The US government wrote off almost all the money it lent businesses during the pandemic. Now it’s wrecking credit scores and threatening to garnish paychecks to collect student loans. Debt can be forgiven easily enough — just not for the working class.
I think the invention of religion predates that of personal debt. Religion/mysticism was the first large scale. systemic exercise of power over others: “Give me your food and possessions and I will bring us good luck.” or “tell you the mysteries of the world”, or whatever scam worked.
I believe the concept of debt is observable in other primates’ behaviour, so it likely goes back to our last common ancestor at least with chimps, if not further back. So probably debt predates homo.
I think debt comes before religion, is what i mean.