Our culture assumes money to be a commodity, with its own apparent value, such as gold. So paper money that is not explicitly tied to some such commodity is denigrated as "fiat."

Yet consider social situations, from small tribal groups, once upon a time, to families through much of history. You brought in what you could and it was shared around. You raised your kids and were taken care of in old age.

Now all these relationships are monetized. Now we have retirement accounts and the kids pile up mountains of debt. Meanwhile those retirement accounts are often backed by someone else's debt, as apparently more wealth is in bonds than stocks. Obligations over ownership.

So the reality is that as a medium, money functions as an enormous social contract, like a government, or other public utility, like roads, where we all pay for them and use them as needed.

So when this circulation mechanism is private, those owning this mechanism effectively own a primary function of the public commons.

One they are not going to let go off too willingly. In fact, will only double down.

The dynamic is called "predatory lending," or when done to other countries, "disaster capitalism." Loan them more than they can pay back, then keeping taking more in interest, until they are destitute.

It's gone on since the dawn of civilization. The evidence of which is everything from debt jubilees 3000 years ago, to debtors prisons 300 years ago.

Basically money is an accounting device, like an entry in a ledger, with an asset side and debt side and needs to be recognized as such.