Interesting take. However, there are a couple of things I'd push back on.

First, you say "An asset with debt against it is not an asset." That's not completely accurate. If you buy a $500k house with $400k of mortgage debt, your $100k of equity is definitely an asset. If the house value goes up by 10% to $550k and your mortgage balance has dropped to $390k, your equity is now $160k. The more accurate way to look at it is that your net worth now has a $500k (and then $550k) asset, the house; and a $400k (and then $390k) liability linked to it.

Second, when you say that someone wealthy doesn't care about their credit score, that may be true of someone who has tens of millions of dollars or more (but possibly not even for them). Since credit scores affect the interest rates you get on mortgages etc., say you get a $1 million mortgage when buying a $1.25 million home, having a score of 750 vs. 800 could cost you an extra $78k over the life of the loan. Even if you earn $500k a year (say $350k after taxes), that $78k is equal to almost two months' after-tax pay.