RE:DEBATE: Will China or the USA COLLAPSE first? Collapse is a relative word.
The US defaulted on its Liberty Bond in 1934 and then went on the gold standard.
Its recognized that the US ( and many other nations ) cannot repay its debt.
Trump states that he will default .
Defaulting will be beneficial to the US citizenry.
The US is self sufficient in energy, is the greatest producer of food in the world and is attached to Mexico for labor and Canada for resources .
Its manufacturing sector was devastated by free trade exporting its manufacturing business to China.
With no foreign debt to repay, the US can rebuild its manufacturing industries creating millions of job.
It can rebuild its faltering infrastructure , also adding million of jobs .
The US has $61 trillion in unfunded liabilities for its social programs that cannot now be fully funded as interest payments on its debt I are too onerous .
In essence, the US is going back to its self sufficiency in the 50s and 60s .
World trade of course will be disrupted as most nations especially China and the EU will also have to resolve their debts.
But that is the cost of all of that deficit financing since the US went off the gold standard in 1974....and massive inflation.
So, collapse by default May more properly be called economic restructuring , with variable consequences specific to each nation ..