Problem: 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.

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 other financial experts dismissing worries of a coming credit crunch. Thirteen months later, in the Global Financial Crisis of September 2008, global stock markets crashed, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the US government, AIG was bailed out by the Federal Reserve, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America Corporation, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs confirmed that they would become traditional bank holding companies. In a Yahoo! Finance article written on October 17, 2008, Stein explained that his understanding of the debt obligations based on real estate loans was less than the "staggeringly large" amount of obligations that were created through trade in derivatives of those, and so why it wasn't as similar to collapse of junk bond empire in early 1990s as he'd thought it would be: "Where I missed the boat was not realizing how large were the CDS [credit default swaps] based on the junk mortgage bonds." Business commentator Henry Blodget wrote a piece for Business Insider in January 2008 entitled "Ben Stein is an Idiot," stating that Stein's criticism of those with bearish views and positions on the market was either "delusional," or a deliberate and "shrewd" attempt to create false controversy and drive up web traffic.

When did he start financial commentary?

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

Problem: Marc Marquez Alenta (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and four-time MotoGP world champion. Marquez races for Honda's factory team since his MotoGP debut in 2013. Nicknamed the "Ant of Cervera", he is one of four riders to have won world championship titles in three different categories, after Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Valentino Rossi. Marquez won the 2010 125cc World Championship, the 2012 Moto2 World Championship, and the 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 MotoGP World Championships.

Born in Cervera, Catalonia, Spain, Marquez made his championship debut on 13 April 2008 at the 125cc 2008 Portuguese Grand Prix at the age of 15 years and 56 days. He is the youngest Spanish rider to take a pole position or a podium in a motorcycle racing world championship. Marquez achieved his first podium on 22 June 2008 at the British Grand Prix. For 2009, as a factory KTM rider, at the French Grand Prix achieved his first pole position at the age of 16 years and 89 days. He also took pole for the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix but the exhaust pipe fell off on the opening lap and went under the rear wheel, causing Marquez to crash and injure his shoulder. His first win was on 6 June 2010 at Mugello. Further victories at Silverstone, Assen and Catalonia in the next three races made Marquez the youngest rider to win four successive races. His fifth win in succession at the Sachsenring was Derbi's 100th victory in Grand Prix racing, and Marquez became the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 1997 to win five successive races in 125cc racing. He was less successful in the following races, dropping to third in the standings at one point behind Nicolas Terol and Pol Espargaro after being involved in an accident with Randy Krummenacher at the first corner at the Aragon Grand Prix. Four successive wins from Motegi onwards had moved Marquez into a 17-point lead over Terol with only one round to go. At Estoril, the race was red-flagged due to rain with Marquez running second to Terol. When returning to the grid for the second race, Marquez fell on the sighting lap and had to return to the pits. With repairs, Marquez started at the back of the field having not made it out of the pit lane before it closed five minutes prior to the start. Despite this, Marquez recovered to win the race and thus extend his lead before the Valencia finale. His tenth victory of the season moved him to within one of tying the record set by Rossi in 1997. He would fall short of tying it as he was fourth at the final race in Valencia to become the second-youngest World Champion after Loris Capirossi.

did he win the championship?

Answer with quotes:
Marquez achieved his first podium on 22 June