Ben Stein, the reich-wing court jester says smile, be happy.

[formercia]

Don't be bitter, let the other guy go broke.

More reich-wing propaganda:

http://finance.yahoo.com/print/expert/article/yourlife/76420

Want to Survive the Recession? Work It Out

by Ben Stein
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2008, 12:00AM

Now for a few words that may give you some guidance on life as it is.

Last week, my pal Mike Long and I had dinner at a Thai place in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Then we walked one long, steep block to Barnes & Noble so I could buy a few photo books of D.C. to send to my friends in California.

The store was almost empty, possibly because of a powerful rain that was falling. I found several lovely books and brought them to the sales counter, where two young salesclerks, a man and a woman, were lounging. I told them I wanted to buy the books and have them mailed or otherwise sent to three addresses in California.

Deer, Meet Headlights

The young clerks looked worried. "We don't know how to do that," one of them said.

--snip--

[nichomachus]

1. I won't read Stein's article

but I hope he pointed out that this is inevitable result of the destruction of the American economy by his crowd. As the economy has gone into its slow-motion collapse, more and more organizations have laid off most of their staff, and have relied more and more heavily on underpaid, untrained help.

You can't keep cutting resources and then expect things will work well.

Duh!

[YOY]

2. That you Mathew Broderick

Because of your funny comedy you have propelled this second rate Nixon speech writer into the realms of "someone they push as actually knowing what he is talking about when he clearly knows bupkis"

[Cant trust em]

3. I don't think that the phrase "reich-wing" should be used on a Jewish man

There are plenty of other nicknames we could throw at him, but I think that one should be off limits.

Thanks.

[formercia]

5. For a collaborator it's appropriate.

IMHO.

[Orrex]

6. Not to mention the fact that Robert Reich is one of the good guys

:evilgrin:

[angstlessk]

17. that is ridiculous, I do not have to know the religion of a person to call them

reich wing..only their politics!

[SteppingRazor]

4. It's basically the typical point made on the right...

that hard work will get you through the lean times, as long as you're willing.

But Stein and writers of his ilk fail to account for the fact that these anecdotal piss-poor employees are the result of a top-down prioritizing that values the bottom line over well-trained, hard-working employees (who, one must note, rightly expect to be well-compensated for their skills and attitude). If corporations valued training employees over paying them minimum wage, this wouldn't be near the problem Stein makes it out to be.

[formercia]

7. Work will make you free

Where have I seen that before?

The express to FEMA transit camp Soaring Eagle is on platform 2. All Aboard!!

[SteppingRazor]

8. Well, I do think he has something of a point here...

there's absolutely nothing wrong with being industrious. It's a laudable quality, regardless of one's chosen profession. It's just that workers can only be expected to do their part when the bosses are doing theirs. And in recent years, the dedication of businesses to the workers and their training and well-being has been practically nonexistent, with a very few exceptions.

[formercia]

9. It's the patronizing manner in which he presents his argument.

Your point is well made.

[SteppingRazor]

11. As is yours.

Stein's tut-tutting of your typical wage-slave is certainly patronizing.

[judasdisney]

12. excellent comment n/t

[yellowcanine]

10. Ben should be blaming the company for not hiring competent workers and/or training them properly.

A store like Barnes and Noble should make sure at least the manager knows how do the kind of transaction he wanted to do. The simplest way would be to train the clerks to process the purchase on line and have the books mailed from a Barnes and Noble warehouse directly to the recipients. But it is not the clerks who should set up that process, it is the management.

[AZ Criminal JD]

31. He was. Didn't you even read the article? Amazing.

[roseBudd]

13. And if he wanted them shipped he should have bought them on Amazon, where the model is WE SHIP

Is Barnes & Noble supposed to have shipping boxes for the occasional idiot who doesn't realize brick & mortar means you are on your own if you want to ship.

[AZ Criminal JD]

14. If they want to stay in buiness they will have to serve the idiots

who think brick and mortar places don't need shipping boxes.

[roseBudd]

15. An idiot is someone who thinks a cash register is a shipping department

[AZ Criminal JD]

16. An idiot is someone who thinks a retailer doesn't need a shipping department.

[angstlessk]

18. and that would NOT be the job of the clerks! n/t

[AZ Criminal JD]

21. If they want to keep their jobs it is their job to direct the customer to the shipping area.

But of course since they are lazy college students they could care less about whether the company they work for stays in business or not. Then they wonder why no one wants to hire them when they get finished screwing off in school.

[roseBudd]

26. and they are lazy because you say so, or because Ben Stein says so

[AZ Criminal JD]

29. Anyone says so who goes into a retail establishment

You sound a little defensive. Are you a lazy college student?

[shrike]

19. You can't mail them yourself, Ben?

Oh right, that's for little people to do.

And shipping coast is also something to worry about: what, don't want to pay postage yourself? Pretty expensive, eh? So let's have the corporation absorb it -- oh, wait, there's no procedure at store level to do so? Maybe the corporation doesn't WANT to absorb your costs? Or at least didn't TELL its people if there was a policy in place? Are a bunch of minimum wage people supposed to INVENT a policy for your convenience?

Oh wait, I know -- the clerks should have paid your postage out of their own pockets? Because you're such a valued customer and all-around good guy. You like that idea? Yeah, I thought you would.

[AZ Criminal JD]

22. Maybe you should go out and hunt and pick your food.

Oh right, that's for the little people to do for you. Why should corporations have to absorb the cost of transporting, packaging, and storing food for you?

[shrike]

24. They don't absorb the cost.

They pass it on to me.

[AZ Criminal JD]

28. So why doesn't the book company pass it on to you?

[shrike]

34. You know, I get crappy customer service, too

My husband and I like to say that America has "a service economy with no service." But we're in a world of hurt here, and it's not because a couple of college students won't send Ben Stein's books.

A friend of mine has a relative who retired from the Fed. We talked to him the other day, and I couldn't believe how downbeat he was. Even more downbeat than what we've been reading in the newspapers. He says the average person has no idea how FUBARed the banking system really is. And college students didn't do it. The so-called masters of the universe who believed the rules didn't really apply to them, that they could defy the laws of gravity banking style, THEY did it.

So it frosts me that people like Stein are chiding students, and those like them, who basically have no power in the GREATER scheme of things, telling them to buck up, work hard and you'll be fine. Thing is, they WON'T be fine, if the Fed guy I talked to is correct. They may have done everything right, done everything people like Stein tell them to do, but it won't matter, 'cuz they'll be screwed. Stein will not be, however. He'll experience little pain in his life, other than the fact thatB&N clerks won't send his books.

Granted, this fed guy is just one guy. He may be a Chicken Little by nature. But I'm starting to get a little spooked; I'm reading articles on DU that only hint at what this fed guy is talking about.

[Faygo Kid]

20. And if your last name is Bush, you don't have to know how to work, either. Elitist tool.

And to think I used to enjoy his show. Didn't know how far right he was then. The idiot actually thinks W. is a great president.

[Phred42]

23. Stein is a Reich-wing stooge - Phuck him

[roseBudd]

25. Hey I just bought a toy for my out-of-town nephew at TJMaxx the cashier wouldn't ship if for me...

and when I had a fit the people in line behind me got mad at me

Then I went to Home Depot & the cashier refused to ship a chain saw for me. The nerve.

[AZ Criminal JD]

30. I call bullshit

Making it up as you go along.

[Skittles]

27. why couldn't that lazy bastard mail his own books?

IT'S NOT THAT HARD, ASSWIPE - I mail packages to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan EVERY OTHER WEEK

[formercia]

32. Nouveau Riche syndrome

The feeling that money makes you better than someone else.

Really rich people don't have to ask. They have assistants to do those kind of things.

I would bet that many a waiter has spit in his food or worse.

[wilt the stilt]

35. Former Waiter here

Waiters in general are not that crude. They however give them really bad service. they will forgo a good tip to give the bare minimum of service to assholes.

[madmom]

33. I might be able to top that, you decide, a friend's 16 year old son started working

and went to the local bank to open a savings account, they hadn't been trained in how to open an account for a minor, didn't call someone else just let him walk out stunned.