[shmolyneaux]

This article seems to claim the there is no national debt because the debt is owed to the American people.

This is wrong since it doesn't take into account other governments and entities outside of the US that hold treasury securities.

[maxerickson]

The thing that really matters is whether the US can continue to borrow money at reasonable rates.

That's the harbinger of doom, when treasury bond rates start to act weird, no one knows what level of debt that will happen at so the hand wringing over X trillions is kind of silly.