for nothing. It simply stated the facts. And, in an understated but clear way, it said that the facts are Not Good.
Unlike this article, I hope Christians not only know and state and condemn the way things are, but seek biblical solutions. I hope Christians don't exclaim "Americans sure spend a lot of money on nonsense!" and then (gleefully or guiltily) go spend more money on nonsense. I hope we don't think that the solution to poverty is to make all the rich people poorer, or to tell the poor to go home and stop complaining. I hope none of us read that middle-class Americans go into tons of debt because they can't keep up their standard of living otherwise, and come away with the lesson that the government should raise minimum wage and lower prices of iPods. Maybe it isn't the wages but our self-invented standard of "good living" that is impossible to work with. And maybe that means we can change something out how we live, and set a good example, and teach other what it means to please God with our lives and resources. Just a thought.
But you can read the article anyway. It's a simple summary on the state of affairs in America for those who haven't thus far been keeping score.
2 comments:
Ben Stein worked in the Nixon White House as a consultant/speech writer. And is a staunch believer (still) in Nixon's thought processes and the resulting policies. That should tell you much about Mr. Stein.
Excellent commentary.
Very easy to find problems -- quite another story to help do something to reverse them.
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