He makes $35 to 50K per speaking engagement, owns (as of 2007) seven homes, an empty lot in Malibu and considers himself a member of the middle class:
Ben Stein also gave an interview in 2005 where he was asked about a financial mistake he regretted. His regret? At some point he purchased stock in Berkshire Hathaway for $900 and at the time of the interview the stock was valued at $82K.
He regretted that he failed to purchase more of the stock when it was “cheap”.
Do the math. Even if he only owned one share at the time the value of that share was nearly twice that of the median income in America in 2005. If he still owns that single share it’s now worth $115K.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those liberals who whines about people having money. I do not begrudge Stein his money. I hope he and his family enjoys it for all it’s worth.
However, I do have a problem with people who seem to have willfully decided to ignore reality. Ben Stein is clearly one of those people.
