Eli5: how can the world be in debt?

Question

I just genuinely don’t understand how it works, like couldn’t you realistically just creat more money. Isn’t it just like a number in a bank account? Am I really dumb?

In: 4

Answer 1

This depends on what you mean when you say how can we be in debt? Are you asking if the person who issued the debt could forgive it, discharge it. Or do you mean if someone creates $1, the only dollar in existence and says you can borrow it but you owe $1 and interest. The debt can never be repaid.