Debt-ridden U.S. remains the best of the bad; dollar's status as reserve currency intact

The U.S. will spend about $1.8 trillion more than it gets in revenue this year. Next year, it will add an estimated $1.2 trillion to the debt.

Expenses in the billions may not attract much attention these days, but when it gets to the trillions, people sit up and take notice. In a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted in January, 83% of those polled thought the federal budget deficit was extremely important or very important. The debt and the deficit are enormous political issues and will likely play a big role in the 2012 elections.

But there's one big group that's singularly unimpressed by the size of the deficit: the world financial markets.

As big as the U.S. debt is, it's not as bad as many other countries' debt, relative to gross domestic product. No other country has a currency as strong or as well-regarded as the U.S. has, even with its current fiscal woes.

Could the debt eventually push the U.S. away from its status as a reserve currency and into second-tier status?

"It's very difficult for a reserve currency to lose that status," says Kristin Lindow, vice president at Moody's Investors Service. "It takes another nation to take its place, and right now, there isn't one."