STEIN: There has never been a case in history where a poor person who is a slovenly, uneducated, lazy, undisciplined drug addict got to be rich because of some wealthy person being taxed. It's fine with me --
CAVUTO: Wait, wait, wait. I just want to be clear Ben Stein is not saying that all poor people are slovenly.
STEIN: No, no, no, not at all, not at all, many are fine, and incredibly hard working people and I love them and by the way, I work with them when I go to Walmart, and they're great, great people. But there are an awful lot of people who are slobs, drunks, drug addicts. No plan is going to help them. Their own discipline, their own willingness to get an education, that will help them. Taking away from the rich is not going to help them. By the way, it's fine with me if they take away from the rich. I sign my income tax check with a smile, but I don't -- but I don't think it's going to make the poor rich.
[...]
STEIN: If you took all that money and gave it to the dumber people who are way below the poverty line, they'll be better off for a little while, but unless they can develop better habits of life they are not going to be better off at all. Any person in this country who works hard, gets a decent education and really, really is disciplined can become a middle-class person unless he's physically or mentally disabled. It doesn't happen by taking away from the rich. It happens by the efforts of the individual person in America. Self-discipline, reliance upon self, reliance upon hard work -- that's what makes it happen. (emphasis added)
