[perfmode]

If I have a personal savings goal, and on a particular month I miss it, do I suffer the same consequences if I instead owed the bank?

Debt is tied to enforcement, often punitive enforcement.

There is an element of freedom buried in these that I am trying to suss out. I am reluctant to use evocative words to describe what lies beneath the obligations of debt, but I sense there is a qualitative difference under the surface.