There have been multiple pauses of music and it hasn't really done much to the USD. The argument that the music will stop requires there to be a new conductor and financial instrument that can replace the USD and the role that the United States plays in the world economy. The EUR was the closest thing we've had in my lifetime, if you don't count all the ridiculous goldbug rushes we've had in the last five decades - the same people saying the exact same thing you are, who have been perpetually wrong when compared to any other type of financial instrument such as the S&P500 or more recently, VTI.

I am no fan of carrying enormous amounts of debt. I critically disagree with the United States economic and fiscal policies of the last twenty years, including most quantitative easing initiatives.

But if you think the AAA credit rating is somehow fake or corrupt, no metric-driven analysis that even remotely resembles fairness would agree with you. Only theories like "the music will stop" do.