Greece Calls Into The Dave Ramsey Show

by Ry@SpillingBuckets on May 14, 2010

“A decade of deep sacrifice”
“Orbital pull of stupid”
“I’d be called an enabler”

Greece calls into the Dave Ramsey Show:

David Kestenbaum (on Greece’s behalf): I am calling because I have a friend, who’s in a…he is in a lot a lot a lot of debt.

Dave Ramsey: Ok…. How much?

Greece’s friend: Uh…$405 Billion dollars.

Ramsey: Wow. That’s a little bit. What’s his annual income?

Greece’s friend: Uh..He’s a pretty high wage earner actually. $343 Billion.

Ramsey: So he owes more than he makes in a year. Wow. So we are throwing around billions but I mean let’s just put that in perspective. This is a guy making $100,000 a year who owes $150,000 in credit card debt. Ahhhhhh! He’s got a year plus of his entire wages to clean up debt, so this is going to take a decade of deep sacrifice.

Greece’s friend tells Dave he has some options. He’s part of a powerful family (the European Union) who’s very angry with him (in part because he lied about his financial troubles for a while, Greece under reported its deficit) but my friend’s family really wants him to pull through so they are willing to bail him out, to the tune of $100 Billion dollars.

Ramsey: Let’s say your teenager came home from college, and unbeknownst to you — in secret — has run up $50,000 in credit card debt. If I just write junior a check for 50 grand and bail him out, and he has no pain as a result of his misbehavior, and he doesn’t change his wicked ways? Were I to put cash into that, I’d be called an enabler. I’d be giving a drunk a drink.

Ramsey says he’d put some belt-tightening conditions on any parental bailout. Of course, that’s what the international community is doing by requiring Greece to slash its deficits. But that’s not enough.

Ramsey: You haven’t dealt with Greece’s real problem. Sorry people of Greece, I love your country but you need to quit with the temper tantrum street protests. Make some life changes. Say to yourselves these three magic words. I’VE HAD IT! When people and when companies and when countries have that moment where they draw a line in the sand and they say, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore.’ It takes that passion to break the orbital pull of stupid.