WHY POOR PEOPLE STAY POOR. There’s a lot of truth to this, but it’s also true that if you follow, say Dave Ramsey’s advice, you’ll soon have enough of a reserve that the minor problems, at least, won’t produce catastrophic results. It’s also the case, of course, that a lot of poor people don’t have the necessary personal strengths to execute Dave Ramsey’s advice successfully, and there’s not much in the larger society that reinforces those strengths these days.