[Gabriel_Martin]

To me, it seems there are two sides to your point, one about trust, and the other about dollar value in context to growing federal debt. As for the trust, I think part of where things go beyond trust comes from a sort of self-reinforcing economic strength.

When the average monthly expenses for an American household add up to about $5,500, certain industries (like transportation (16.8 percent of those expenses), or food (12.8 percent) will always view the American economy as a leading market to operate in. At a macro level, it would seem that many businesses making this similar judgement call would create a dynamic that goes beyond trust.

Regarding the buying power of pensions point, I believe there are cost of living adjustment laws for buying power which require Army or Social Security pensions to react to USD's changing buying power over time.

[maxerickson]

The existence of a rule doesn't mean the thing will happen.

(There's no reason for government policy to eschew abundance, so I'm not particularly worried for the future, but that is because of the dynamics of the situation, not the laws that are in place)