Barnum frames Debt as a moral and practical enslavement. Running into debt erodes self-respect and traps the borrower in cycles of obligation. The debtor who hopes the creditor will forget underestimates that creditors possess the best memories and will inevitably collect. The mechanism that makes this trap inescapable is compound interest: money in debt works against the debtor continuously, enriching the creditor even while both parties sleep. The same force that builds Wealth for savers destroys it for borrowers.