Hi,
Check this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Money especially episode 6 "Chimerica"
If you watch all the 6 episodes it will give you a great insight to what is currently going on, and where this could end up.

>>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/03/growing-national-debt-economic-crisis/
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>I watched Pete Peterson on Charlie Rose last night. If you missed it, it should be available online soon. That discussion was downright scary and similar to the article you posted. He forecasted a 75% possibility of a severe economic downturn (worse than we've seen) in approx 5 years or less due to our huge deficit and our reliance on foreign loans. He fears interest hikes and a bigger housing downturn due to foreign debt holders wanting more return on their money or else they will stop the flow of money and the U.S. could crash. He stated that the economic future was basically in China's hands and Obama's policies (so far) including his nationalized medical care policy only add to it. He thinks we may end up with a nationalized health system that covers all people but actually gives very little covered care in order to afford it. If we don't sacrifice in that sense, then the U.S. could crash after all that's been implemented so far. He stated it would economically better if the U.S. got medical costs under control under the current system and waited on a national medical system until the debt is under control and we are no longer so reliant on foreign money. We've never had a debt this out of control in our history and never relied so much on foreign loans.
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>http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/1386
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>(the top one - it hasn't been uploaded yet)