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2011-04-20 Economy
US credit rating at risk
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Posted by Fred 2011-04-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ]  Top

#1 Where is the Dem's "It's all Bush's fault!". Or maybe the Dem's are just running out of other people to blame?
Posted by Unuse Grumble6505 2011-04-20 00:11||   2011-04-20 00:11|| Front Page Top

#2 The dems are deliberately spending to take this country down. Either that or they are stupid. Or both.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2011-04-20 01:58||   2011-04-20 01:58|| Front Page Top

#3 Wiki had a section on criticism of S&P:

Credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's have been subject to criticism in the wake of large losses beginning in 2007 in the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market that occurred despite being assigned top ratings by the CRAs.

Credit ratings of AAA (the highest rating available) were given to large portions of even the riskiest pools of loans. Investors, trusting the low risk profile that AAA implies, loaded up on these CDOs that later became unsellable. Those that could be sold often took staggering losses. For instance, losses on $340.7 million worth of CDOs issued by Credit Suisse Group added up to about $125 million, despite being rated AAA by Standard & Poor's.[5]

Despite common perception, Standard & Poor's didn't rate the two major Icelandic banks, Kaupthing and Landsbanki.[citation needed]

Companies pay Standard & Poor's to rate their debt issues. As a result, some critics have contended that Standard & Poor's is beholden to these issuers and that its ratings are not as objective as they should be.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2011-04-20 02:06||   2011-04-20 02:06|| Front Page Top

#4 So is S&P just 'suggesting' to the US Government that it needs to pay/pay more for its next rating?
Posted by Glenmore 2011-04-20 08:00||   2011-04-20 08:00|| Front Page Top

#5 So is S&P just 'suggesting' to the US Government that it needs to pay/pay more for its next rating?

"unless the B.O. regime and Congress find a way to slash the yawning federal budget deficit within two years."

Sounds like "spend less", to me.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-04-20 08:37||   2011-04-20 08:37|| Front Page Top

#6 If you want a shock, go to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

They rate the Government Finances of the US at a "4" out of 100. Countries with higher ratings include Mynamar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Chad, Mali, Sri Lanka. The only countries lower than the US are Zimbabwe, Angola, Somolia.
Posted by Bill Clinton 2011-04-20 11:00||   2011-04-20 11:00|| Front Page Top

#7 White House Tried to Get S&P to Not Lower the Outlook or to Keep Silent Regarding the New Rating.

The Obama administration privately urged Standard & Poor’s in recent weeks not to lower its outlook on the United States — a suggestion the ratings agency ignored Monday, two people familiar with the matter said. …
Treasury officials told S&P analysts that they were underestimating the ability of politicians in Washington to fashion a compromise to curb deficits, a Treasury official said. They argued a change in ratings was not needed at this time because the debt was manageable and the administration had a viable plan in the works, the official said.
But S&P analysts told Treasury officials on Friday that they were unmoved — and released a report that expressed skepticism that the political parties could come together on how to bring spending in line with revenue.
Posted by Percy Phusons4229 2011-04-20 11:50||   2011-04-20 11:50|| Front Page Top

#8 with the current taxation system the state cannot extort any more without harming the economy even further and thus lowering extortion further.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2011-04-20 12:59||   2011-04-20 12:59|| Front Page Top

#9 Unfortunately BP - the current Administration sees that as a feature - not a bug.
Posted by CrazyFool 2011-04-20 13:01||   2011-04-20 13:01|| Front Page Top

#10 File under"Man made disaster" and alert level Imminent.
Posted by newc 2011-04-20 14:27|| http://concisemagazine.wordpress.com/  2011-04-20 14:27|| Front Page Top

#11 We have a n imminent warming that terrorists led by Sheik Zerobama are planning to debt bomb American children.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2011-04-20 14:57||   2011-04-20 14:57|| Front Page Top

#12 No-interest savings accounts and high user fees, coupled with high-interest loans and huge credit barriers, won't end until the banks manipulate their way to solvency. The Financial sector is indifferent to interests other than their own. Obama should have been working towards devising new credit instruments, rather than subsidizing the banks and throwing money at non-productive job creation. Every Clinton-Bush era de-regulator kept his job under the Enlightened One.
Posted by Unavigum Turkeyneck2012 2011-04-20 19:05||   2011-04-20 19:05|| Front Page Top

#13 There are only two ways of cutting deficits; raise taxes or cut expenditure.
Leaving the cutting of taxes to one side and concentrating on expenditure cutting the major issue to address is the pain threshold(I prefer to call it the cold turkey syndrome, more descriptive)
A high threshold means a country can handle more pain, a low threshold less pain. A good example of a high threshold would be Ireland, where the populous has meekly accepted their medicine and most of the productive workers have stolen away to foreign shores, leaving the drones behind.
An example the low threshold would be Greece where there is low level civil war as exemplified by Keratea.
As explosions boom, the town's loudspeakers blare: "Attention! Attention! We are under attack!" Air-raid sirens wail through the streets, mingling with the frantic clanging of church bells. Clouds of tear gas waft between houses as helmeted riot police move in to push back the rebels. This isn't a war zone, but a small town just outside Athens. And while its fight is about a rubbish dump, it captures Greece's angry mood over its devastated economy.

As unemployment rises and austerity bites ever harder, tempers seem to fray faster in Greece, with citizens of all stripes thumbing their noses at authority. Some refuse to pay increased highway tolls and public transport tickets. There has been a rise in politicians being heckled and even assaulted. Yesterday, in Thessalonika, scores of activists were arrested after violent clashes with police
Now if the US turns out to be a low threshold country and the rubes march on Washington and raze the Houses of Congress and the Senate to the ground before making the politicians perform the Highbury gig while suspended from the nearest lamppost, what would be the constitutional implications?
When could new elections be held, etc?
Posted by tipper 2011-04-20 19:54||   2011-04-20 19:54|| Front Page Top

#14  Every Clinton-Bush era de-regulator kept his job under the Enlightened One.
Posted by Unavigum Turkeyneck2012

Which should give us an accurate indicator of who is really in control in the US.
Posted by Besoeker 2011-04-20 22:50||   2011-04-20 22:50|| Front Page Top

00:26 JosephMendiola
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