There are good arguments that can be made for budget cutting, but saving the dollar is not one of them. You should have noticed that the dollar is doing just fine. It's the people who are not doing well because they have too few dollars. The dollar itself is just dandy. In fact the dollar is so strong compared to the Brazilian Real today that you could buy a beautiful apartment in a building on the national register just two blocks from Rio's Copacabana Beach for $100,000!!!
I should have thought twice before posting the above. Someone is bound to pipe up and say, what do you mean by "Fictitious". The debt ceiling is very real. It's been codified in statutory law. And they'd be right. It is real! It's the reasons stated for enacting a debt ceiling law that are fictitious. The debt ceiling law should be repealed. It's only function is political, and it makes the business of governing the Nation less orderly, more cumbersome and less efficient. We always end up overriding the ceiling, because we have to. The Constitution and common sense demand it.
Just what is your thesis here? "Europe might pay all it's debt and go on a gold standard, but it's a good idea for them to buy Greek debt." The idea isn't even logically consistent.
MY FRIEND, The FED don't print money in any sense or form. Private sector, Corporations Bonds and Treasuury are the one that create money in the USA. Matter of fact, not even interests are paid with tax payers money. Treasury paid those Interest with T-Bills. Americans owns 80% of its debt and 97% of their T-Bills. So 80% of those interest goes straight to Americans pockets. Those interests also pay taxes to the federal government. So if you pay down the debt, you're removing a liability for the government, but also you're destroying the Biggest asset for Americans. BTW: QE is not money printing. It's just a exchange of money composition (bonds v cash and viceversa). When the FED buys bonds, it's a form of printing, but at the same time it's a form of "un-printing" for the private sector. Although the USA system is unique, the European system is closely similar. Gold only is good to make watch straps. It's not even anti inflationary.