>or up to their ears in debt

See this depends. If the following are true:

1) The interest rate on your debt is below inflation

2) The cost to service the debt is a sufficiently low percentage of your monthly take home

Then taking a loan is often MUCH smarter than buying it cash, because your cash can earn interest in excess of the loan interest in most scenarios. I know people with ten houses on 30-year 2.5% notes. They could pay them all off tomorrow but it wouldn't make sense financially.