Not much in life is sweeter than a paid-for set of wheels. But the auto industry is predicting a slowdown on car buying. Seems a bigwig for Comerica Bank (who else but a bank person) says that chrome consumer spending is slowing down because of "higher interest rates and higher energy prices."

Let me clue everyone in; the only confidence that the U.S. of A. would be better off without is consumer confidence. Dave Ramsey said it best; consumer confidence is that thing economists use to measure how giddy you are about (over)spending because the economy is good. They don't care about how far you dive into the debt pool, just how much you spend during the sink. And if you go into debt to get the goods, you WILL sink!

Here's the kicker ... if you stay away from debt, you don't have to worry about consumer confidence or interest rates. Why? Because you're not spending dough that you don't have. Last time I checked, cash is accepted most everywhere. Ditch the debt, connect with cash and get your life back, jack.

Think working hard and doing your best doesn't pay off? Think again, jack. Seems a waitress at a Kansas Applebee's did a good enough job for a long enough time that a customer of hers left a $10,000 tip. That's right; four zeroes. I've seen high rollers in Vegas that didn't do that, baby.

The dame's boss said it herself. "She has been with us for eight years, and she's a great employee who does a great job." Even more amazing is this; the waitress herself said that she never said or did anything unique for the guy to just hand over the dough like that. It just goes to show that you always need to be on your best behavior and do your best job, 'cause you never know who's watching.

Stories like this may be one in a million, but it falls in line with what Dave Ramsey preaches; do the work, do it well, get the reward.

I remember when my grandmother died. She was one in a million, baby, and it ripped my guts out. But she was always someone who looked out for everyone around her. She always read her Bible, and when it was her time to meet The Man Upstairs face-to-face, she already had the presence of mind to put everything in order for my grandpaps, so he wouldn't have to go through any more heartache than he did.

You need to do the same for your family. You need to mind your Ps and Qs, have all your accounts up-to-date and have a last will and testament in place so everyone knows who gets what, and where, and how much. I've heard some yahoos in the past say "If I get a will, I might die." Well, Dave Ramsey said it best ... "You're going to die, so do it with a will."

One last thing: don't leave a bunch of debt after you're in the dirt. Pay off what you owe and save, so you can leave something to your kids, jack.

DT doesn't click on MTV too much, but this one show is just too over the top to sweep under the rug, baby. MTV has a show called "My Super Sweet 16", and it takes you to the wild world of spoiled sports. On the show, brats and little princesses think the world revolves around them, and they're planning their 16th birthday party to prove it. They aim to get a celebration that would put Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to shame.

And I thought Terrell Owens was spoiled. It may be the parents or the kids, but someone is going to wind up with some big-time disappointment if these kids keep getting everything they want. They'll either get out into the real world and won't be keen on working, or the parents will have to foot the kids' living expenses for the rest of their lives after they move back home.

Maybe the worst thing to do to a kid is to raise them to be a snot-nosed brat, jack. Kids can learn to work hard and save, and still get the chance to be kids. Dave Ramsey does it with his own kids. If you're giving your boy or girl anything and everything they want, you got as much growing up to do as them. How you like them apples?

I've seen how ugly things get when you keep credit cards around. They're like a relative who wants to crash at your pad for a day or two and is still there five weeks later. You wish you never brought them in. Only one thing is worse than getting a credit card; making the minimum payment on it.

Minimum payments may be small or large, but they'll waste dough like there's no tomorrow. Usual interest rates are between 18 and 30 percent. Al Capone didn't charge that much for payoffs. The longer it takes you to pay it off, the more cash you'll waste. To top it off, paying your balance down to a certain amount and then charging it right back up is dumber than a bag of hammers at Home Depot. You'll just drag it out.

The best recipe for getting out of debt and staying out? Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball and a good pair of scissors. Credit cards are bad news. Pay 'em off, cut 'em up and close 'em down, baby.

Terrell Owens is more spoiled than month-old milk, baby. He hurts his leg but skips the rehab session (which tends to help when you have a hurt leg), along with a team meeting (which you can go to with no legs) and a practice (which he can watch from the sidelines). T.O. is only thinking about one thing, and it ain't his team. Mr. Big-Time NFL receiver is only thinking about Mr. Big-Time NFL receiver, jack.

The world would be a better place if people were more concerned about people. The best joes and jills are the ones who think of others first. If looking out for your family or someone who needs you means missing CSI one night, then do it. Plain and simple. If it means time, give time. If it means cash, then do the Dave Ramsey thing and save so you have some.

The big-time blog on Forbes right now currently talks about how you shouldn't marry a career woman. That's the "he said" part. The she said part countered with not marrying a lazy man. It's the first time in history that two people make a point and miss the point at the same time.

Just like Dave Ramsey says, careers and work and money are things you have to think about when getting hitched, but it's not all about those things. It's about love, baby. Nothing like it in the world, and the last time I checked, it's kind of important to have when you get married. If you don't have it, you ain't tying the knot; you're tying the noose, baby. It starts with love, and that starts with The Man Upstairs.

I don't care if it's the joe or the jill in the marriage; if you're so concerned about your career taking a nose-dive when you say "I do", then don't. Just like in the dictionary, family always comes before work, baby. Don't get your priorities out of whack.

Check out this average joe, baby. He needs advice on how to invest a few hundred dollars for his baby boy. That right there makes him smarter than most people, who would just blow it on some new threads.

Some ideas were great (investing for college). Some were fished right out of the stupid pool (take the spread and bet it on Southern California).

The best one (that wasn't even there)? Follow Dave Ramsey's Baby
Steps. Get on a plan and get out of debt. Easy as 1-2-3, jack.

Talk about needing a wake-up call! This dame wanted to put the odds of hitting the jackpot in her favor, to the tune of stealing $2.3 million from the company where she worked to buy lottery tickets, spending up to 6,000 bucks a day.

This is one of the better ways to see how the lotto doesn't pay, baby. This dollface bought all those tickets and still couldn't get a win. On top of that, she was stealing just to get the chance. She wasn't responsible with dough before she won, so what would have happened if she did? Don't ask, don't tell, jack.

Lottery winners go broke left and right because they don't know how to handle money. The solution? Dave Ramsey. Spend some time on his plan and you'll deep-six debt in a flash.

You want Dave Ramsey in a nutshell? You got it, babe. The DR man did an interview with HotAir, a daily video blog, and it delivers the goods. You find out about Dave in TV, radio and real-life.

Even in this topsy-turvy world where you barely got time to breathe or budget, you got time to check out Dave. I watched it today and it wraps up what he's about and how he goes about his business. Check it out.

No matter how big-time you get, you're not untouchable. Need proof? Look at Tom Cruise. Over the past 20 years, Cruise flicks have made more than $5 billion around the globe. The guy was more bankable than Chase Manhattan.

Then what happens? A few jumps on Oprah's couch, a blasting of Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants after she gave birth and shouting out about Scientology and ... bada-bing, bada-boom; Paramount Pictures cuts ties with him.

Having the dough means you can do a lot of things, but it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. You still have to behave yourself. Look at all the lottery winners that act like fools and go bankrupt inside 15 years. Money can mean security, but not immunity.

You have to be in control of yourself if you're ever going to win with money. Otherwise, just like Dave Ramsey says, you'll step over the line and find yourself in the soup.

It's my business to spot trouble, baby. And trouble doesn't come much bigger than when some lowlife steals your identity. Forget about going to jail; these yahoos need to spend a nickel underneath the cooler.

Listen up. If you're so crooked, lazy or dirty that you rip off people using the name of your spouse, your kid, your family or anyone else, you better hope you don't run into me in a back alley. It's called a conscience, pal; grow it! Do something on the up-and-up with yourself instead of making the world a worse place to live.

The best thing about what Dave Ramsey teaches; it's honest. You work, you save, you get ahead in life. Even more, it doesn't come back to bite you later.

Think money can buy happiness, jack? Let me clue you in. Just like Dave Ramsey says, money can never buy happiness; money can buy fun. There's a big-time difference there. Fun lasts until you get bored (and everyone does). Happiness is something that is deep down in you and doesn't go away.

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that megabucks means megabliss. You eat enough lobster, it tastes like soap, baby. Real happiness comes from the stuff that money can't buy, like spending time with your friends, going to see your kid play a tooth in the school play or helping someone who needs it.

If you want to earn more money and take your family out of poverty and provide better, more power to you. That's A-OK in my book. But earning the extra dough means hard work. And most people don't want more work; they want more cash so they can goof off. Don't be lazy; work hard and save. Plain and simple, simon.

It's that time of year again, jack. Car dealers are offering discounts like their rides are going out of style. People start thinking about cars and then start thinking about car loans. Loans are lame, but some idiots are making big-time trouble for themselves by buying a set of wheels they REALLY can't afford, then spreading the loan out a few more years to make the payment lower.

That's stupid because you're fooling yourself into thinking you can afford a top-notch bucket of bolts. Don't buy a brand new car unless you got money coming out of your ears (about a million bucks or so). If you save up the dough and buy a car that's a few years old, it will still get you from A to B, but your wallet won't be smaller after you get where you're going, bub.

Remember, the new car's value is dropping so fast you'd think someone made a pair of cement shoes for it and dropped it in the river.

Dave Ramsey says no car payments. So what if all your broke friends make fun of you? They won't be laughing when you pay for your next car with cash.

All right, stop. Time for me to rant and rave about something that's been under my skin. Ever since the subject came up at my family's July 4th party, my two aunts have been going back and forth about who should get my grandmother's dough as an inheritance. The only problem? My grandmother is still alive!

If there's one thing that makes me sick, it's greed, baby. I hate it when people only want more, more, more. I don't care if you're a hotshot millionaire like Anna Nicole Smith or one of my aunts; when you start griping about having a "right" to money that you didn't earn or isn't even yours, that's crossing the line, baby. That's greed.

Greed is just another way of asking for trouble. The Man Upstairs wants you to keep your priorities straight. Money, for what it's worth, should never be at the top of the list.

If you think you "deserve" it, let me clue you in. Just like old Dave Ramsey says, you don't "deserve" squat. The best way to have more is to earn more and give more, not take more.

My mom and pops had a great relationship. They worked hard at it, but they were happy. They talked, paid attention to each other and didn't keep secrets, especially about money.

Fast forward to 2006. ABC News took a poll of married couples who make more than $50K a year. Ready for a shocker? The poll said that 71 percent of those people admitted to keeping some kind of a money secret from their bub or babe.

Time for a lesson, ladies and germs. The quickest way to book a one-way ticket to Splitsville is to not talk to your partner. I don't care if it's $1 or $1,000; if you're too chicken to tell your spouse about what you spend, or if you think it's "none of their business", you need to head back to the second grade for a while.

Both of you need to talk. Dave Ramsey says this all the time ... both of you need to do the budget. And get off the blame train. "If she did this, if he did that ..." ain't gonna cut it.

$1 million. The number just pops out at you, don't it? Everywhere you see, you got game shows, lotteries, books and what-not flapping their lips on and on about how it can all be yours, easy as pie. Well, you know what, jack? It's out there waiting for you! The only catch is; you don't get it by watching TV or plunking down the dough at the lottery counter. You get it by working!


Nowadays, people don't like words like "work", "budget" or "no", but you need to be saying all three to yourself if you want to wind up with a million bucks. You don't get to be rich by being a sucker for all the get-rich-quick traps out there.

Trust me on this one; if you work and save, not only will you get the big bucks; you'll look at game shows differently. You won't feel like you win if they win, because you'll already know that you won by working.

Just like Dave Ramsey says, if you spend all your time watching giddy game-show contestants on "Deal or No Deal" try for the cash, the only one who will be a guaranteed loser is you!

The NFL's Arizona Cardinals are paying their rookie quarterback Matt Leinart almost 51 million bucks over the next six years. Call me old school, but I think society puts its dough (and its thanks) in the wrong place.

Don't get me wrong. Football players work hard, but what about the cops, firefighters and teachers who don't earn jack compared to that, but do jobs that are 10 times as important?

A firefighter pulls someone out of a burning building and all the papers want to talk about is the fire. Good teachers give children an education every day, but all you hear about is when kids are shooting at each other. The only time people talk about cops is when they gripe about getting a speeding ticket.

Dave Ramsey says it's important to help other people. The next time you see a person helping someone else, thank them. Next time, it could be you that needs help.

There are about 78 million Baby Boomers out there who are getting closer to calling it quits on the career. The problem? They are saving about 4 percent of their income to live off for when that happens. That's about 11 percent less than they need to invest, jack.

The ballpark figure is that 67 percent of BB retirees will still work part-time to earn extra dough after they retire. They'll do it because they have to. These are the joes that you'll hear asking "you want fries with that?" because they didn't plan right. Too bad these people didn't learn about
Dave Ramsey 10 years ago.

Well, time to get a clue from the older folks, baby. If you're gonna live on beans and rice at some point in your life - better to do it young than do it old.

News flash! Debt collectors want to avoid the law to get you to pay your bills! That's right, ladies and germs; a trade organization made up of credit grantors and collectors wants the Man to allow them to call you on your cell phone (and run up your minutes, which costs you) and harass you into sending them money!

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (written in the early 90s) states that people can't make calls using automated machines (like creditors do) to solicit payments, but collectors who use them say they're not soliciting, they're just trying to complete a transaction (getting you to pony up the cash).

Don't get me wrong. If you owe the dough, then pay it. But just like Dave Ramsey says, these morons break federal law on a daily basis, and now they just want another way to do it.

Marriage. Nothing in the world quite as challenging and rewarding as when a bub and his babe tie the knot. But trust has to be part of the deal from the get-go, and this isn't the way to do it.

Seems Britney Spears and her would-be rapper hub Kevin Federline have had money fights in the past but she wants to show that things have been made right. To do this, Miss "Baby, One More Time" supposedly gave her husband an American Express ^TM card with NO SPENDING LIMIT!

New clue, Ms. Spears: Your intentions may be good, but you build trust by talking with your man about thoughts and feelings and all that other good stuff. You don't build trust by building your FICO score! And if you're worried about his past spending problems, you don't fix that by giving him a credit card!

Dave Ramsey would have a fit about this. This AmEx^TM thing is a stupid move and, no matter how much you make, you can't outspend your stupidity. You need a plan for your money!

You heard the old saying "Brother, can you spare a dime?" Well, the American public is sparing about 22 trillion of them nowadays ... in debt.

I just read where outstanding consumer credit hit $2.186 trillion in June. If that weren't bad enough, credit card debt is up almost 20 percent, to the tune of about $820.65 billion. That's a lot of cash, baby. It drives Dave Ramsey batty, and it should do the same to you. Why? Read on.

If you're using credit cards and paying the big-time interest rates, you're letting the banks get rich off of you. Your dough goes to them, not you. You're working to pay them, not you. Charging stuff puts them in charge, not you.

Any questions?

Some people are going overboard on the birthday bashes nowadays. Some dame in California blew 10,000 bucks on a birthday party for her 3-year-old kid. She hired a bunch of people to play Disney characters, set up activity tents, the whole nine yards. She said she likes the "wow" factor she gets from her neighbors about the party!

The only place where you can lose $10K quicker and have nothing to show for it is in Vegas. This lady needs to get control of her spending big-time! And she needs to knock off trying to keep up with the Joneses!

Anyone disagree?

Not much in life is better than a college degree, baby. But there's a difference between a diploma and a debt-ploma. Getting a student loan so big that you could buy a house with it isn't smart. Look at these kids who are starting life with the sheepskin in one hand and a $100,000 loan in the other.

You want to go to college and be an engineer or a social worker? Fine by me. But don't go six figures into debt just to make it happen. Just like Dave Ramsey says, student loans are normal, and normal is broke. Save up for college, get scholarships or work through school, but going into debt is stupid.

What do you think?

It doesn't get much more American than the board game Monopoly^TM. Well, now Monopoly is getting to be more like America, where we prefer plastic over paper. Parker Brothers^TM struck a deal with Visa to take the cash out of the game and replace it with a bogus Visa card and a calculator that keeps track of your dough.

Am I the only one that's got a problem with this? Call me crazy, but it's just going over the top to be swiping plastic instead of swapping cash in a board game.

Anyone else care to weigh in?