Comments | barbarienne: Dear Ben Stein,

barbarienne

Dear Ben Stein,

Jan 30, 2009 13:43

Dear Ben Stein,

Your article about how Americans have been irresponsible with money, and behaving like children assuming their parents could always bail them out, was very interesting. There are, however, a few points that make me want to smack you across the head.

( First, your inherent classism )

rant, it's the economy stupid, self-righteous wankery

Comments 3

green_knight January 30 2009, 20:26:18 UTC

Well, a lot of people have 'debt' in the form of mortgages - which, at least in the UK, works out cheaper than renting. (To get a buy-to-let mortgage, the rent has to cover the mortgage and extra costs - bank requirements - a fund for repairs, and many landlords want to make just a little bit extra on it. To pay a mortgage, you just need to cover the mortgage, so it's cheaper to be in debt - and at the end of the mortgage, you own a house. At the end of 25years renting, you've paid your rent ( ... )

barbarienne January 30 2009, 21:12:03 UTC

And you know, I'm demonstrating my own classism right there, by completely forgetting that emergencies can take down someone who isn't even on the borderline of poor, even if that person has been prudent all their life ( ... )

shadefell January 30 2009, 20:43:49 UTC

That article made me seethe with rage. And he's not the only one focusing on oh noes, the poor wealthy who now HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.

I'm sorry, but I and most of the people I know have been struggling with a shit economy for a LONG TIME, and much of it has to do with getting paid shit money (at one point I was working two jobs at about 60 hours a week and still living hand to mouth. AMERICAN DREAM AHOY.) for long hours, and living entirely on the edge. Tip over just slightly by being sick and missing a few days of work, or God forbid wracking up medical bills or getting fired, and you are just plain fucked.

And credit card lending laws and bankruptcy laws keep getting rewritten to make it easier for the big companies to lean on citizens. I don't have CC debt because I bought a flat screen tv. I have CC debt because I had a miscarriage, my husband had ulcers, and we had to keep our car from getting repo'd so he wouldn't lose his shitty part time (only 35 hours a week) job (which was going to hire him full time any day now! srsly