RichieD,  The Treasury always continuously rolls over our debt in new debt instruments of varying maturation timeframes, so the time is not getting shorter as long as the Treasury can continue to sell long-dated bonds. In fact, they are now re-financing long bonds at the lowest rates in history.  Also, we do have the means to pay off the debt, but it will be very painful. Specifically, there is over $50T of accumulated wealth in the US, so the US Govt could (if collapse and anarchy and physical attacks on the rich were the alternatives) raise the funds from extreme tax hikes (which is what we did after WW II when we had a similar debt:GDP ratio).  There is also an enormous amount of wealth in Federal lands which could be auctioned, if needed. Still, these are extreme measures which will not be pursued as long as we can continue to rollover our debt. I agree that we will have a huge problem if/when the music stops and the Treasury can no longer sell new bonds. But, whenever I get convinced that will happen (and that the US$ will also collapse), we see that the rest of the developed world is equally bad off, and EVERYBODY runs to the US$ and Treasuries when panic ensues. This will continue to hold true as long as the US$ is the world's reserve currency, backed by our military rather than gold. So, while our current situation bad, it is not hopeless, and Bernanke is doing whatever he can with this terrible situation.