the US economy is strong relative to the European economy--not weak. When the US economy is strong, consumers spend more money and buy more imported goods, The US economy is NOT!!! strong.
The fact that americans are buying lots of chinese goods means that the economies of red china, india, korea, etc are strong.
It is India and red china where all the new factories, new offices, and all the jobs are. The Asian economy is booming, not the United STates. We may be spending a lot, but that does not make us "strong". Spending and producing are two different things.
A country, or even a family, that produces nothing, has no job, but spends a lot, and increases its debt by a trillion dollars each year, is not healthy nor "strong" financially.
We're not talking about China. We're talking about Europe. China is a different story because they fix their currency against the dollar. The dollar is not weak against the Chinese currency. They intentionally keep their currency weak in order to encourage exports.
If you're going to compare America's debt to family debt, then say that the family debt is owed to family, because the vast majority of American debt is owed to...Americans.