It really amazes me that Ramsey has so many listeners. As I mentioned before, he does give some interesting advice, but the actual content of his show is subjectively boring. It seems like most of the airtime is taken up by advertisements for his Financial Peace University, with little time actually spent on the callers. It seems like watching his clips on YouTube would be a much better use of your time than trying to hear any of this content on the actual radio. Of course, that would mean giving him views, which I hate to do.
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Beans & Rice & Rot?
- Thread starter DrAkbar
- Start date
“Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.” ― P.T. Barnum.
"No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." H.L. Mencken
As has been mentioned, the financial advice is relatively sound. He appeals to the kind of listener who does not know the difference between a company's income and profit and who needs a much better understanding of things like interest rates, loans and the like. "Home economics" has not been taught widely for many decades, so there are two or three generations of financially ignorant people out there.
If people can tolerate the moral BS, the show is useful to such people.
Honestly, the show is a lot better when some of his co-hosts are filling in. They seem to spend a lot more time actually providing interesting advice, without peddling everything that Dave tries to sell.
If it's truly a religious organization, we do have the First Amendment, which is difficult to bypass.
All non-profits, churches included, get their books scrutinized by the IRS during tax season. Just as everyone else does. Just because an organization is non-profit or religious non-profit doesn't give them a free pass, as far as the IRS goes.
All non-profits, churches included, get their books scrutinized by the IRS during tax season. Just as everyone else does. Just because an organization is non-profit or religious non-profit doesn't give them a free pass, as far as the IRS goes.
I wouldn't use the generalization; all. There are several smaller religious broadcasters who have escaped IRS scrutiny for several years. Larger organizations like the old 700 Club and Joel Olsteen, just hire really expensive accountants to find the right ways to keep the IRS at bay. Things like helicopter leases to fly Olsteen between church sermons, plus corporate jets and multiple lavish homes all owned by the church, are just a few examples of how accountants do their magic.
The issue there is not the church that Osteen has, but Osteen himself. The IRS can't really say that a private flight or other expenses are not needed for church operations.
What they can be fussy about is what Osteen does with his salary or whatever they call it in a church that he gets from them. If he deducts things as professional expense that are not really applicable, then they can adjust his return and charge him the due taxes and penalties.
Since Michelangelo painted the ceiling at the Sistine Chapel, churches have spent money on things that might seem excessive to a tax collector but which are justifiable as part of the church's work. But a non-profit simply certifies the money that comes in and where it went; any overages in a year can't be distributed as dividends so they have to be present or have been passed to another charity. The same thing works for a church, the Red Cross or even a Radio DXers club.
The main purpose of filing by a non-profit is to be able to trace monies paid as salaries and fees and the like to individuals and suppliers.
I went to middle and high school in the 50's and home ec classes were restricted to girls.
When I was in junior high school all eighth graders, with a few exceptions such as those in band, took Environmental Careers, Business Careers, Service Careers (essentially home ec) and Industrial Careers (shop). We were taught a few details about finance, I guess. Each student had to choose two of the categories for ninth grade. I remember a list of what we did in Business Careers having "making change" and "writing checks". Other than that I don't know whether we learned anything about finance. We learned to type in Business Careers. I chose that and Environmental. In "Home Ec" since we were required to eat what we cooked, no one would let me cook. I remember using a sewing machine too, but if we learned about finance, I don't remember, And in shop class the teacher got frustrated with me. Yes, there were girls too. And this is disturbing: the special needs students were in the class too.
I took home ec in high school (I had all my "foundation courses" out of the way so I took a few fluff ones like home ec and study hall in my senior year), but finances were never taught there. Home ec was more about cooking, building design for homes and businesses, basic sewing, how to set a table and how to conduct oneself and NOT eat like you were raised by wolves when at a dinner party or event, etc. We did, however, have a course offered by the math department called "Consumer Economics". It taught things like balancing a checkbook and writing checks, what interest rates truly mean, and how to determine how much a bank is really raking in from you over the life of a home loan and how much one can save by getting even a percentage point off a loan or paying off early. They briefly touched on investing and even went into things like how to calculate bowling scores. Unfortunately it wasn't a general class all students were required to take, but it should've been IMO.
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Why does he need fill-ins? Every show is almost exactly the same. They could pull a show from 2017 and no one would know the difference.
Good question. There is only a noticeable difference in content when his fill-ins are doing the show. Every Dave Ramsey episode is exactly the same.
I would agree with those statements. When I worked for the person who was supposedly friends with Ramsey when he worked in Nashville, I listened to his show a few times. It was interesting for about a week, but it quickly became boring.
I'll also say that the people I've known who have gone to FPU had horribly extravagant spending habits, and none of them were willing to give that up for long after attending. They were pumped for a brief period, but, once they had to start doing the work, they quickly went back to their old ways.
Sounds like AA. Which is also why they have regular meetings, to keep you on the plan.
In the early 60's when I transferred schools the new high school required one of two versions of Home Ec. Girls got cooking and housekeeping and home budgeting, guys got more budgeting, some home maintenance and the like. By today's standards, totally sexist and black & white.
But the guys were exposed to what you describe as "consumer economics" such as mortgages, budgets, paying for college, costs of a loan, savings, retirement planning and even joining a union.
At the time, I had been a Barron's and WSJ subscriber for five or six years and had a brokerage account, so I found it repetitive and boring. But I was the weird kid in the class who actually had an after school job at, gasp, a radio station. But the teaching was, in retrospect, sound. And classmates I still am in contact with mention how it helped them through college and later life.
My grandkids are not in the US, so I don't know if such things are taught now. Is this still covered in High School?
I'd honestly like to believe that boombox, but I have my suspicions.
Another brick in the wall? Or another crack in the foundation of the almighty Ramsey empire?
If more parties sign on to this lawsuit and it becomes a class action, then I can see Ramsey having to divert more resources to defending it. Right now... it seems like a fly in the ointment.
Former employee sues Dave Ramsey's company for alleged religious discrimination, ‘cult-like’ atmosphere
The lawsuit claims employees have to submit to Ramsey as a spiritual leader and agree with his views on COVID-19, with no questions allowed.
April 15, 2021 - Religion News Service
If more parties sign on to this lawsuit and it becomes a class action, then I can see Ramsey having to divert more resources to defending it. Right now... it seems like a fly in the ointment.
Former employee sues Dave Ramsey's company for alleged religious discrimination, ‘cult-like’ atmosphere
The lawsuit claims employees have to submit to Ramsey as a spiritual leader and agree with his views on COVID-19, with no questions allowed.
April 15, 2021 - Religion News Service
Unfortunately there's no law against being a cult leader. If it were the case, our former President would have been charged with that too.
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