Debt, in and of itself is not necesserily a bad thing, at least at the micro level. If that debt is at a low interest rate, and used to finance something that stimulates economic growth then that is a net positive.<p>One problem with debt is the long-term effects caused by the method in which much modern debt is created: I.e the bank creates capital out of &#x27;thin air&#x27; and it costs them nothing other than  some liability for the value of that debt, and conversely when money is paid back to the bank, that money (minus a small cut) is effectively destroyed. Usually you can only pay back that money by receiving money from someone else who has gone into debt in order to raise that capital.<p>At the macro level, this means that effectively all money is debt. It is very hard (some would say impossible) to make any sizable reduction in levels of debt without causing a recession.<p>The pessimist in me has some sympathy for the viewpoint that bailing out the banks in 2008-2009 only served to delay an inevitable and long overdue correction in the global economy.