When the dust settles on the euro zone debt crisis and a plaster has been attached to stem the bleeding, investors across the world will remember the U.S. federal debt is now over $15 trillion and rising fast. In an election year with votes to be won, nothing will be done to significantly lower federal spending, and the real-time debt clock will keep ticking higher. How this will be brought under control — whether U.S. debt is worth 100 cents on the dollar and how much that dollar is worth in euros, pounds, francs and yuan — will dominate as America heads to the polls.

The sun as always will rise in the east, and the woes of the west will see Chinese influence increase, even if their return on their dollar reserves does not.

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