Americans are apparently improving their financial situations, but don't think this is considered good news by everyone. 

A major national talk show host is congratulating everyday people who are getting their financial houses in order, and he's also calling out the entities and individuals who seem  dismayed by this display of financial responsibility. 

Dave Ramsey doesn't mince words, and recently he took the big banks and credit card companies to task for openly showing their disappointment in the fact that Americans have recently paid off large amounts of consumer debt. Ramsey and co-host, John Delony, last week discussed an article from the Wall Street Journal entitled Credit Card Debt Keeps Falling. Banks on Edge. 

The article says Americans are paying down debt at levels not seen in years - good news to everyone except credit card issuers. Overall balances are falling, which brings down the amount of interest credit card companies are collecting from borrowers. As a result, some lending companies are planning to loosen underwriting requirements, as well as pour more money into marketing. 

"If people don't keep on screwing up, we're going to make less money guys," Deloney said on this episode of The Ramsey Show, "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to start getting these emails and cards in the mail saying "Hey, we miss you guys." Here's some more money you can go spend."

The article said that Discover has seen the share of card balances that were paid off at the end of the first quarter rise to the highest level since 2000. Perhaps due to rounds of government largess, Capital One said nearly half of the credit card balances that it had at the beginning of March were paid off by the end of the month. Store card balances were also down considerably in the first quarter this year.

Delony and Ramsey pointed to the months-long pandemic as having re-focused consumers on proper financial management. In other words, many families were caught off guard and now want to be better prepared in the future.

"I don't want to be the little pig in the straw house any more. I'm going to get my crap together. I'm going to get out of debt and have an emergency fund," Ramsey said. "I'm going to be the little pig in the brick house so when the wolf comes and blows, I don't have credit card debt, I don't have student loan debt, I don't have car payments. I'm under control and I got a pile of money."

Some economists and politicians, perhaps those steeped in Keynesian economics or Modern Monetary Theory, also believe these trends are harmful to the economy's ability to continue it's recovery. Ramsey said this belief is nonsense.

"If you get completely out of debt, thus you have your entire income to work with, and you have money saved for emergencies and saved to buy things - do people then spend less over the next decade following that, or more?" Ramsey asked.

The answer for most, according to the hosts, is more. 

"This idea that debt drives the economy is not true," Ramsey added. "Now consumption does drive the economy, but consumption increases when people aren't broke."

In Ramsey's opinion, and according to his decades of financial teaching, financially strong families combine to form a financially strong economy.

"The idea that getting rid of debt in America and getting rid of this burden on the back of everyone is somehow going to cause the American capitalistic system to completely fail is asinine," he said. "Because the reality is that when people get out of debt and have money, they spend more money. Now they spend it differently, more intentionally, more wisely. But it's not less dollars being spent on big screens."

For decades, Dave Ramsey has been a media voice helping listeners get out of debt and build a solid financial future. He'll be pleased if recent trends continue, both for individuals and families, and for what it could mean for the country as a whole.