True; but the UK had at least three advantages: Huge post-war economic growth, a high export market (rebuilding Europe takes material) boosted by US aid to thos

True; but the UK had at least three advantages: Huge post-war economic growth, a high export market (rebuilding Europe takes material) boosted by US aid to those countries, and the Bretton-Woods system made negotiating the debt easier by ironically relying on the stability of the US dollar. The US would not have any of those advantages. There's not a more stable dollar alternative to look to, there's not an obvious ludicrous economic boom on the horizon, the export market's probably not growing that much, and US taxes don't have much headway to go up before being counterproductive and stalling growth (if they haven't already been doing so). Stalled growth results in less tax revenue, defeating the point of the tax increase. In a nutshell, the UK was partially saved by the US and countries rebuilding themselves. The US has no savior.