For a man whose intelligence is nothing short of intimidating, Ben Stein is actually quite  down-to-earth and funny. Wednesday night’s Distinguished Speaker Series event featuring Ben Stein drew an interestingly diverse crowd of people that showed up to bathe in his infinite wisdom and hopefully take home a few economical pointers from one of the world’s most renowned and respected economists/speechwriter/actor/man. The evening covered pretty much everything from the financial crisis to the alleged 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Mr. Stein opened with a few jokes told in his traditional monotone style. He even started with an Ohio-State-bashing joke, which seems to be the norm for visiting speakers these days. Stein joked that the only exercise he needed these days was to get down to his knees to thank God that he still lived in America.

He discussed the current financial crisis, for which he put a lot of the blame on Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner for letting Wall Street run rampant. He said that it was “terrifying” that there were so few people held responsible for the collapse of the economy.

He also discussed healthcare, making the point that doctors and hospitals should put their list of procedures and their pricing available online for patients to see. And during the Q&A session after his speech,  a man who appeared like he’d just gotten back from Woodstock went up to the microphone to debate whether or not 9/11 was an inside job.

Ben Stein boasts an impressive resume and Penn State was honored to add Distinguished Speaker to his list.

Photographer: Chase Tralka, Onward State Managing Editor || [email protected]