That's a whole lot of ado. What you haven't done is say why it's different now, than it was the other times people have said the same thing, at $1T, $5T, $10T, etc., but nothing every came of it. Certainly there's a number that's too high, but you've done nothing to convince me that the current level of debt is that number.
What is an acceptable amount of debt for a person who makes 100k a year. Often they will compare this to a mortgage but that is erroneous. With a mortgage there is an asset that is greater than what you are borrowing money to buy. So if you liken our debt to a mortgage you have to also identify the asset that was purchased with that debt.
So instead, what is the acceptable amount of credit card debt for a person that makes 100k a year? If you had a balance on your AMEX card of 100k would that be acceptable? How about 200k? The US tax revenue for this coming year is estimated to be $4.5 trillion but our debt is $35 trillion. That is like a guy who makes 100k a year having 700k in debt on his credit card.
Obviously no credit card company would allow this, so how did it happen with the US. We print the money, that is one huge advantage we have over the guy who makes 100k. If you take that advantage away from us then everything changes. That is what is known as "the reserve currency". The world is abandoning the US dollar and switching to BRICS and when they do that we will no longer be able to simply print money. The minute we do inflation will be tied to that on a 1:1 basis.
The second advantage we have is the interest rate. For many years as our debt rose our interest rate was 4.36%. The guy who has the 700k in credit card debt would probably be paying 25%. If the interest rate were to rise from 4.36% to 7.36% our interest payment would go from $1 trillion to $2 trillion. The IMF typically loans money out to financially strapped countries at rates greater than 8%. Again, the minute the US is no longer the reserve currency will be the minute the cost to service our debt will double. $3.3 trillion of our US budget is non discretionary. These are our "obligations". That includes $1 trillion to service our debt. If that number doubled then it would be $4.3 trillion, that is our total revenue. 40% is discretionary, which means education, defense, transportation, etc. If that money were cut off then we would have massive unemployment, no welfare, no unemployment benefits, and as a result a huge drop in our tax revenues. Our tax revenue would likely drop to $3 trillion, while our non discretionary would be $4.3 trillion.
Also we couldn't pay it off with funny money anymore. By inflating the dollar the US was essentially borrowing money at 0% (if you pay 4% interest on the debt and inflation is 4% you are paying the debt off with inflated dollars). Most countries are divesting of the US dollar, when they fully switch to a different currency they will fully divest.
None of this is theoretical, bankers bread and butter is bankruptcy. The do this everyday with individuals, companies and even countries. Just because some of these companies are billion dollar companies like Lehman brothers and Enron doesn't mean they don't go bankrupt. Same with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature bank.
So we know how this plays out and we know when the collapse happens. It will take place in a matter of hours, just like every other bankruptcy. Everything is fine, nothing to worry about right up to the minute they lock their door and declare they are bankrupt.
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