Debt, in and of itself, isn't the problem, so long as you are capable of paying the interest and a portion of the principle down on a time-line that makes sense - like having a mortgage. But when that isn't the case, like when you purchase a house at the max level possible on interest only payments with an interest rate that changes in the near future to where you can no longer pay, then you have a problem. That's where the US finds itself. We will soon not be able to pay the interest let alone the principle. We've been refinancing that debt for years now. It will have to collapse on itself sometime. The only thing that has kept it from doing so is that the rest of the world holds much of that debt. If we collapse, then they get nothing. That, and the history of America being a growth nation, thus ever increasing revenues. That too, has come to a grinding halt.