That was a quote on August 18th, 2007 from Ben Stein. The moral of the story: Don't take financial advice from a second-rate hack commedian.
OK, that's not really what this diary is about. This diary is more about the adventures of Peter Schiff in TVPunditLand. My dad sent me a link to someone's blog(to give credit where it is due). This blog posted a YouTube clip of assembled TV appearances from an economist named Peter Schiff. What happens to poor Peter during his journy is a nice summary of all that is wrong in FOXNews America.
The clip shows Peter Schiff, from EuroPacific Capital making a series of dire predictions on various news programs starting in 2006 and going through the end of 2007. His predictions can best be summed up by this particular quote commenting on how a recession is coming and its going to be bad:
The basic problem in the US economy is that we have too much consumption and borrowing and not enough production and savings. What's going to happen is that the American consumer is bascially going to stop consuming and start rebuilding his savings, especially when he sees his home equity evaporate. When you have an economy at 70% consumption, you can't address those imbalances without a recession.
To which his counterpart guest on the program laughed him off, spouting off a series of right-wing talking points about taxes and free trade and wealth, summed up with this quote:
I think Peter is totally off-base and I don't know where he's getting his stuff.
This was on August 28, 2006!!
A little later on is a clip from August of 2007 with a round-table of great thinkers on FOX (you know.... the one with Ben Stein). This is where we get a lecture by Ben on how the sub-prime mortgage problem that is beginning to loom is just a "tiny, tiny blip" and that things could never be better.
Peter Schiff is there once again to warn:
This is just getting started. This is not just sub-prime. This is a problem for the entire mortgage industry. It's not just people with bad credit that committed to mortgages they can't afford. It's not just people with bad credit who are going to see their home equity vanish. And it's not limited to mortgage credit. Americans are going to have a difficult time borrowing money to buy cars, to buy furniture, to buy appliances. Foreigners around the world have been lending us money for years. They are now finding out that we can't afford to re-pay. This is going to be an enormous credit crunch. The party is over for the United States of America.
As he finishes off, you can hear the chatter start to build in the background. From the great economic thinker again, Ben Stein, "You're simply wrong about that." Later on, Stein gives a great stock tip: "The financials are a super bargain."
The moderator goes around the table of "experts" to get their final thought.
Expert 1 "I think the worst is over."
Expert 2 (Benny-boy) "I think stocks will be a heckuva' lot higher a year from now then they are today."
(This quote is especially juicy as earlier in the clip, the scroll below shows that the DOW closed that day at 13,079!!)
Expert 3 "We have more volatility to go, at least through September." (At least one other semi-cautious voice in the room.)
Expert 4 "The worst is over."
Peter Schiff "The worst is yet to come. The fundamentals are not sound."
You get the point by now. There are other clips where Schiff is basically laughed off the set by condescending right-wing blowhards. To see their smug faces as they poo-poo Schiff's warnings makes you begin to understand how this could have happened. It was a symptom of the entire Bush administration and the conservative culture that grew up around it - one that ignores reality and lives in a fantasy land, damn the consequences. It is a symptom of FOXNews America, the most watched news network, which doesn't inform their viewers, but rather works hard to mis-inform them. It is a symptom of an inability to follow a simple credo which states, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I think this is something that most progressives live by. It is why it can be easy to characterize us as angry complainers. We can't ignore obvious problems. Rather, we attempt to look forward to find solutions to these problems. It is why it is so frustrating to deal with conservatives who not only have bad ideas to solve problems, but won't even acknowledge that solutions are needed. This clip sums up all the Bush years and the problem with the modern-day Republican party. And it explains an awful lot about why we are in the mess we're in.
So, the bottom line is this. I hope the Republicans don't nominate Ben Stein to be their Presidential candidate in 2012.
Oh yeah... that clip!