Most of the world drives 2.0 litre cars or smaller and so will americans before too long.
Inflation and interest rates are headed up real fast that is what happens when you print so much money.
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Officially, inflation in the US and the EU is very low. It's very easy to manipulate an inflation number, as every citizen of those two area's realizes when he/she sees how much more expensive many things become each year.
Debt is indeed the number one problem of both US and many European countries (and Japan). No major things should happen now, or things will fall apart, as there is no reserve, no savings, no money to cover for a large emergency (earthquake, hurricane, major flood, war etc).
The only thing that keeps investors happy to buy is faith. Which is something that can disappear very quickly. Economic growth in the US was realized with borrowed money. Very risky, and it's artificial growth.
The debtload of many countries is frightening, especially when you add pension costs, and medicare expenses. Many states in the US are bankrupt, and so are many countries. Although the latter still takes some time for people to get used to.....
(And yes, your pension money was also "invested" in such bankrupt States and Countries.....)
