If we just continue to print money, put more money in circulation, eventually we will have tremendous inflation.
I expect that to happen at some point. All promised Social Security benefits will be paid. But someone’s $2,000 per month Social Security payment may only buy a loaf of bread at that point, depending how bad the inflation is.
There is no political will to ever really deal with the national debt.
“I’m betting on the latter because we’ve literally become Too Big to Fail at this point. The rest of the world cannot survive our collapse, so they have no alternative than to let us go on printing money and pretend that it has value.”
The rest of the world will get along without us.
A few tourists might show up and our kids will do the Third World begging routine. They won’t miss any school, the schools will simply be housing for unpaid government workers.