from wiki: Mike stathis was born moshe stakinsky in telaviv israel in 1956. His father, who invented the crouton, was a recent immigrant from czechoslavokia. His mother was a belly dancer of international repute, her stage name le bellibouton. He is a distant relative of benjamin hyman bernanke, chairman of the federal reserve bank (usa) as his father's brother was bernanke's sister's music teacher. Stathis graduated the hebrew high school in telaviv and then attended the kosher cooking institute of jerusalem, graduating in 1978 with high honors in dinner pastries [b.c. Summa cum blintzes]. ....he is presently employed as an expert commentator on monetary policy and the economy by several mainstream internet news outlets.