I've heard the exact opposite point being made about the US: they have a large-ish trade deficit, and quickly increasing debt, but everyone who sells what the U

I've heard the exact opposite point being made about the US: they have a large-ish trade deficit, and quickly increasing debt, but everyone who sells what the US people buy buys US state debt, so everything works out in the end. As an entertaining thought, try to picture what would happen if Greece, or even the US, would go bankrupt (i.e., default on state bonds). I like the idea of "restructuring" bonds by asking people to give up a part of the face value against being insured from the default. (This sounds a lot like the scare game, though... if Greece defaults, the non-insured bonds are nothing, and if enough people exchange their bonds, everything works out and the folks who stuck to their non-insured bonds have the higher face value and get their money).