I see your point, because it will take many changes and shifts in geopolitical balance to kill the petro-dollar.

Some people say (as you do above) that China's debt problem will become intractable. That may be so, but I tend to disagree when you say that 2019 was harder for China than for the US. Granted, times are tough for both countries and times will get even tougher for both, in 2020 and beyond.

But I still think that the US's situation is worse than China's. The US debt is $23 trillion, which is such a staggering sum that none of us can comprehend it. That will have major ramifications. Once creditors fully realize that the US is totally and deeply and irrevocably bankrupt, there will be nothing the US can do.