7.20.2010

Who's the Elitist Now?

Check out this incredibly offensive op-ed by Ben Stein...
The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job. Again, there are powerful exceptions and I know some, but when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative. To assure that a worker is not one of them, he should learn how to work and how to get along -- not always easy.
Well. I see Ben's been studying up on How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is such a short-sighted, mean-spirited, (dare I say) ELITIST view of the real suffering going on in working class America. Hey Ben, unemployment is still at 9.5%, you dick. The long-term "U6 rate" is still topping out over 17%.

Let's get real, how many of those lazy-ass long-term unemployed do you think Ben Stein actually knows, let alone rubs elbows with? Besides the ones with cardboard signs that he passes on his way into a $300 lunch at Masa in Mid-town Manhattan, that is.

One of Stein's "observations" about the current economic slump is that: "People who bought guaranteed income in the form of annuities from insurance companies have been saved." Well now, don't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Rich folks with guaranteed annuities are doing better than most? Good to know.

What kind of pompous ass writes a screed like the above? An elitist pompous ass, that's who. And if you needed any better sign that conservative Republicans could not care less about the struggles of everyday Americans, well, there's sure to be another one tomorrow, but this one about sez it all.

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