Quote from achilles28:
Yes, all money is debt.
Either created by the Federal Reserve, or commercial banking system, money is literally created into existence via fractional reserve lending (commercial banking) or outright monetization (Central Bank 'printing'). To wit, much of the tier 1 capital reserves banks pledge as collateral to issue new money (bank "loans"), are loans from the FED or other commercial banks, which again, represents money conjured out of thin air (conjuring a conjuring).
Every US dollar in circulation - paper or digital - represents a debt owed to someone, somewhere, accruing interest, as we speak. The last time I checked, the total stock of USD (total credit market debt) is roughly 60 Trillion dollars. For those that got this far, consider this: 60 Trillion x ~3% average interest rate = 2 Trillion in debt-accrued interest payments, per year. Or roughly 12% of US GDP goes to pay accumulated interest, in any given year. This is why the stock of money (ie deflationary depressions), must happen, and are healthy and vital to the longevity of any fractional reserve system. Otherwise, when the total stock of money (iow, debt) is too large, accumulated interest eats the economy alive. Like a milestone around our necks. Which is exactly the problem right now..
Economics textbooks mistakenly emphasize Government debt issuance as the main driver of credit growth. Even if no Government debt was issued, Central Banks could (and in practicality, do), loan money to commercial banks, which are used as reserves, to make commercial loans. Government debt is not necessary or needed for money to be created. It's sort of Keynesian spin to sell the "necessity" of high Government debt (bullshit).