S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating for first time Excerpts:
Standard & Poors announced Friday night that it has downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time, dealing a symbolic blow to the worlds economic superpower in what was a sharply worded critique of the American political system. .... It said the bipartisan agreement reached this week to find at least $2.1 trillion in budget savings fell short of what was necessary to tame the nations debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future. ... The decision came after a day of furious back-and-forth debate between the Obama administration and S&P. Government officials fought back hard, arguing that S&Ps analysis of the potential for political agreement was flawed and that its initial report, which was flagged by the Treasury earlier in the day, contained mathematical errors .... S&P said the nation could suffer additional downgrades later on if the nations debt burden grows worse. A new political consensus might [or might not] emerge after the 2012 election, but we believe that by then, the government debt burden will likely be higher, the firm said. ... The company said the United States financial position was diverging from that of other AAA countries, including Canada, France, Germany and Britain. ... Countries with a AA+ rating include New Zealand and Belgium. Among those countries with a AA rating, one notch lower, are Bermuda, Spain and Qatar. Read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sandp-considering-first-downgrade-of-us-credit-rating/2011/08/05/gIQAqKeIxI_print.html Glad they got the debt ceiling deal done before the deadline. Damn. Why didn't I invest in gold 10 years ago? J - Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. - Henry Kissinger Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. - John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:341316 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
