You do realize this "debt" is denominated in the currency that the US itself controls, and can create and destroy at will, right? You cannot analyze this with the logic of household finances. The debt owed to bond holders is our and other countries continuing to buy into the American system. And the "debt" owed to other government agencies (including the Fed) is nothing more than a political martingale, to support the Republicans' kayfabe "fiscal responsibility" of the past forty years, where they sabotaged investments in our society so they could give away the wealth to banksters instead.