Slate’s James Scurlock has some harsh words for Suze Orman. He says she’s a liar who is more interested in shilling cruises and luxury car leases than anything else.

From Slate:

Who is struggling these days, according to Suze? “People who grew up without much money and later earn a comfortable living sometimes spend too much to make up for what they didn’t get as children. … People who feel entitled to the good life, or are unconsciously copying a mother or father who lived beyond her or his means. … If you feel the need to impress people with what you have rather than with who you are, you are at high risk for credit card abuse.” This from a woman who spends $500,000 a year chartering private jets and who sells “Cruise With Suze” packages on an Italian luxury liner. (She has also hawked for GM, claiming that leasing a luxury car-you know, the kind that people drive to impress others-is a terrific financial decision: “If you ask me, that’s smart money!”) No wonder she winks more than Sarah Palin, girlfriend.

He also goes after Orman for touting stocks as the best investment out there — while at the same time telling the NYT Magazine that she only invests money in the stock market if she doesn’t care that she’ll lose it.

And although one of Suze’s mantras is how much she loves stocks-“[S]tocks, in my opinion, are the best investment vehicle for the growth of your money over time”-less than 3 percent of Suze’s net worth happens to be invested in them. Instead, she’s tucked away the vast majority of those royalties ($32 million-plus, after taxes) into insured, government-backed bonds. As she trilled to the New York Times Magazine a couple of years ago, “I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don’t personally care.”

What do you think? Is Suze Orman bad news?

If You Knew Suze Like We Know Suze [Slate]

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