True, these are not termed debt. These are fiduciary financial obligations of the federal government under the law. They are the entitlements, guarantees, pensions and so on that constitute the major part of the annual federal budget, so called non-discretionary spending. Little things such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense spending, civil servant pensions, railroad pensions etc.
Prior generations of politicians broke their oaths, lied, stole, and used the stolen money to bribe voters and feather their own nests.
Now this generation of politicians says you must continue to pay for their lies, theft, and bribery, because the ones they lied to and stole from before deserve to have all the false, unconstitutional promises kept.
This is the sort of game of musical chairs that can only end with no one having anything left, not even a chair.
Or maybe I should say a game of economic and governmental Russian Roulette in which all the chambers are loaded.