Great question.
Those creditors also have a balance sheet.
If you unravel all debt to where it's all paid off, then there would be no money.
Money is only created through the issuance of debt.
The Bank of England wrote a great paper on it - couldn't believe they actually told the truth.
“Money is only created through the issuance of debt.”
Just haul your gold metal into the melting room, Mister Miner.
Melt & mint.
Mister Miner, here is 99% of your metal back in the form of US government gold coins.
“Money is only created through the issuance of debt.”
Hey Junior!
Yup, you, in the diapers!
Joe Biden and his Democrats just sent you an extra $300 again this month.
Hello, Slick, I’d like a couple of rocks....
Ya, I’m concluding that “money” is now mostly debt. Perhaps oversimplifying, seems the Federal Reserve creates money by the math $0 = $1 + -$1. They start with nothing, loan a dollar, and note that someone owes them a dollar. So yes, once all the accounts get balanced out (trillions of dollars) it all returns to $0.
Of course the details are more complex, injecting real M0 money (physical currency) and other real value into the system, but on the whole a dollar (the virtual stuff we claim to have, not the paper & coin we mostly don’t) is a promise someone somewhere will pass a dollar back thru the vast chain of debt and it all returns to what’s left of M0. Of course, settling up won’t happen - it all collapses at some point, like the loan guarantee debacle when a bump made everyone realize they were insulting themselves with nothing.
“ If you unravel all debt to where it’s all paid off, then there would be no money.”
But there would be assets which would be exchanged for something. That something would be money in one form or another.
L