With regard to the ever-increasing spending by the government, I specifically asked a friend (Ph.D. in Economics, long-time banking bigwig of a MAJOR bank, was director of their global strategic planning for 10+ years)
His answer is that the currency that the global economy works off of is the dollar; it is the ONE universal currency that everybody accepts as the standard... For this one reason alone, the other countries do not challenge the USA on its' debt...
However, when I pointed out the increased spending, the sagging real GDP, the lowered interest rates (which will increase inflation), etc., and asked how long it will be before the other countries notice Lady Liberty has no clothes...
He couldn't give me an answer, and simply said "it's never happened before..."
Somehow, this didn't comfort me much...
That is unnerving.