The downgrade by S&P is a bit ridiculous; don’t you think? True enough our leaders have done everything they could do to screw up our economy, but to have our credit rating downgraded by an organization that missed and was complicit in every financial catastrophe in recent memory is surreal!
Standard & Poors opens their collective mouths and says they want $4Trillion in cuts, and boxed themselves into a corner. How dare they! Who elected these morons? How can these jokers think that our ability to repay debt is less than ANY other country in the world?
S&P, who profits from ratings that they spout, missed the financial crisis of 2008. OOPS! No responsibility; no consequences. Give me a break!
We have previously discussed that the fiscal situation in this country is out of control, for sure. The debt ceiling debate did little to fix this. But, and a big but it is, we did cut spending, even if it was insignificant. I would like to remind ‘Stupid and Pathetic’ that if Washington behaved as they have for the last 100 years or so, we would have cut nothing, increased the limit, and likely spent more.
Surely there is more work to be done, but our friends should take note that at least the rhetoric in D.C. is moving in the right direction, and is likely to continue in that direction for a long time. Downgrading our credit rating will do NOTHING to improve the economy, which is what is needed most of all. The libs want to increase revenue (Taxes), and getting people back to work is the best way to get more money in the coffers! Nonsense from an organization who answers to no one, is not helping anything.
I want this country fixed as much as anybody, but even though I am not as smart as S&P, I know it takes time to undo decades of stupidity.
My Two Cents, How ‘Bout Yours?
Pete G
Publisher
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Okay, I agree with you about S&P having blinders on in ’08. Maybe they were even complicit in all the shenanigans taking place during that time with the sub-prime mortages and infamous “liar loans”. It’s possible they may have learned a lesson and decided to do the right thing this time around. Kind of a damned if they do and damned if they don’t situation.
I prefer to view this as a warning shot across the bow. I’m tired of all the talk about the financial mess the United States is in. It’s time to actually do something about it. And what do we get instead? Let’s shoot the messenger and point fingers instead of actually getting down to business. S&P might not have a sterling reputation and I reckon could have been involved in the crash of ’08. But I’ll damn sure give them cudos for telling it like it is this time around.
Well, the markets are going to end up forcing all the political clowns in D.C. to do something or go down in history as the ones that bankrupted our great nation. Funny thing is; if the damned government had gotten out of the way in ’08 and let the failures occur, not done TARP, not rescued the auto makers and not done the stimulus; we’d probably be well on our way to recovery at this very moment.
Yes, it would have been painful. Guess what??? After 3 and a half years it’s still painful and there’s no end in sight. We still have 9.1% unemployment. But we also have a lowered debt rating.
I’m in the minority I’m sure. But I believe in the long run S&P might have done us a favor by stating the obvious. If it jumpstarts the braindead idiots in D.C. to actually do something instead of posturing and finger pointing, I’m all for it. Hooraah!
To top it all off, President OBOMBA gave another speech today. Still spouting the same tired rhetoric about a balanced approach, investments(read tax increases) in our future and the United States will always be AAA.
Good to know he’s on top of the situation.
Hutch, tired of all the rhetoric and hoping somebody grows a set and actually does something instead of talking about it.
Kudos to S&P for forcing the hand of the Feds.
I hear what you are saying Hutch. Very valid points. I just think it is Bullshit that a bunch of bureaucrats can and did hurt a bunch of regular folks after a bunch of politicians did the same! I am on the team about doing something to fix the spending, economy, moron in the White house, etc. I just think that the downgrade may not increase the desire in DC to fix things… I hope I am wrong! Thanks!
Looks like you may have been right with your doubts about the downgrade not increasing the desire in D.C. to fix things. Now the Federal Reserve is trying to calm down the markets by announcing no interest rate increases until 2013,
I’m pretty much convinced there is a concerted effort to destroy our free market economy.
Hutch.
I view the downgrades as reasonable responses to unreasonable behavior. I also think that everybody is running from the coming Euro crunch and the ratings agencies need to be able to say, look, we dinged the US when they failed to solve their debt problem, so you guys don’t stand a chance!
S&P doesn’t appreciate being lied to & manipulated by this administration any more than the rest of us do. People pay them for their advice, and if they had hung in there with a AAA, they would have damaged their brand, and possibly their actual product.
Very valid points all…. I, and most foreign investors, still believe the US is the best investment on the planet. S&P’s credibility is suspect and the damage caused by the downgrade should have played into their decision, I believe. Thanks for the post!