[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Is all debt necessarily bad?

I wouldn't think so.
A decent mortgage (not a 40 year 0% down mortgage), I wouldn't classify as bad debt. Things like student loans I wouldn't classify as bad debt either becaue the value that they bring is much higher than their cost (note: does not apply to art majors).

What is a problem is consumer debt. Things like credit cards, car loans etc.

I would say that if the debt is being aquired because there is some tangible future benefit to it (greater career earnings) or it's attached to an asset that has a greater value than the debt, then it isn't bad debt.

What is bad debt is things that are bought for instant gratification or depreciating assets, clothes, vacations, cars etc.

So yeah, I'd say the guy with the $1 MM home, and a $500k mortgage, is much closer to "debt free" than someone who only has $20k in credit card debt that was spent on clothes and a vacation.