Título: Ben Stein
Seção: Financial and economic commentary
Background: Stein was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Mildred (nee Fishman), a homemaker, and Herbert Stein, a writer, economist, and presidential adviser. He is Jewish and grew up in the Woodside Forest neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Stein graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 1962 along with classmate journalist Carl Bernstein (class of 1960); actress Goldie Hawn (class of 1963) was one year behind.

Conteúdo: In the period preceding the late-2000s recession, Stein made frequent and vehement claims that the economy was not in recession, and that the issues in the housing market would not affect the broader economy. On March 18, 2007, in a column for CBS News' online version of CBS News Sunday Morning, Stein famously proclaimed in the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis that the foreclosure problem would "blow over and the people who buy now, in due time, will be glad they did," the economy was "still very strong," and the "smart money" was "now trying to buy--not sell--as much distressed merchandise" in mortgages as possible.  In an August 12, 2007 column in The New York Times, titled "Chicken Little's Brethren, on the Trading Floor", Stein, while acknowledging "I don't know where the bottom is on subprime. I don't know how bad the problems are at Bear (Bear Stearns)" claimed that "subprime losses are wildly out of all proportion to the likely damage to the economy from the subprime problems," and "(t)his economy is extremely strong. Profits are superb. The world economy is exploding with growth. To be sure, terrible problems lurk in the future: a slow-motion dollar crisis, huge Medicare deficits and energy shortages. But for now, the sell-off seems extreme, not to say nutty. Some smart, brave people will make a fortune buying in these days, and then we'll all wonder what the scare was about."  On August 18, 2007, on Fox News Channel's Cavuto on Business, Stein appeared with 

user: When did he start financial commentary?

assistant: In the period preceding the late-2000s recession, Stein made frequent and vehement claims that the economy was not in recession,

user: How did people respond to these claims?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Did he write any books or articles?

assistant: In an August 12, 2007 column in The New York Times, titled "Chicken Little's Brethren, on the Trading Floor", Stein, while acknowledging "I

user: Did he win any awards?

assistant: August 18, 2007, on Fox News Channel's Cavuto on Business, Stein appeared with other financial experts

user: What other financial experts did he appear with?

assistant: In a Yahoo! Finance article written on October 17, 2008, Stein explained that his understanding of the debt obligations based on real estate loans

user: How was he portrayed in the media?

assistant: Business commentator Henry Blodget wrote a piece for Business Insider in January 2008 entitled "Ben Stein is an Idiot,"

user: How did he react to this piece?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Is there any other interesting information?

assistant: Stein explained that his understanding of the debt obligations based on real estate loans was less than the "staggeringly large" amount of obligations