Debt

Short thought today, and no I'm not going to complain about not paying off my debt vs. going to Everest for the 2014 disaster, is the reason the western world appears so prosperous because of easy access to credit and debt? Think about it, there is no way the average person in the US could buy a $150,000 house without a mortgage. New cars are very similar, $25,000 for something that depreciates at 10-20% per year? Even college educations, with all the discounts, and going in-state can still cost tens of thousands of dollars more than the average family can afford in cash. If we had to pay for things like this in cash, far fewer people would be able to afford them.

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that less developed countries have not had the easy access to credit like we have. No one really likes debt, but it can be very enabling. I don't know if I would be an engineer without it.