USA owes $53 Trillion in debt - they are institutionally bankrupt.

Not counting the derivatives, this amounts to $386,091 per person. - The Oil Drum

NVDL: 2009 is going to be a horrible year for the global economy.

clipped from www.theoildrum.com The amount of debt we have outstanding is extremely high. The debt shown in Figure 3 is not really all of the obligations of the US public and US government, since it excludes things like Social Security and Medicare liabilities. According to one web site, the amount of debt Americans have outstanding is $53 trillion, plus unfunded governmental promises (including Social Security and Medicare) of $64 trillion, and plus trillions of dollars of related to derivatives. Not counting the derivatives, this amounts to $386,091 per person. I don't know whether these numbers are precisely correct, but it is clear that with limited resources and a declining economy, there is no way that amounts similar to these amounts are going to be paid in full.