What is it with Ben Stein and his conspiracy theories? When he first started blaming Goldman Sachs traders for causing the market's sell-off, it was easy to laugh at him. But he doesn't seem to be letting go, and at this point I think maybe we should start being quite worried about him instead. At this point Stein is presenting himself as a cross between short-bashing Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and Soros-bashing former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad; if he goes much further, I fear he'll start blaming the Rosicrucians, or maybe engrams. (He is a creature of Hollywood, after all.)

Stein uses his column this week to propound what he calls "financial realism," wherein market moves reflect decisions by human traders rather than "the real economic situation". Which is profoundly silly even by Ben Stein standards.