Besides 'kicking the can down the road' there's only 3 ways that govts can reduce debt; inflation, confiscation and deflation.
Govts, together with central bankers, are trying desperately to create inflation. Despite unprecedented stimulus, bailouts, historically low interest rates and massive QE from major central bankers, they are not succeeding in creating inflation.
Confiscation, or outright theft of people's money, is a major risk to citizens of heavily indebted nations (ie. Cyprus was the template). Capital controls would be employed first to prevent the withdrawal and outflow of money.
The final, and seemingly unavoidable, option is a deflationary collapse where debt that can't be repaid won't be repaid. They can come up with all sorts of stimulus plans and bailout acronyms but, at the end of the day, it's as simple as that.
