How do governments manage massive amounts of debt without going bankrupt or running out of money?
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‘Government bonds’, people can buy them it’s an IOU. The government pays interest on these, so it’s profitable for people to buy them. In essences, it’s like the government is borrowing from its future self.
The problem is as you point out how do they manage it. The interest does build up and the more borrowed, the more part that has to be paid. Which means there is less money to spend and more has to be paid to level out the interest owed, and so more has to be borrowed.
There is a deficit ceiling if they owe too much the economy can collapse. This is a very argued and uncertain subject mind but may have been a significant part of what happened to the economy in Greece. Some governments introduce austerity (restrict government spending to try pay back as much debt as they can quickly) to mitigate the debt’s impact.
Edit: typo
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