Mortgaged: The Story of How We Bartered Tomorrow for a Month of Peace by Leonardo Pepe (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798188338756)

In the opening chapter of Leonardo Pepe's work, the roots of modern indebtedness are traced back to the very origins of human commerce and social interaction.

• The Era of Visible Interdependence: Long before credit institutions, rigid monthly installments, and financial contracts, communities relied on barter. In this primitive framework, exchange was an act of proximity where reputation served as currency, and the value of goods was directly tied to survival and human effort, deeply rooting the individual within the community.

• The Abstraction of Value: The eventual introduction of money brought a revolutionary yet alienating shift: abstract value. Money spersonalized relationships, allowing wealth to be quantified and separated from the person, which paved the way for a new psychological vulnerability where human worth began to be measured by possessions rather than actions.

• The Birth of Debt and Power: As economic complexity increased, debt emerged. While it initially served as an instrument of social solidarity, it quickly transformed into a lever of power, replacing horizontal human connections with vertical hierarchies governed by contracts, clauses, and interest.

• Decoding the Present: By examining these historical roots, the chapter demonstrates that contemporary financial traps-such as invisible installments and constant consumer pressure-are the extreme evolution of this ancient abstraction. Ultimately, it calls for a return to a human-centric perspective, reminding us that true wealth lies in the freedom of relationships rather than the slavery of possession.