> The simplest problem with this approach is that budgeting, like dieting, doesn’t work. Restriction and deprivation are unsustainable; accurately tracking spending is hard; income fluctuates, and costs don’t operate on a perfect monthly reset. Budgets don’t account for the way lives work, so they’re hard to keep in our lives consistently. But even when people do use them, budgeting doesn’t necessarily fulfill its promises: A 2021 survey by The Penny Hoarder, for example, found that budgeters are just about as likely as non-budgeters to have any amount of debt.

The excerpt links to a few articles, which are interesting reads, but never address what to do instead.

You're poor and don't know why. You're fat and don't know why. What do you do? What specific actions can you take to exercise your free will and improve your life?

Getting fat and digging a debt hole have a lot in common. The article disregards the inconvenient fact most of the time you're fat because you consume too much. Likewise, if you're the kind of person with the free time to know who Dave Ramsey is you probably have money problems because you're consuming too much.

The article has no specific answers to how people are supposed to improve their financial situations, but hints at social injustice the same way that many anti-diet folks hint at bodily imbalances. I find it fascinating (and disturbing) how the same denial of simple math runs all the way up to Washington, DC.

Call it the Great MMT-ification. You can have your cake and eat it, too. Limits exist only in your mind. You are entitled to live the life you want without people "shaming" you. You constantly face things outside of your control, so stop allowing people who don't get it to live in your head. You are good, and everything you do is good.