The United States is bankrupt, in the sense that its assets (housing stock, corporations and cash flow, plant and machinery) are now worth much less than its liabilities (in the form of mortgage-backed securities, other debt and loan instruments). In particular, large parts of the housing stock are now worth much less than the owners paid for them, and less than the outstanding value of the mortgages, or the collateralised bonds that have been issued against them.
But the assets of the United States include the right to print dollars! That right is worth more than anything denominated in dollars, as pretty much all of our debt is.
The housing industry might be bankrupt. But that is a far cry from the entire United States being bankrupt.
