This recession is not only not as bad as the Great Depression, it isn’t even the worst recession we’ve had since then, financial guru Dave Ramsey said during a live webcast Thursday night.

Ramsey, who mixes financial advice with Tennessee homespun humor, spoke through more than 6,000 locations Thursday night in what was called a “Town Hall for Hope. Several churches in Abilene took part in the event, including Pioneer Drive Baptist, where more than 100 people gathered in the sanctuary for the two-hour event.

Ramsey said the recessions in 1973-74 and in 1982 were worse than this recession, which he said is fueled by fear. In the 1970s, Ramsey said the market fell 50 percent and took 61 months to recover. In addition, inflation was at 11 percent and there was an energy crisis. He said none of those problems are as severe now.

He did warn that inflation could return if Congress doesn’t cut spending.

“They’re (lawmakers) starting to make drunk sailors look cautious,” he said.

Ramsey, speaking live from a church in Edmond, Okla., started the event by speaking for about 30 minutes about the economy. Describing himself as “from the old school,” he said he was against the bailout of large banks.

“I think we ought to let the chips fall where they fall,” he said.

Although he described himself as a capitalist, he took on some of the faults that he sees in modern capitalism.

“I’m a believer in capitalism that has a value system,” he said. “I believe in what Emerson said: ‘Doing well is a matter of doing good.’”

A follower of the Milton Friedman school of economics, Ramsey said businesses should be allowed to fail.

“If you open a restaurant and the food is bad and the service is bad, you’re going to fail,” he said. “And you should. You’re freakin’ lame. Failure will run you toward excellence.”

Ramsey said viewing the economy as a cake where one person’s large slice means a smaller slice for someone else was inaccurate.

“It’s like a flame,” he said. “If I light your candle with my candle, it doesn’t diminish mine or mean yours will be smaller. The economy isn’t finite.”

Ramsey, who has a radio show and is featured on Fox Business Channel, took questions on the economy from Twitter, e-mail, texts, phone calls and from the live audience.

In answer to one question, he said real estate would lead the recovery because of low interest rates.

This is an absolute fabulous time to buy a house,” he said. “Interest rates are at a 50-year low. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be pent-up demand and it’s going to whoosh and bring along the stock market and jobs with it.”

He also encouraged remaining in the stock market because “it’s artificially low right now. Do you think Wal-Mart and McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are worth half of what they were a year ago? Of course not. It’s being driven by fear. In 100 percent of every 15-year period, the stock market has made money.”

In other responses, he said smaller banks are safer than giant banks and that gold is a poor investment, even in a failed economy.

Ramsey, who has had millions of people take his 13-week Financial Peace University Course, urged his listeners to pay off all their debt and build up a six-month emergency fund before investing. He admitted that not every one agrees with his view of the economy.

“You know, Christian hate-mail ought to be an oxymoron,” he joked. “I don’t mind it, I just find it funny when someone quotes a Scripture before they tear my head off.

“Don’t believe everything that comes in front of you or everything you hear, even from me,” he said. “All I want you to do is learn to think for yourself.”

The town hall event was sponsored by Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and the Fox Business Channel.

Source: reporternews