The case for debt is clear enough with a home, a car, or a business investment. Hard to imagine feeling anything but embarrassment or frustration at paying off a television years after you got it.

What is the difference other than a psychological one? Especially when you use car as an example. A car will probably depreciate just like a TV. It comes down to whether the terms are good. I have purchased TVs and computers on for 0 or very low APR because I had better things to do with the cash. I have no problem paying $4000 2 or 3 years in the future for a TV I have had the whole time - it beat the alternative.

A car has obvious practical utility if you live in a country where a car is the only way to get around. In many places it's basically essential to having a basic life where you get to your job, and so on. A television has comparatively little such practical utility, and the downsides to setting your sights on a cheaper one are much easier to live with.

The value of a car is also substantially greater (making a cash purchase less practical) and your odds of recovering a substantial portion of the purchase price through resale are much better (indeed with a TV you'll likely pay to get rid of it).

Same here. I always make sure I have the cash on hand to pay for debt if I'm somehow out of income, but if I can get a 0% interest rate on a TV (or, more practically, the $4000 bed I bought a few years ago since I don't quite understand what the difference between my $500 TV and a $5000 TV is other than marketing)... I can put that money into an index fund and have it grow instead.

I think this kind of highlights the issues that GP was pointing out though. I have stellar credit so I qualify for amazing rates. Folks who are perpetually in debt and don't have great credit will always have the worst rates. Being poor is expensive.

I just buy things with cash. How much interest is $1000 realistically going to be worth stretched out over a year? Not enough to be worth playing shell games.

Both are true. Personally, I don't have the energy to optimize my personal cash flow like this, even when it is a reasonable thing to do. But then I am employed again, with a steady income. I would use those 0% credits, and manage cash flow accordingly, if I were still self-employed so.

For reasons other then cash-flow, I wouldn't take a credit for things other then a house or true business investments (as: my company needs a credit as a way of financing).