ABSTRACT
Money is imbued with moral meaning because, as the saying goes, money is condensed life. Money is food, shelter, clothing, and the means to other material goods that fill a human life beyond subsistence. If morality pertains to the proper manner of living, then credit does indeed have a moral dimension. When credit is taken, the means of living of one person are entrusted to another, and a pledge to return those means, usually with compensation in the form of interest, is received in turn. Not to honor the commitment to repay is to take the sustenance for life away.
The American national debt stands at $20.49 trillion as of January 2018 and continues to grow in unabated fashion. Perhaps the phrase with connotations of justice most often heard from elected officials and others concerned with the national debt is, “Mortgaging our children’s future.” In this description of national debt is implicit the fundamental elements of a credit relationship, but between generations of Americans instead of individual persons. Public borrowing is taking the means of livelihood of younger and future generations of Americans (not to mention overseas investors who buy U.S. debt instruments), and, to the extent these creditors are not repaid, breaking faith with them or treating them unjustly.
