Was Mr. Potter Right?

There is one particular scene in Frank Capra's (producer and director) memorable Academy Award winning 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life that intrigues me.  

It concerns a 1928 meeting of the board of directors of the Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan (a mutual financial association in Bedford Falls, New York) three months after the death of its founder and director, Peter Bailey.  The meeting is to determine the fate of the Building and Loan.  Peter's son, George (James Stewart), out of respect for his father, has been running the Building and Loan after postponing his European trip.  He is desperate to get out of Bedford Falls (as I was to get out of Oswego after high school).  See dialogue below.
      
Mr. Potter (board member and owner of the town's only commercial bank, played by Lionel Barrymore):  I'll say that to the public Peter Bailey was the Building and Loan.  Peter Bailey was not a business man.  That's what killed him.  Oh, I don't mean any disrespect, God rest his soul.  He was a man of high ideals, so-called.  But ideals without common sense can ruin this town.  Now, you take this loan to Ernie Bishop, you know that fellow that sits around all day on his brains, in his taxi.  I happen to know the bank turned down this loan, but he comes here and we're building him a house worth $5,000.  Why?

George:  Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter.  You have all the papers there.  His salary, insurance.  I can personally vouch for his character.  

Mr. Potter:  You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money.  What does that get us?  A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class.  And all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas.  Now, I say...

George:  Just a minute.  Just a minute.  Now, hold on Mr. Potter.  You're right when you say my father was not a business man.  I know that.  Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know.  But neither you nor any body else can say anything against his character.  Because his whole life...why in the 25 years since he...started this thing, he never once thought of himself.  But, he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter.  And what's wrong with that?  Why, ...you are all business men here.  Doesn't it make them better citizens?  Doesn't it make them better customers?  You said that...what'd you say a minute ago...they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home.  Wait?  Wait for what?  Until their children grow up and leave them?  Until they're so old and broken down that they...do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000?

This exchange between George Bailey and Mr. Potter crystallizes the differences over how best to buy a home, perhaps the most expensive expenditure in most people's lives.  Should you wait and patiently save your money or borrow it to get a home right away?  Frank Capra, by making George Bailey the hero, creates the impression that his message is good.  And conversely, since Mr. Potter is the villain, that man's message must be bad.  

One of the causes of the economic crisis of 2008 was "the flood of irresponsible mortgage lending in America.  Loans were doled out to subprime borrowers (who wanted their own home right away) with poor credit histories who struggled to repay them."  Many couldn't repay them.  Mr. Potter would have understood.          

In 1981, at thirty-five years of age, I bought a house at 69-43 Cloverdale Boulevard in Oakland Gardens, Queens, New York.  I borrowed 90% of the purchase price.  Years later, I bought an apartment in Douglaston, Queens (as an investment), with 100% borrowed money.  Up to then, I had not learned the habit of saving.  

When I met my current wife, Cristina, she told me her father, Antonio, had bought a house in Itapetininga and apartments in Sao Paulo and Guaruja for cash only.  He did not borrow any money.  Antonio believed what Mr. Potter believed that people should save their money before buying a home.  I was impressed.

What's wrong with encouraging a thrifty working class?  And what's wrong with people needing to wait and save (avoiding debt) for something important like their own home?  Was Mr. Potter right?  What do you think?