Indeed, but remember that there as long as the collectors don't come knocking, whether or not you can pay at any one moment is irrelevant. In this case, it wou

Indeed, but remember that there as long as the collectors don't come knocking, whether or not you can pay at any one moment is irrelevant. In this case, it would take China calling in its US loans to adversely affect the States' ability to maintain, and even extend their levels of debt. For various reasons (the least of which is not that the US is the largest importer of goods from China) this isn't likely to happen. At worst China just moves away from holding US Dollars and more reasonably distributes its holdings worldwide. This will likely move the dollar lower, but is unlike to cause any long-term distress.