Spotlight: Dave Ramsey
By Kamil Skawinski • Bankrate.com

The biggest problem people are facing today is that they're just being "normal," explains Dave Ramsey, money management expert, best-selling author and host of the nationally syndicated radio program, "The Dave Ramsey Show." The trouble with being normal in today's America, unfortunately, is that you're actually broke, but just don't realize it.

At a glance Name: David L. Ramsey, III Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Education: Bachelor's degree in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Tennessee Career highlights:     Author of several books, including "Financial Peace," "More Than Enough" and "Total Money Makeover"   Featured money expert on television programs such as "Larry King Live," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "60 Minutes" and "The Early Show" on CBS   Host of the nationally syndicated radio program, "The Dave Ramsey Show"   Host of the newly launched national television program, "The Dave Ramsey Show on Fox Business Network"   Creator of Financial Peace University (a 13-week program that helps people overcome debt) and Financial Peace for the Next Generation (an all-inclusive school curriculum currently in more than 2,000 schools across the country)

"Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge," says Ramsey. "If you will make the sacrifices now that most people aren't willing to make, later on you will be able to live as those folks will never be able to live. You will win, and the payoff will be worth the cost."

The key to attaining long-term financial success and stability lies in overcoming debt as soon as possible.

Ramsey shares his thoughts and observations about American society and debt, and makes recommendations on how we can be "abnormal" -- to help make our financial futures more stable and secure. He also took some time from his busy schedule to answer individual questions from Bankrate readers.

Why are so many of us so seemingly addicted to debt today? Is it all the result of the "middle-class squeeze"? Or is what we're seeing the result of poor money management?

It's definitely not the "middle-class squeeze." That's a myth. It's the middle class overspending, maybe, but it's definitely not the middle-class squeeze.

I think there are about three things that have come together that have caused it. One is that we live in the most marketed-to culture in the history of the world. We are sold a lot of stuff and, so, we buy a lot of stuff. The second thing is that one of the most heavily marketed products in this heavily marketed-to culture is debt. Debt is a product that is sold with great energy, with great financial backing and with great sophistication. They do a great job sending out six billion credit card offers to consumers each year.

So, if you combine these two things -- a lot of marketing with a lot of marketing of debt, combining "easy payments" with an ever-decreasing attention span and immaturity -- you put all that together and you have an increasingly disastrous situation. And we definitely have, incrementally, degree by degree, gotten worse every year for several decades.