If you know about finance, you realize a lot of what he says is dumb. However, if you consider his audience, it makes more sense. According to the S&P Global FinLit Survey, only 57% of Americans can answer at least 3 out of 5 basic financial literacy questions (other countries range from 13% to 71%). Dave Ramsey is targeting people who are not financially literate and need very simple rules.
For example: He says to avoid debt, when we know debt can sometimes be good or bad. But for someone who doesn’t grasp the concept of interest rate in the first place, the simple rule of avoiding debt works for them. It is simple.
Kinda like when you learn that the square of a number is always positive. Then you learn about ‘i’ in the next grade. And so forth. Dave targets the people who are still in the 1st grade of financial class, and opinions may differ but arguably he does a pretty good job if his students are learning something useful?