The entire investment community has been in awe of the market's recent gyrations: Why is it going down and why is it so volatile? Is the value of the Dow really oscillating up and down 1% per day, or is there some sort of mass hysteria work?

Ben Stein seems to think it's the latter:

... the fears and terrors about subprime mortgages have helped knock off 6.7 percent of the stock market's value in recent weeks. This amounts to about $1.1 trillion, or more than 30 times the losses so far in the subprime market. In other words, these subprime losses are wildly out of all proportion to the likely damage to the economy from the subprime problems.

Stein goes on to point out that sectors and stocks that are tied to subprime are being beaten down completely out of proportion to their actual exposure. Meanwhile, stocks that have no subprime exposure are also getting it handed to them.

Stein predicts that "smart, brave people" will make a lot of money buying right now, and he's one of the few pundits worth paying attention to.

More on Ben Stein:
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Ben Stein: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the dips