I am not sure I agree. The primary difference between pre and post EURO Europe is that, individual EURO countries no longer control their own currency. In times of economic crisis, countries can manipulate their currencies to make their economies more competitive internationally, and/or inflate their way out of a debt crisis. Despite what the media is saying, the U.S. is not in a debt crisis, we have many tools at our disposal to prevent default, including currency manipulation. The EU on the other hand has a handful of countries that are in serious jeopardy of defaulting.

I agree that is bad for debt holders, but from a political stand point, it is easier to gradually print money to devalue your debt than it is to default.

Does that hold true when you're inflating the reserve currency?

you can't assume that printing money here will incur inflation, as money is being just sucked up by the system right now - a lot of it in the form of housing prices falling (and thus falling off the assets sheets of banks)