Dave Ramsey is a conservative evangelical Christian talk radio host. He specializes in personal finance with a Biblical perspective. Ramsey teaches that debt is not only bad, it’s Biblically wrong. He has a seven-step system called the Baby Steps. It’s taught online and in person in churches all over the country.
Ramsey is not just confined to the dying medium of terrestrial AM radio. A few years ago, he branched out to YouTube and podcasting.
One of my newest guilty pleasures is listening to The Ramsey Show on YouTube. Although I occasionally agree with Ramsey and his minions, I disagree with them much more often. So much of what they say to people is so stupid, it’s entertaining.
Recently Ramsey and co-host Jade Warshaw read an email question from Jonathan in the Netherlands. The email started by saying that Jonathan and his wife are in Baby Step Two.
Of all the Baby Steps, Baby Step Two is the absolute worst. Ramsey teaches to cut everything out of your life that isn’t needed for basic human survival. Sell all your possessions. Cut your food budget down to “rice and beans.” Get a second job and even a third job. Your only goal during this step is to pay off your debt.
Nothing else matters.
Jonathan stated their debt consists of student loans totaling $43,000. He explained they didn’t feel the urgency in paying off the student loan so quickly. They’re a young couple making $6,500 a month and want to do things with their money like buy a better-used car and upgrade their garden.
Jade tried to answer Jonathan’s question, but she was rambling all over the place. At one point she attributed the Woody Allen line, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans,” to something her grandmother used to say.
Maybe Jade’s grandmother is Woody Allen.
Dave Ramsey then took over. He immediately went full agro towards Jonathan.
Dave Ramsey is a mean, angry man
Ramsey told Jonathan he and his wife would never pay off their student debt unless they intensely followed the Ramsey plan.
Ramsey made fun of the fact that Jonathan wanted a bigger garden. He pretended to be Jonathan, speaking in a wispy, effeminate-sounding voice repeating things Jonathan never said. At one point, Ramsey referred to Jonathan’s marriage as “your little marriage.”
Ramsey told Jonathan there was no “proof text” (huh?) in the marketplace that showed what he wanted to do works.
Dave then told Jonathan to call the “wambulance.”
I thought Dave sounded especially unhinged in this clip, and as a result, I found it highly entertaining.
Millions of people successfully pay off their student loans without having to pay Dave Ramsey $79.99 to attend his Financial Peace University. Most people can pay off their student debt without coughing up $12.99 a month for Ramsey’s EveryDollar budgeting app.
