Some really clear reporting from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the Comptroller General's testimony yesterday. The major news outlets did not cover this in anything close to these terms.
The government is so deeply in debt, Walker said, that if spending rises at the pace of the growth of the economy and if the president's tax cuts are extended, the money coming into the Treasury in 2040 might only be enough to pay interest on the money the government is borrowing to pay for its programs.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05069/468960.stm
This is a remarkable revelation. If your entire paycheck went to pay interest on debts you had already incurred, you'd have nothing to live on.
The U.S. would have nothing for military spending, aviation safety, federal courts, environmental protection...and of course you can't stiff the bond holders. Well you can -- but that's the path of so many countries with incredibly high unemployment, social unrest, and stratified societies.
Will other countries/multilateral development institutions extend the US more credit?? Not on our terms they won't.