Townhall for Hope - Dave Ramsey
Growing up, I remember helping build and repair wooden things. The problem was that I was not the best hammerer. I would constantly miss or bend nails. Instead of tossing the nail to the side, I would have to hammer it out straight and try again. If we were repairing something and the nail was removed bent, I would have to do the same thing. This was a good example of not being wasteful. Reusing a nail may not have saved us millions of dollars, but it did help. It was something my father was taught. It was something I was taught.
Last night Amy and I went to the Dave Ramsey “Townhall for Hope” at a local church. It was an hour and a half of financial discussion and advice. Dave was able to express his thoughts on why our economy is currently in a recession.
His main point is that the spirit of fear has gripped our country. From Wall Street to Politicians to Media, fear is being pushed to ordinary citizens thus effecting everyone’s outlook on the situation. He pointed out the fact that we are no where close to living in a time similar to the Great Depression. We are also not as bad off as the recessions of 1972 and 1982. But because of the talking heads and the spend happy maniacs on Capital Hill, you would think we were about to crash and burn.
Another point he presented was that gold was not a solid investment. If our currency collapsed today, people would not all of the sudden start trading gold with each other. Instead, they would start bartering and trading goods and services. So think about that before you pick up the phone to order gold.
So don’t fear. It also would not hurt to ask your Congressmen and women to “Stop stimulating STUPID.”
If you do fear, Dave gave 3 points of advice:
1) Get Up and Take Action - “You are the cure, America. No one else is going to solve your problems for you—that’s your job! Find out how you can take control of your money, turn back the fear in your community, and hold your representatives accountable for the decisions they’re making on your behalf. ”
2) Stop Listening to Loser Talk - “We’re sick and tired of the “loser talk” that has permeated the media, the water cooler and the internet. Stop listening to the garbage, and start speaking a word of hope!”
3) Start Giving - “Learning how to give—whether it’s money, time or support—changes your whole mindset. Dave says it pretty clearly: “We can’t win if we can’t give.” If you want to win with money and change the nation, you’ve got to learn how to give again.”
(Thank God for copy and paste!)
I’m convinced that we are going to make it through this. In the end we will be smarter, stronger and more cautious.
If you are interested in watching the event, it will be rebroadcast.
Travis Clay
April 25th, 2009 at 7:22 am
[...] some good financial advice in these uncertain times. Related Posts:Morgan Freeman on ending racismThis is going to leave a [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I think Ramsey is quite good at what he does best, and that’s training and counseling individuals to live within their means … and that means, “free of debt.” Indeed, we are 10 weeks into his 13-week Financial Peace University at our church. In the past, we had only worked Dave’s approach to home finances about 70% of the way — but now we’re trying to seal the deal and take it all the way: no credit cards, month budgets on paper, saving like fiends, etc.
Unfortunately, Dave he falls flat when he bad-mouths precious metals as “stupid.” His mantra that “metals are never used in the barter economies that follow disasters” is a straw man argument (though somewhat understandable, given that some metal and coin dealers seem to imply that metals will be money when the feces hits the fan).
Precious metals shouldn’t be bought/held primarily for a “social meltdown” scenario, but as an historically-reliable store of value.
A couple of ignorant things I’ve heard Dave say recently about precious metals:
• “They have no more intrinsic value than a shoelace.” (IOW, precious metals only have value because man assigns it value and does so arbitrarily — we could just as easily assign similar value to dirt!) I’m utterly amazed that Dave doesn’t grasp fundamental principles of value found in precious metals such as world-wide recognizability and desirability, ease of divisibility and transportability, and high value in relation to volume and weight.
• “Precious metals haven’t been a medium of exchange since the Roman empire.” This is simple ignorance of history. What does Dave think the value of US currency was pegged to by law until only 1971? (Not to mention the fact that US quarters, dimes, and dollar and half-dollar coins were 90% silver until 1964!)
It is a paradox that, while preaching so faithfully against personal indebtedness, Dave won’t/can’t preach against our government’s indebtedness and the central-bank-issued fiat currency that aids and abets it. I know Dave is a Bible-believing Christian — well, the Bible vehemently condemns theft by the use of unjust weights and measures, which is precisely what fiat currency is: “faith-based” money that is backed up by absolutely nothing and which results in that most insidious a invisible of taxes, a.k.a. inflation. (Oh, incidentally, Dave has defined “inflation” as price increases due to variables of supply and demand. Yes, prices do fluctuate as a result of supply and demand, but inflation is an increase in the amount of money in circulation at the hands of central banks and government-owned printing presses. When more money is pumped into the system via the printing press or electronic credits, it serves to devalue the money already in circulation, and prices rise in response to that. IOW, long-term price increases are not inflation, but rather they are a symptom of inflation — more money chasing after a fixed amount of goods. The best example I can point to is the artificial boom in home values earlier this decade, which were the direct result of the ease with which more and more people were able to get loans. I.e., more money — in the form of credit — chasing after a fixed supply of houses.)
For a different — and reliable — take on our current economic mess, I would urge you to spend some time reading the articles and watching the videos of Peter Schiff. Just Google him … you’ll find him. Peter is also “death on debt” — but he called the current financial mess a few years ago, based on the fact that Americans and their government borrow endlessly to buy things they simply cannot afford. I.e., rampant consumerism and endless lines of credit.
I love Dave for what he does well, but he has a ways to go to understand the government-monetary-policy basis for the dire straits in which our nation currently finds itself.
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:27 pm
I think it’s more than that. America has become a nation of consumers. We no longer invent and produce, unless it’s music and clothes, maybe. We only consume. I think people need to rise up and create an economic revolution.
We should FORCE our leaders to bring companies back from Mexico and to stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants. We should stop importing goods made in China. We should “STIMULATE” production companies in the US.
There’s no reason why American companies can’t produce goods of equal quality to that of Japan. Ford and GMC should step up. We should DEMAND that they do.
I’m no economist… I even suck at math, but that’s just my take.
Jeff