Ep 143: Ben Stein – The Truth About Inflation

The Simple Life with Gary Collins

Today, I have a great friend and fighter for individual freedom, Mr. Ben Stein. I wanted to mix it up a little bit and record a short QA with someone who is an expert in the topic I'm covering. You know me never groundhog day, and I will be doing more of these in the future. Yes, it is a shorty, but jam-packed with valuable information on inflation and personal finances. Remember, the second leg of the Three-Legged Stool of The Simple Life is Financial Freedom. I don't just cover this to fill space; shoring up and running your finances like a pro is a huge part of living the life you want. Ben Stein is the most famous economics teacher in America. His comedic role as the droning economics teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is by far the most widely viewed scene of economics teaching in economics history and has been ranked as one of the fifty most famous scenes in movie history. But in real life, Ben Stein is a powerful speaker on economics, politics, education and history and motivation--and like his father, Herbert Stein, considered one of the great humorists on political economy and how life works in this nation. Stein in real life has a bachelor's with honors in economics from Columbia, studied econ at the graduate level at Yale, is a graduate of Yale Law School ( valedictorian of his class by election of his classmates in 1970), and has as diverse a resume as any man in America. Much more important, Ben Stein is morally committed to making your meeting a success and bringing his extensive background to bring out the most powerful and funniest trends in current history. That background includes...poverty lawyer for poor people in New Haven, trade regulation lawyer for the FTC, speech writer for Presidents Nixon and Ford. ( He did NOT write the line, "I am not a crook...."), columnist and editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, teacher about law and economics at UC, Santa Cruz ( undergrads ) and Pepperdine( law school and undergrads). He has written or co-written roughly 30 books, mostly about investing, with his brilliant colleague, Phil DeMuth, many of them New York Times bestsellers. His and Dr. DeMuth's book, "Yes, You Can Time The Market" has become a landmark of using price theory for securities market analysis. He wrote a column about economics for The New York Times for several years, roughly 2004-2009. He was the co-host, along with Jimmy Kimmel, of the pathbreaking Comedy Central game show, "Win Ben Stein's Money," which won seven Emmies, including ones for Ben and Jimmy for best game show host. ( Surely making him the only well known economist to win an Emmy....). Presently, he writes a column for The American Spectator and for NewsMax, and is a regular commentator on Fox News and on CBS Sunday Morning, as well as a frequent commentator on CNN. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife of 45 years, Alexandra, two dogs and six cats. He loves people and loves to meet new people and hang out with them. He's a party guy, albeit an extremely serious economist and a decades long critic of excessively loose fiscal policy and unhelpful regulation in finance. Topics Discussed: * What is inflation * Why our Federal Government is clueless * How does it affect the economy * Is there such a thing as “Transitory Inflation” * How you can hedge against inflation * Ben gives you some advice and where to park your money * What are big cap and small cap stocks * What is an index fund and how you can invest in them Episode Resources: * Ben’s website: www.benstein.com * The World According to Ben Stein Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-world-according-to-ben-stein/id1540015480 * Previous podcast interview with Ben Stein: https://thesimplelifenow.com/ep-93-ben-stein-how-to-be-financially-savvy-and-free/ * Donate to The Simple Life cause: https://thesimplelifenow.com/product-category/consulting/#donate * Where to send your questions: [e-mail]