US Debt downgraded by Standard & Poor

[RandomGuy]

Guess they weren't that impressed by the recent band-aid. -RG


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about growing budget deficits.

U.S. Treasuries, once undisputedly seen as the safest investment in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as the UK, Germany, France or Canada.

The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is negative, S&P said in a statement, a sign that another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.

(Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Jan Paschal)

http://news.yahoo.com/p-reconsiderin...001207261.html

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This is the first major ratings agency downgrade.

Some smaller ones have already pulled the trigger.

You can pretty much lay this squarely at the foot of the tea party Republicans in Congress.

They will rather cynically try to spin it otherwise, but anybody with any common sense knows why this happened.

[InRareForm]

Any guesses on how this will affect gold. Guessing good news.

[Drachen]

Grand.

[4>0rings]

Well, it was a good 200+ year run.

[InRareForm]

Went from to tier?

[DarrinS]

First time in US history. Hopenchange

Probably has nothing to do with the ridiculous spending.

[coyotes_geek]

I was one week off in my prediction.

[DarrinS]

We need a second stimulus to move us down another notch.

[DarrinS]

You can pretty much lay this squarely at the foot of the tea party Republicans in Congress.

They will rather cynically try to spin it otherwise, but anybody with any common sense knows why this happened.

Obviously we can blame this on Tea Party conservatives. It's not like "progressive" economic policies aren't an epic fail in other parts of the world. Talk about ing denial.

[TDMVPDPOY]

if the usa defaults on its loans, wtf are those countries going to do about it?

trade sanctions wont hurt them, this will just force ppl to support to buy local made goods?

[DarrinS]

Rationale

We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the relatedLuck_The_Fakers_ fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on en lements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. We also believe that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the general government debt burden by the middle of the decade.

[DarrinS]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...10806?irpc=932

[SnakeBoy]

You can pretty much lay this squarely at the foot of the tea party Republicans in Congress.

They passed a bill that would have prevented the downgrade. Harry & Barry didn't like it.

[DarrinS]

Well all be standard and poor if we keep following the left's fiscal policies. But, at least we'll all be equal.

[DMX7]

They passed a bill that would have prevented the downgrade.

LOL, ZERO EVIDENCE of that.

[DarrinS]

LOL, ZERO EVIDENCE of that.

But 100% evidence of downgrade.

[DMX7]

Well all be standard and poor if we keep following the left's fiscal policies. But, at least we'll all be equal.

"We got 98 percent of what we wanted” -John Boehner

[SnakeBoy]

LOL, ZERO EVIDENCE of that.

In a statement late Friday, S&P said it made the move because the deficit-reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation.

[Th'Pusher]

The grand bargain would have been sufficient, but the pussy republicans walked away from any revenues being part of the deal.

[DarrinS]

The grand bargain would have been sufficient, but the pussy republicans walked away from any revenues being part of the deal.

You guys are in serious denial.

[ElNono]

Obviously we can blame this on Tea Party conservatives. It's not like "progressive" economic policies aren't an epic fail in other parts of the world. Talk about ing denial.

Funny, 3 out of 4 of the countries listed in the OP still issuing AAA bonds all run "progressive" economic policies, and all have a government-run healthcare system.

I'm sure "progressive" economic policies like unfunded tax cuts had nothing to do with this

[Th'Pusher]

You guys are in serious denial.

Denial about what. All the ratings agencies said they were looking for a deal in the 4T dollar range. That was on the table, with en lement reform, but boehner walked away because he couldn't sell the revenue to the tea party. It really is as simple as that.

[ElNono]

All those extremely low dividends taxes are really trickling down... the country might be going to the ter for you and me, but the top 1% sure ain't sweating it...

[boutons_deux]

the bond buyers, esp the wealthy US capitalists, LOVE a couple more percent. In fact, they may have paid, in some way, S&P. Plus Wall St probably placed bets on S&P doing it. Nothing happens in the ing country unless the wealthy get wealthier.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

First time in US history. Hopenchange

Probably has nothing to do with the ridiculous spending.

Spoken like a good ing minion.

It happens along with China's decision to downgrade days after the fiasco that is government and you conclude it was done at the behest of spending.

Its completely in response to the up that is our political system, milquetoast.

They haven't given a damn about rising debts for 70 years, the government shows it ass, they downgrade and you conclude that now they finally care about spending. You literally just regurgitate GOP doublespeak.

They straight up say:

the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling

and

reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed

but you say the regurgitation of how literally the GOP is trying to cover its ass because while Obama is being painted as a pussy the GOP is being labeled as the bully which in essence lays the blame at their feet.

So now they are doing it over spending according to the RNC and apparently yourself. Lets just forget the part about them saying failure to raise taxes or the cluster in the first place.

Its the same line of the RNC has been saying from the beginning of this entire up. Obama cave's, China and S&P tell us that were ups and you continue the regurgitation with the exact same rhetoric.

Shoot yourself please. You are part of the problem and not the solution.