Ben Stein has opened his mouth again, this time on the economy. He thinks the 15 million Americans who are unemployed deserve it.

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.

Wait…Ben Stein is complaining about other people’s overbearing and unpleasant personalities and bad work habits? The man who built his reputation on a voice like a strangled frog and the dullest personality imaginable thinks those are firing offenses? Very good, then, let him be unemployed.

I’ve known a few people who have been laid off — I grew up near Seattle, where every other year, Boeing would hiccup and mobs of people, including my own father, would find themselves fired and looking desperately to make ends meet. I had no idea that Boeing managed their personnel by firing only nasty unpleasant people.