I'd say that nothing is going to fix the US debt problem, not in this generation and probably not in the next. It is too far gone to be fixed conventionally, the hole is so deep that no ladder can reach the bottom of it, so the only way forward is to keep digging and hope you reach China (pardon the expression).
Honestly, whilst austerity can possibly help fix some budgets that are moderately in debt, such colossal numbers as the US has...no, I don't think it can be done that way. Furthermore, the US public will simply not accept it, and you've got a general public that is quite capable, willing, and some might say eager, to overthrow any form of tyrannical government that they perceive to be present. So the only way the US government can stay in power is to keep these people happy with bread and circuses whilst attempting to maintain the perception of military strength in order to prevent its enemies from taking advantage of its difficult position.
I would not trade positions with the President of the United States of America for all the money in the world, not now and not for the next three generations.
America is not doomed, it's not going to turn into some sort of dystopia like some European and Asian (and some American) writers seem to think it is, however it does face some rocky times ahead, make no mistake, as we all do, but they
will pull through it.
