The Treasury can simply re-issue new gold certificates to the Fed at $42000/oz instead of the current $42/oz and voila, the debt can be paid off and the US economy could also do a private debt jubilee and tax reform and voila again, problems solved...except for the global challenges of climate change, energy scarcity, and the fact that the US dollar is destroying every other country's currency so somehow they all need to agree to a new monetary system, but hell, who cares, right? The USA will still have the biggest navy and comparatively strong self-sufficiency. In the meanwhile the rest of world is scrabbling to get dollars to pay off their dollar denominated debt. We will have deflation followed by hyper inflation which will make things very difficult worldwide. Yes the USA has severe class, income, and wealth inequality but so does most of the rest of the world. So hang on for the ride as the dollar and all currencies implode against gold and silver and the entire world tries to find a new way forward. (p.s. The euro will go away and Germany and eastern Europe will consolidate, France will become a great power again, and England will become a US economic colony.) [This was fun to write...I think I'm getting the hang of this, Umair]