Bingo..... I have relatives that did exactly what I described in my first post, along with friend and aquantances that lost it all.... but none of them will admit any type of fault.... now to be fair, some did get caught with their pants down, but for the most part, it was a large percentage living beyond their means...
I was getting an inferiority complex seeing all those nice homes going up and higher end cars on the highway. I thought I was a loser until it became obvious that borrowing was totally out of control.