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Told you so! GOP leaders say news that Standard & Poor's has downgraded its credit outlook for the United States on Monday is vindication of their party's budget policy, and a "wake up call" to the nation. "Today's announcement makes clear that the debt limit increase proposed by the Obama Administration must be accompanied by meaningful fiscal reforms," Eric Cantor (House majority leader) said, referring to pressure from the White House to boost the debt ceiling in the coming months. The U.S. kept its AAA credit rating, but had its long-term outlook changed from "stable" to "negative." S&P said that the move means there's at least a one-in-three chance that it will cut the nation's rating within two years, so says The Daily Beast.
Read more at Talking Points Memo.
Thanks, Obama. This is just what we need. The jig is up.
ReplyDeleteHere's the rest of the story:
ReplyDeleteLeft unmentioned: the same news story Cantor sent to reporters on the S&P move notes that the last time the agency downgraded their outlook on US debt was 1996, out of fear that the GOP would block a debt ceiling vote.
Update: Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) released a joint demand from 114 House Democrats that the House hold a "clean" debt limit vote and claimed the S&P rating bolstered their argument.
"America pays its bills," Welch said in a statement. "I hope Majority Leader Cantor and those in Congress seizing upon debt ceiling pressure as a 'leverage opportunity' are listening to the markets today and thinking twice about their risky strategy.
Tell Welch that we pay the interest on our debt. That is about it. We're lucky to be doing that. If you don't think what S&P did today is serious, then........US budget deficit has moved from a surplus at the turn of the millennium to a deficit of 11% by 2009.
ReplyDeleteAlan Krueger, the Treasury’s former chief economist and an economics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, said the record of S&P during the financial crisis has watered down the impact of its pronouncements on the safety of U.S. debt.
ReplyDelete“The surprise to me is that the markets paid as much attention to S&P as they have,” Krueger said. “S&P has no private information, and their track record and judgment have been dismal.”
-http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-18/standard-poor-s-puts-negative-outlook-on-u-s-rating.html
yea, steve, that's why the market took a dive and every media indicates this is not good for the US as interest rates will rise, and we could be stripped of our Triple A rating. You just can't stand any rebuke to Obama. Wake up.
ReplyDeleteS&P--whatever its opinion is worth,and whatever the market made of it--didn't point a finger at either political group, the GOP or the Dems. S&P only said a deal had to be reached. It takes two to tango.
ReplyDelete"Standard & Poor's takes no position on the mix of spending and revenue
ReplyDeletemeasures the Congress and the Administration might conclude are appropriate.
But for any plan to be credible, we believe that it would need to secure
support from a cross-section of leaders in both political parties."
-http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245302886884