Ben Stein Watch: A Golden Oldie

Back to November. Let's watch the boys talk over each other.

Neil Cavuto has just said that the Fed and Treasury would have to commit $2 trillion in order to backstop the financial institutions. He was making a perfectly good point -- that once the government gets into the business of printing money to support institutions it arbitrarily deems "too big to fail," there is no end to it.

Short, of course, of learning to pull the plug and face the consequences.

Ben can't bear to hear that point explained, and his famous monotone voice manages to convey some excitement as he rises to his level best to keep Cavuto from making it.

Along the way. Ben explains as well as anyone yet has why "we need to bail out the auto companies." We need to do so, on his view, because it will be part of a "massive stimulus package." That's it. Amidst all the posturing, that seems to be all of the reasoning here. And it is germane this week, with the latest news of the Chrysler filing.

Neil's only fault here, by the way, is the reference to "Nancy Pelosi" as the one behind the bail-outs. A typical bit of buck passing, as if the guy who was chief executive last autumn had nothing to do with the bill that was drafted in his name largely by the Secretary of the Treasury he had appointed. No, of course, it was all Pelosi's doing.

Neither of the shouters covers himself with glory here. But Ben ... well, this feature of my blog is called the Ben Stein Watch for a reason.