> What are the mechanics behind the US seemingly able to have infinite debt? The root reason is due to the US government's control over its own currency. If y

> What are the mechanics behind the US seemingly able to have infinite debt? The root reason is due to the US government's control over its own currency. If you have your own currency, and if a lot of your debts are denominated in said currency, you can slowly make that debt less valuable over time with inflation. When debts almost always become less valuable relative to present value via inflation, there's less pressure to rein in on government spending than if your debts are denominated in another country's currency. This will eventually always happen even if a country decides to stick to a 1% annual inflation target. Within 100 years, said debt will be close to 37% of its current value: 1/(1.01**100) = 0.369711212 Even a 4% annual inflation target can cut that debt's Net Present Value (NPV) by to about the same level within a quarter of a century: 1/(1.04**25) = 0.375116802 The methods by which you can achieve this 1% inflation can be done in any number of ways, from quantitative easing, to regular old money printing, to government bond interest rate adjustments. Regardless of the methods used, inflation inherently makes any government debts held less valuable over time, making it easier for the government to eventually pay it off.