'The Economy Is Quite Booming'—Dave Ramsey Shuts Down Caller Blaming The Economy For Her Struggles. 'The Economics At Your House Suck'

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'The Economy Is Quite Booming'—Dave Ramsey Shuts Down Caller Blaming The Economy For Her Struggles. 'The Economics At Your House Suck'

Adrian Volenik

Fri, December 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM EST

3 min read

When a recent caller tried to blame the economy for her family's million-dollar debt, Dave Ramsey fired back that it’s not the economy’s fault.

A 28-year-old caller named Heather recently phoned into “The Ramsey Show” to share that she and her husband were drowning in more than $1.3 million of debt. The couple’s financial troubles stemmed from a combination of business loans, credit card balances, back taxes and a mortgage. But when Heather tried to shift some blame to the economy, the personal finance expert didn't let it slide.

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Ramsey Pushes Back On Economic Blame

“We kind of are stuck with the businesses that everybody’s trying to avoid,” Heather said, referencing their summer camp and a rental business that includes staging, inflatables and audiovisual equipment.

Ramsey jumped in. “Not really true,” he said flatly. “The economy is quite booming in some areas. But just the economics at your house suck.” He added, “The situation you all are in, being so overwhelmed, I can see how you could start to think that. When life looks like a country song, it just looks like a country song. Lots of people are still renting kids’ stuff all over the place.”

Heather explained that after her husband was fired from his job four years ago, they struggled to find stable employment. In 2022, they launched a summer camp business that now generates about $200,000 a year. Encouraged by that success, they went on to purchase another business's assets for $1.2 million using a Small Business Administration loan.

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But things went sideways. “The more we peeled back, the more we found the deception,” she said. They later realized they had overpaid by about $400,000.

“Anybody that made this loan should be just lined up and shot,” Ramsey said, criticizing the SBA for approving the massive loan. “They’ve screwed you in the process.”

Their total monthly business costs now sit at around $50,000, which Ramsey quickly pointed out was unsustainable. “And you’re not making that?” he asked. “Some months we are,” Heather replied. “But both of our businesses are very seasonal.”

Ramsey told the couple to emotionally prepare for the worst-case scenario: losing everything and starting over. “You hold on to each other, and you hold on to Jesus, and you hold on to your marriage,” he said. “So what? Lots of people have gone broke.”

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He then encouraged them to sell the second business for whatever they could get. If they can sell it for $800,000, he suggested pushing the SBA for a short sale. “You get nothing, honey, if you don’t take this $800 [thousand], cause I’m walking and you’re going to own a blow-up inflatable,” Ramsey told them to tell the SBA, urging them to negotiate tough. “The SBA is not in the inflatable business.”

He also warned them to prioritize paying the IRS over any other creditor, reminding them that tax debt isn't dischargeable in bankruptcy. “Before you pay anybody else, you pay the KGB–I mean the IRS,” Ramsey said.

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