American debt

There have been movies from time to time that are based upon the premise of a town or city going broke and selling itself to a person. Silly! How could anyone buy a town? In the movies the buyer always comes in and saves the day, just like Super Man. We all enjoy seeing a movie where everything turns out well don't we? Lets turn that fantasy into modern day reality and change it from buying a town into buying an entire country. Is it possible or even imaginable?

Puerto Rico is not one of the United States, it is a "possession." It is my understanding that the United States does not collect much in the way of taxes from Puerto Rico or its citizens (who are also deemed as US citizens). However, the United States pours billions of dollars into supporting that country. Does that mean we bought it? How does that work with American Samoa or other "possessions"? How much do these possessions cost us each year, what are the payments? When will we have them paid off? Do we own them or are we simply renting these countries? What would happen if we stopped making those payments? What would we lose anyway?

When I buy a car I consider it an expenditure, not an investment. When the expense is greater than the benefit I get rid of it. But when I get a good one I hang on to it and enjoy the ride. What benefit is there in owning a country if the expense exceeds that benefit? What benefit does China, Japan or any other country receive for buying up so much of American debt? Will they eventually own enough of us to the point where we are citizens of their countries? Will we eventually not have to pay taxes but receive all sorts of free benefits? I don't know how this "owning a country" stuff works. Maybe its a way to get sports stars. What are we worth exactly?