system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: how do countries repay their debts ?

If almost all countries are indebted and they can't repay their debts, why not just start from scratch with 0 debts for everyone ?
gpt
>If almost all countries are indebted and they can't repay their debts

Your premise is wrong. While most countries do have some level of debt, they can pay it off. There's nothing "bad" about debt, unless you can't afford to pay it back.

>why not just start from scratch with 0 debts for everyone ?

They do. It's called a default. However, defaulting causes a lot of problems- your money becomes worthless (which makes life for your citizens hard, especially the ones who loaned you money). It also means even if you start with new money, no one is going to trust you for a while - why should they, you didn't pay back last time? It's not any different than being the guy at work asking to borrow $5 and never paying it back. 

Even if you aren't in debt with the new money, it's going to be worth junk. The thing that gives money value is trust. If no one is willing to take your new dollar, you're still in a bad spot. 

Eventually, your new currency will probably be cheap enough that people will use it, but not after doing massive damage to your country and economy.