[tommiegannert]

> Debt is a tool and nothing to fear if you know how to use it.

The key is knowing that you're using a tool. It seems to me that many people just start borrowing, the same way they suddenly start being attracted to the opposite sex. "Oh, it's just a mortgage, and house prices go up." "It's just my second credit card, of course I can pay it off in three weeks."

Good debt is a conscious decision, made when there's a strategy, not as a default path. Overall, it seems prudent to ask people in general to not go into debt, so they are more willing to think it through. Rather than just going with the flow because the store clerk said "you can walk out of here with both the jewelry and a credit card with a $20k limit!"