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J'Accuse, Part Deux

Ben Stein's second examination of the financial meltdown

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 27, 2008 1:08 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Economist, writer, actor, and lawyer Ben Stein follows up his December excoriation of Goldman Sachs' contribution to the subprime crisis with a look in today's New York Times into how Wall Street executives can get away with reckless behavior at the expense of the public. This time he targets the SEC, which has been so weakened in the Bush administration it quietly loosened the capital requirements for investment banks and "told Wall Street to police itself to save on regulatory costs."  

Stein cites a speech by hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who says the system works to enrich bankers at the expense of the public. “The owners, employees, and creditors of these institutions are rewarded when they succeed, but it is all of us, the taxpayers, who are left on the hook if they fail. This is called private profits and socialized risk. Heads, I win. Tails you lose. It is a reverse-Robin Hood system.”

Writer, actor, economist, and lawyer Ben Stein is interviewed in New York in this Nov. 7, 2005 file photo. Stein discusses how no one was policing Wall Street in an article in today's Times.
Writer, actor, economist, and lawyer Ben Stein is interviewed in New York in this Nov. 7, 2005 file photo. Stein discusses how no one was policing Wall Street in an article in today's Times.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Ben Stein asks how all of Wall Streets mechanisms could have gone so far wrong so as to make Bear Stearns esentially disappear.
Ben Stein asks how all of Wall Streets mechanisms could have gone so far wrong so as to make Bear Stearns esentially disappear.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Ben Stein is interviewed at The Associated Press on Monday Nov. 12, 2007 in New York. Stein has written two editorials on the country's financial crisis for the New York Times.
Ben Stein is interviewed at The Associated Press on Monday Nov. 12, 2007 in New York. Stein has written two editorials on the country's financial crisis for the New York Times.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
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Wall Street • Bear Stearns • Ben Stein • subprime crisis • David Einhorn

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