America is broke. Over USD14T in debt, and running a huge deficit in % terms of GDP, plus they have around 10% unemployment, which goes up if you look at the people who have given up, or the mass amounts on part time work instead of full time. They are still running QE (basically printing money) to desperately try to stop deflation. Geithner and Bernanke are morons, and tools of Wall Street banksters who are still riding fat off the profits. American is, really and truly, fucked. Just how long it will be before the US gives up its hubris and attempts Euro-style austerity, who knows.
Which gets us to the Tea Party. Yes, the US is spending itself to either a deflationary breakdown (and default) or a hyper inflationary scenario. Whether either of them will happen is not yet known for sure, or if America will merely experience a couple of Japan's "lost decades". Oh yeah, the Tea Party. Here's the irony: the majority of it is a bunch of which Christian hicks, funded by the ultra-rich elite, and basically doing the rich's bidding. They want smaller government, less regulation, fewer safety nets, but the rank and file of the Tea Party are too dumb to realise that by doing that they are the ones who will suffer at the expense of the puppeteers. For fucks sake, if there's one thing you'd think people learnt from the GFC, it's that deregulation is not the answer, just as neither is overwhelming government interference in a "free" market.
Sad situation all round.
And with China one of the largest holders of US bonds, don't be surprised if a trade war breaks out - you might say that it's already occuring with the Chinese halting rare earth exports and refusing to adjust their USD peg for the Renmimbi. And don't forget, most of the large currency shocks ended up in some kind of real war. Unpleasant times are likley ahead.