I attended Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope simulcast tonight at NewSong – I’ll probably be the first guy around to blog about it because I had to leave before the event was completely over. At any rate, I heard what he had to say, in the inimitable way only Dave can say it, and he was totally right on.
What he said in a nutshell was that things are not nearly as bad as people (mainly the media) are making them out to be. A big part of the economic problem is fear, which he reminded us means False Evidence Appearing Real. With a ton of statistics he obviously had available on over-sized monitors Ramsey occasionally glanced down at he pointed out that the current economic situation is not even as bad as the Great Depression in the thirties. In fact, he said, it is not even the worst recent recession we have had; statistically speaking the ones in 73-74 and 82-84 were worse. Of course, “worse” is relative if it is you that are being impacted personally. Ramsey also really took on Washington. He bashed both the Bush cabinet which he said decided to “bail out stupid,” and the Obama cabinet who he pointed out has decided to “stimulate stupid.” Ramsey also gave an economic history/theory lesson as he contrasted Keynesian Economics (John Maynard Keynes) with those of Milton Friedman. No surprise that Ramsey came down on the Friedman side of that equation.
The “hope” we have, economically speaking, according to Ramsey is capitalism and the American consumer. He believes if government will stop “interfering” with the free market and if we as consumers will stop spending what we don’t have and begin taking personal responsibility for our actions, our economic ship will ultimately right itself. For our part (consumers), what we need to do most is to learn how to say (and listen to) the small word “NO.” He was referring to our strong appetite for immediate gratification and our short-sighted financial planning.
Investment-wise, Ramsey was promoting real estate (buyers’ market, and interest rates at 50 year lows) and the stock market (profitable in every 15 year segment since forever ago). As for inflation, he feels it will probably grow, especially if the government continues its suicidal spending plan. The best way to deal with inflation, he argued, is to invest in things that will rise with inflation such as real estate. He also took a shot at those who promote investing in gold stating it is practically at an all-time high due to panicked investors. As for banks, Ramsey said he prefers local community banks and credit unions where he can talk to a real person. As for stocks, he prefers growing, sound companies who have a culture of excellence like Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and Dell Computers (to mention a few stocks he referenced).
All in all it was a very informative and entertaining evening. I’m glad I went and I left feeling more hopeful, which I suppose was the purpose of the event. Kudos at NewSong go to Chuck Braddock, our “go-to” guy when it comes to Dave Ramsey, who spent hours getting everything set up just right (with an assist from Michael Smith). Also, I have got to brag on my homeboy Justin – thanks for working closely with Chuck to help us all enjoy a good event.
What he said in a nutshell was that things are not nearly as bad as people (mainly the media) are making them out to be. A big part of the economic problem is fear, which he reminded us means False Evidence Appearing Real. With a ton of statistics he obviously had available on over-sized monitors Ramsey occasionally glanced down at he pointed out that the current economic situation is not even as bad as the Great Depression in the thirties. In fact, he said, it is not even the worst recent recession we have had; statistically speaking the ones in 73-74 and 82-84 were worse. Of course, “worse” is relative if it is you that are being impacted personally. Ramsey also really took on Washington. He bashed both the Bush cabinet which he said decided to “bail out stupid,” and the Obama cabinet who he pointed out has decided to “stimulate stupid.” Ramsey also gave an economic history/theory lesson as he contrasted Keynesian Economics (John Maynard Keynes) with those of Milton Friedman. No surprise that Ramsey came down on the Friedman side of that equation.
The “hope” we have, economically speaking, according to Ramsey is capitalism and the American consumer. He believes if government will stop “interfering” with the free market and if we as consumers will stop spending what we don’t have and begin taking personal responsibility for our actions, our economic ship will ultimately right itself. For our part (consumers), what we need to do most is to learn how to say (and listen to) the small word “NO.” He was referring to our strong appetite for immediate gratification and our short-sighted financial planning.
Investment-wise, Ramsey was promoting real estate (buyers’ market, and interest rates at 50 year lows) and the stock market (profitable in every 15 year segment since forever ago). As for inflation, he feels it will probably grow, especially if the government continues its suicidal spending plan. The best way to deal with inflation, he argued, is to invest in things that will rise with inflation such as real estate. He also took a shot at those who promote investing in gold stating it is practically at an all-time high due to panicked investors. As for banks, Ramsey said he prefers local community banks and credit unions where he can talk to a real person. As for stocks, he prefers growing, sound companies who have a culture of excellence like Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and Dell Computers (to mention a few stocks he referenced).
All in all it was a very informative and entertaining evening. I’m glad I went and I left feeling more hopeful, which I suppose was the purpose of the event. Kudos at NewSong go to Chuck Braddock, our “go-to” guy when it comes to Dave Ramsey, who spent hours getting everything set up just right (with an assist from Michael Smith). Also, I have got to brag on my homeboy Justin – thanks for working closely with Chuck to help us all enjoy a good event.
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