Dave Ramsey to Hold “Town Hall for Hope” Event

In February of 2009, the consumer confidence index, a widely-recognized statistic that measures how consumers feel about how well the economy is done, hit the lowest mark since it’s ever been measured. The baseline for the consumer-confidence index is a score of 100 and in February of 2009, it dropped all the way down to 25. Many Americans have a very negative view about how well the economy is doing and don’t have a lot of hope that it’s going to get better anytime soon.

President Obama campaigned on the idea of providing hope for a better future, and now it seems that radio host Dave Ramsey is jumping on the “hope” bandwagon. Ramsey has frequently stated on his radio and television shows that America has become “paralyzed with fear” and that the nation has “lost its hope.” Ramsey is now promoting the message of “hope” for a better economic future. However, unlike President Obama, he’s not trying to save the economy through a series of bailouts and economic programs. Rather, Ramsey is promoting the idea of hope by helping people get their lives in better financial shape, one person at a time.

The “hope” message kicked in high-gear last Wednesday when Ramsey announced that he would be hosting an event called “The Town Hall for Hope” on April, 23^rd of 2009 at 7:00 PM central time. He will be broadcasting in Oklahoma City, out of one of the campuses for LifeChurch.TV (a mega church with several locations around the nation). Participants will be able to view the show by attending a “Town Hall for Hope” event in their area. Individuals can also host their own “Town Hall for Hope” Event. The event will also be broadcast on the radio in some areas.

The Town Hall for Hope website describes the event: “Town Hall for Hope is your opportunity to sit down with people in your community for a nationwide town hall meeting led by Dave Ramsey. Thousands of venues across the country will host the event, broadcasting Dave’s live presentation. In the opening half hour, Dave will offer straight talk about the economy, recession, foreclosures and more. He’ll carefully explain where we’ve come from, where we are now, and what we should be doing with our money during this time. Then, Dave will spend an hour answering your questions live!”

The Lampo Group (Dave Ramsey’s Company) predicts that there will be over 1 million people listening to the show on the radio and at least another 500,000 attending one of the live events. After 24 hours of announcing the event, 1500 locations had already signed up to host the event. Although this number seems to be quite substantial, in a country of 300 million people, it’s still just a drop in the bucket.

The message of having hope for a better future is something that we should all take to heart. The American Dream is alive and well, but only to those that want to reach out and grab it. By working hard and making smart financial decisions that dream can achieved, but most people are very unlikely to take hold of that dream if they don’t have a positive outlook on the future.