Stigma in falling behind on my credit cards for two months in 1997?

Not by a long shot.

I knuckled under and paid it back in full. When we went to Consumer Credit Counseling, they had these little 'brownie' point stickers all over the wall, telling us how much people had paid back.

Our debt -- my debt, because I incurred it to save my business -- was higher than anyone on the wall, by a magnitude.

But here's the thing. I did it for selfish reasons -- I wanted to keep the store. I needed, to save the store. Sure, I wanted to pay back the money I owed, but by the time I went to CCC, I'd already paid back so much interest and penalties that they'd probably got the original money, plus a bonus. But, whatever, I was determined to get out of debt.

I also did it, because by then I thought I knew enough about business that I could get Pegasus to become profitable enough to do it.

So, literally, 40% of my gross profit went to debt for 7 years; probably something like 60% of income. We cut everything, absolutely everything. Except basic cable, which we gave up for a couple of years, but finally brought back. I'd take the garbage from home to the store to save on that. No out to dinners, no vacations.

Linda got a job with the theater for much of that time, and that covered our health insurance and movie going for a few years. I bought the biggest piece of junk car you can imagine for 100 dollars -- yes, 100 dollars -- from an employee who was leaving town, and drove it two years before it gave up the ghost. ( I called it the invisible car, because people were constantly pulling out in front of me.) And I browned bagged it for lunch every day, gave up chips and soda and beer.

Linda says that I worked everyday but Christmas and Thanksgiving for 7 years, though it seems to me that I had an occasional day here and there.

But we paid it back. We got a small inheritance. We were debt free. Our credit was still good. Our income was just enough to buy a house. So...it was the right thing to do.

But I don't feel the slightest stigma. If you have a problem that needs counseling and advice, then go get counseling and advice.

I don't feel virtuous. I'm not telling you this -- like a 'I walked 5 miles to school every day in the snow! -- kind of story. Given my fear of going out into the world, I clung to my Best Minimum Wage Job a Middle Aged Guy Ever Had. And I probably shouldn't have. I just didn't want to go work for Walmart. I was, as the women in the store said the other day, really STUPID!

After that experience, as you might imagine, I couldn't understand all the spending I was seeing around me. People who didn't appear to have any better jobs than me, living large, going out, buying big houses and SUV's. For instance, I figured out that in those first 12 years or so, by buying lunch everyday, soda pop to and from work, fast food, six packs of beer, I probably spent a minimum of 10 dollars a day that I shouldn't have. 4000.00 a year x twelve years.

And what I was seeing -- am seeing-- is people spending far beyond a measly 10.00 a day. All on credit, I'm thinking. That's why I'm skeptical. That's why ostentatious spending really bugs me.

I could easily make the case that I was stupid. Knowing what I know now, I could've probably gone bankrupt and made a quicker recovery than I did. My poor wife had to hang in there with me, just because I couldn't see working for someone else. That was the hardest part, how helpless she felt. I kept saying we'd be out of debt in 2 years, and two years would pass, and I'd say, we'll be out of debt in two years.

It's why I'm so skeptical of other businesses, because I believe every business hits this gut-check moment, and if you are a reasonable and rational person and you have options, you'll probably take the option. Most all these businesses are running on credit, of one kind or another, all are leveraging, and payback's a bitch. It's not just about earning a profit, it's about earning a profit and paying the credit and the original investment.

Credit is insidious, whether it's credit cards or 'equity' in the house.