David Ramsey has helped thousands of people get out of debt through beans and rice and a long, disciplined struggle to pay off credit cards. His advice worked well before the massive meltdown of the banking system, and the Category V Hurricane, that came out of nowhere like a Black Swan event in late 2007, and is still blowing at 200 m p h in every county in America. Now his advice is outdated. Almost nothing from the old school of debt gurus is working any more. Ramsey's advice could be a path to despair, credit ruin, and IRS tax on charged off debt.
"In Heaven and Earth Horatio, there is more than is in your philosophy", William Shakespeare.
In his latest harsh critique of the Occupy Movement, Ramsey has revealed a lot of his flawed thinking. He calls the demonstrators on Wall Street, and around the nation, "whiners, thieves," and tells them "to grow up." He says Wall Street is "just a street , a road and an office building."
The demonstrators, 95% of them, are not thieves, are not whiners, and understand Wall Street as a symbol of theft and corruption since Jay Gould invented the stock printing press. According to $Bill, Wall Street has always been rigged by manipulators and thieves. He mailed Birdman a book called "The Den of Thieves", after the Black Monday event of October 1987. He lost $20 million in 24 hours on American Express stock, and put his remaining blood money into Treasury Notes for the rest of his life. Wall Street is not just a street, it has become a symbol over the years, and attained a worse status since the Meltdown of greed and corruption. Ramsey is naive regarding who the real thieves are. Investment bankers as detailed in Yves Smith's book, "Econned", looted $millions from their firms, and aided in the 401K, stock and real estate meltdown. Ramsey needs to read several books including Barry Ritholtz's book "Bailout Nation". Ritholz details the 22 culprits starting with Alan Greenspan, who sunk the US economy into a deep hole. He also has some positive solutions in his last chapter that could work, and they are not 'beans and rice" and "quit whining".
In his critique of the Occupy Movement, Ramsey completely misses the entire phenomenon of the past 4 years. The resort real estate industry has vanished, not stalled, construction work is down 80%, the values of real estate in every county in America has dropped 36% to 80%, stocks have collapsed. Estimates vary from 10 trillion to 20 trillion in value that has been lost during this catastrophe, which started with the sub-prime, toxic loan meltdown.
Ramsey says "the capitalistic system works just fine." This is an outrageous statement. The capitalistic system works well when the participants are legitimate entrepreneurs, honest, follow the rules, stay away from speculation, and casino type bets. Wall Street firms created a casino capitalism. Where were you the past 4 years, sleeping on the radio?
David if the government takes your money or property, that is called communism. That same fear of communism led us to the Vietnam war, another Judas Duck disaster. Your chances of being held up by a gun are one in 200,000. Nassim Taleb in his book "The Black Swan", describes gurus and financial advisors, who give the wrong advice out of hubris and incompetence, as possibly more harmful to society than terrorists. Your chances of getting struck by a terrorist act in the U.S. is one in 200 million. Getting bad advice from financial gurus is one in two. Like lawyers, Ramsey is only right half the time.
Ramsey says, "my problems are not McDonalds's fault. My problems are my fault." This is true until a Black Swan event caused by a massive theft of Americans 401K's, stocks and collapse of real estate values, whacks them like they were hit in the face by a baseball bat. "Get a job," Ramsey says. How ridiculous that statement is when 20 million Americans are unemployed. Many good people have been looking for work for 3 years. He says "Invent a weed whacker, another Facebook". When the wolves are howling at the door, angel investors who finance those ideas are nowhere to be seen.
The largest Judas Duck idea that Ramsey holds, is his anti-Bankruptcy advice. His students could file chapter 7, get all the protections a Federal Judge offers them, and still legally pay down their debt, if that is their moral goal, with a zero percent interest rate. There would be no phone calls, no lawsuits, no taxes on the debt, and credit scores can go up, as opposed to a failed Ramsey approach. Ramsey uses fear mongering to compare chapter 7 with a death in the family. It is the exact opposite. It is the wing to freedom, a fresh start. When the only job available after looking for 2 years, is a part time job at $7.36 per hour, the means test for chapter 7 is within reach. Mark Twain filed chapter 7. He knew life would be easier on the other side of hell. Ramsey is telling young people to tough it out and suffer for years to pay off banks. Banks are a contract, not a moral obligation. Ramsey should send his tithe to Goldman Sachs, since he worries about the banks bottom line. One to two years, and the credit returns for seniors and young people who file chapter 7. Many retirement attorneys who have a clue, are endorsing bankruptcy as part of retirement planning. David, grow up, get a real job, and please do not keep attempting to get statue status on the Mount Rushmore of Judas Ducks in North Platte Nebraska, along with Alan Greenspan. I have a new book idea for you: "How to survive debt free through Chapter 7, during the endless Category V Hurricane."
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