He doesn't say but I'm guessing Comcast, given the Shaq reference:



I suppose one could try and draw a distinction between the two commercials but it's one hell of a thin one.

In the Comcast commericial Stein identifies himself as an economist and says he's there to talk about finances and being smart with money. Comcast is a large telecommunications company and, presumably, as likely a topic for a column on business as the company that Stein did the ad for that ostensibly got him fired.

Furthermore, Stein's firing seems all the more peculiar when you consider the case of Paul Krugman. Krugman was an Enron advisor and consultant who later, and unlike Stein, went on to write about that company in his Times column. Krugman is still at the Times despite covering a company he used to work for.

Of course, Krugman is an vocal liberal.