By Audrey Elwood, Chief Columnist 

Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit was a guilty pleasure, something to rot your brain with after a long day of actual finance. He would sit down the most financially ruined and clueless ripping them to shreds before building them back better. It is obvious that he always meant to make these people look like idiots, yet he did it with tact, but now it has devolved into a trainwreck.  

At this point, Hammer leans into redpill bait content. It seems like every couple that appears on the podcast features a woman who is either genuinely competent, an OnlyFans model, or a cheater that is always paired with some guy that is a hapless chud. The thumbnails have escalated into crazy clickbait AI slop.  

There was a clip going around of Graham Stephen, another famous financial influencer, telling Hammer that he needed to change up his content. This then immediately cuts into a video of one of Hammer’s employees smelling a participant’s underwear. What does this have to do with finance? Absolutely nothing, however it does have to do with shame.  

Shame and personal finance are interwoven in modern day capitalism. With an economy where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, it is easy to declare that being poor is a moral failure. It is a result the lack of work ethic and an inability onto grab to the scraps of the American dream.  

The “bad debt” of credit cards and payday loans is generally used by people who tend to lack financial knowledge. Every person on this show has a horrible financial basis and has made some horrible financial decisions.  

Hammer’s show shifted the presentation of these horrible financial decisions into being tied directly to their morality. The messaging is that these people failed because of their degeneracy, because they made the stupid decisions and Hammer is taking mercy on them by even trying to help them.  

When financial literacy is tied to morality, we begin to make assumptions about people’s decisions post-hoc.

These assumptions allow the financial scene to gatekeep people. In many cases in finance, you are either in the know or stupid.  

This is especially important when analyzing which demographics are portrayed as being bad with money. There is more stigma behind getting financial help as only dumb people can’t manage their finances. 

That is why it is so disappointing to see Financial Audit fall off. Originally Hammer would rib them a little bit, but then work with them to make a plan on how to fix their finances.

It was an entertaining form of financial education, learning through others. Now it is a way to feel shame through others.  

In the current system where financial education is not routine, gatekept and a major industry, the shame around being uneducated is a major limiting factor in getting that education. YouTube, the apparent great equalizer of education, has become entirely based on how reactionary the content has become, alienating Hammer’s original base.  

If the goal is education, it can not be left to private influencers for a variety of reasons. Ragebait content is not just ragebait, but a symptom of the messaging we receive, especially when it comes to financial education.