If the United States ever gets to the point that it cannot roll over its debt, the supposed big fear, we can safely assume that all other sovereign debt alternatives are already dead. The United States prints the reserve asset (the dollar) that all other countries need to earn in order to conduct international trade. No other country gets to do this. Regardless of ratings agency downgrades, the US dollar is still the global reserve currency, and the fact that there are no credible alternatives (the Europeans are busy self-immolating their alternative, the euro) tilts the balance even more in favor of the United States. US debt is still the most attractive horse in the glue factory, period.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 54