Confirmed: US Gov officials bracing for S&P downgrade as soon as today.

[Darwin333]

Vote of no confidence in the economic policies GOP has been ramming down America's throat under threat of forcing a default.

Umm, that isn't what they are saying but when has that ever stopped you from making shit up.... Carry on.

 

[Darwin333]

Heard S&P is now "reconsidering". Probably giving in to political pressure.
These rating agencies are a joke.

Yeah, they supposedly made math errors to the tune of "trillions" of dollars and as werepossum pointed out the dude that couldn't figure out Turbo Tax is head of the agency that supposedly found those errors.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44039103


Thats gotta take some serious political pressure to convince a rating agency to come out and say "Yeah, we were just about to downgrade the friggen USA but uhm, we fucked up the math because obviously downgrading the USA wasn't worth double checking or anything. What really happened is this asshole forgot to carry the one and bam, numbers all out of whack. Our bad dog, nothing to see here."

P.S. Sorry about that 400 point swing in the stock market today. If yall are free next Tuesday we will take yall out to lunch to make up for it.

 

[ultimatebob]

Vote of no confidence in the economic policies GOP has been ramming down America's throat under threat of forcing a default.

That's not how the talking heads at Fox News would spin it... They'll probably say something like "Obama was only president for less than three years before screwing up America's credit rating with his reckless spending!"

 

[PeshakJang]

O... Bumma

 

[DrewSG3]

No longer a rumor

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.

 

[frostedflakes]

I blame Raygun for this shit. Actually I blame Raygun's shithead supporters for this shit. Including that shithead Obama who actually idolizes Reagan. He started this debt fiasco and everyone supported him on it even after all the warning of how detrimental it will be to the future generations, including by his own VP Bush Sr. who called it voodoo economics (Increase debt increase spending). It was so popular that Bush Sr., despite knowing how disastrous it would be, did it himself during his presidency.

Ah the American people. Voting for shit sandwiches since 1980.

At least Bush Sr had the sense to raise taxes and address the deficit problem. Unfortunately it cost him the presidency, everyone in this country wants free stuff from the government but nobody wants to actually pay for it.

 

[werepossum]

No longer a rumor

Wow. That hit me harder than I thought it would.

Takes some big balls to do that after admitting you screwed up the math. Or maybe the error wasn't significant.

 

[sportage]

Thank you tea party and John Boehner and Eric Cantor.
It is now all up to the public...
VOTE THEM OUT!!!!!!

 

[disappoint]

At least Bush Sr had the sense to raise taxes and address the deficit problem. Unfortunately it cost him the presidency, everyone in this country wants free stuff from the government but nobody wants to actually pay for it.

True. I guess he couldn't cut costs enough to actually lower the debt during his run. Also he didn't have the booming economy Clinton had to pay down the debt fully. Then Bush Jr. goes and throws all that progress into the shitter and here we are with a downgrade and likely another one next year.

This one is not as mush of a concern as it would be if it were to continue to be downgraded 2 more times. Recovering from that will be uphill and a half.

 

[HomerJS]

Well, we were told by that Fool, Bobo, the Post Turtle, that if we would just increase the Debt Ceiling all would be well. There would be no crash in the stock market and no down grade of this country's credit rating.

Just another lie.

You would think we would be use to his lies by now.

Oh, yes, the reason I said "good" is because that will make what we borrow more expensive so maybe we will borrow less? Wouldn't that be great.....to live within our means.

Are you completely incapable of telling the truth? "All would be well" is a completely different thing then "avoid catastrophe"

 

[disappoint]

"Fuck you shithead". That's all you've got? You expect us to read this and be swayed by your compelling logic and air tight arguments? This is your scathing rhetoric? This is the collimation of your years of studying economic policy and global markets, all of that knowledge distilled down to three words, and you couldn't even come up with three good ones?

No that's all you understood. The rest is there for you to read whenever your 2 braincells are in the mood to talk to each other. I won't hold my breath for you to argue about the points I made regarding economics considering you only listen to sound bites and anything over the 3 word count is just too much for your limited intellect to comprehend. Guy calls me a moron, I call him a shithead. Deal with it.

Oh by the way Mr. compelling logic and intellect. It's culmination not collimation. Back to 5th grade vocabulary for you. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? You sure don't sound like it.

 

[HomerJS]

Analysts said the main reasons for a downgrade include political confusion surrounding the process of hiking the debt limit and doubt that agreement would be reached on more deficit reductions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4404057.../us-braces-possible-debt-downgrade/?GT1=43001

Thank you very much Tea Party and Republicans

 

[Modular]

This is what happens when you don't actually cut out of control spending and entitlement programs. The debt ceiling was raised and NOTHING was slashed. They reduced the increase in the ceiling. See what they did there! Reducing the increase is not cutting spending.

This administration has done nothing but de-value the US dollar...someone is picking it up cheap and really running things.

 

[Modular]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4404057.../us-braces-possible-debt-downgrade/?GT1=43001

Thank you very much Tea Party and Republicans

Don't be a fool. I suppose we should have just done away with the debt ceiling and then all would be well? This downgrade is because we are LESS likely to be able to pay back debt obligations. That's not because the ceiling is there, it's because we have way too much fucking debt you dolt.

 

[werepossum]

Are you completely incapable of telling the truth? "All would be well" is a completely different thing then "avoid catastrophe"

Semantics aside, he has a point. S&P has warned of a downgrade for months specifically because of our out of control borrowing and spending. Obama et al have repeatedly said that we had to raise the debt limit or else we will be downgraded. Well, we raised the debt ceiling and completely ignored what S&P was saying, and sure enough, we got downgraded. And now his idiot lackeys are screaming that Republicans and especially the Tea Party is to blame. Considering that we could confiscate 100% of all income above $250,000 and barely cut out half of our yearly deficit, it's inescapable that Obama is completely on the wrong side of this.

I will say one thing in Obama's defense - this is largely not of his making. Both parties have been spending like insane sailors - drunken sailors being MUCh more responsible - and there is likely no way at this point we could have avoided a downgrade. It's a catch-22 situation; if we cut and taxed enough to make the necessary cuts, we'd likely tank the economy even further, miss revenue goals, and blow spending as more people qualified for (and needed) government services. Had Obama immediately (January 2009) embraced austerity, bailed out only what was absolutely necessary with the least absolutely necessary, and raised taxes one everyone to Clinton levels, he might possibly have warded off this result. Possibly. Certainly the American people would never had re-elected him, and there's damn little chance that he could have gotten either party to go along with him.

 

[HomerJS]

Semantics aside, he has a point. S&P has warned of a downgrade for months specifically because of our out of control borrowing and spending. Obama et al have repeatedly said that we had to raise the debt limit or else we will be downgraded. Well, we raised the debt ceiling and completely ignored what S&P was saying, and sure enough, we got downgraded. And now his idiot lackeys are screaming that Republicans and especially the Tea Party is to blame. Considering that we could confiscate 100% of all income above $250,000 and barely cut out half of our yearly deficit, it's inescapable that Obama is completely on the wrong side of this.

I will say one thing in Obama's defense - this is largely not of his making. Both parties have been spending like insane sailors - drunken sailors being MUCh more responsible - and there is likely no way at this point we could have avoided a downgrade. It's a catch-22 situation; if we cut and taxed enough to make the necessary cuts, we'd likely tank the economy even further, miss revenue goals, and blow spending as more people qualified for (and needed) government services. Had Obama immediately (January 2009) embraced austerity, bailed out only what was absolutely necessary with the least absolutely necessary, and raised taxes one everyone to Clinton levels, he might possibly have warded off this result. Possibly. Certainly the American people would never had re-elected him, and there's damn little chance that he could have gotten either party to go along with him.

In Jan 09 we were bleeding 800K jobs per month and the GDP was shrinking. Cutting off spending then would have caused the economy to crash like the Hindenburg.

Also when TARP was voted down the 1st time the stock market tanked 777 pts in one day. Not exactly the time to stop spending. We have a jobs, demand and debt problem, in that order. We have to deal with this problem in the short term and then in the long term. Doing debt first is bass ackwards.

 

[Jhhnn]

This is what happens when you don't actually cut out of control spending and entitlement programs. The debt ceiling was raised and NOTHING was slashed. They reduced the increase in the ceiling. See what they did there! Reducing the increase is not cutting spending.

This administration has done nothing but de-value the US dollar...someone is picking it up cheap and really running things.

Actually, it's what happens when you keep cutting taxes to achieve the lowest rates of the post WW2 era and the lowest % of GDP as federal revenue in the same time frame.

Starting 2 wars at the same time doesn't help, either, nor does setting up a Boom/Bust scenario wrt the "Ownership Society".

Debt/deflation spiral, coming right up, courtesy of the Republican Party. It won't hurt the true Bush constituency one bit, however- it'll actually enhance their power.

 

[werepossum]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4404057.../us-braces-possible-debt-downgrade/?GT1=43001

Thank you very much Tea Party and Republicans

Man, you guys are really doubling down on stupidity today. From YOUR linked article:

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus. The credit agency said late Friday that it was making the move because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation.

Standard & Poor's had warned that the nation's credit rating would be subject to a downgrade without a credible deficit-reduction package worth $4 trillion over 10 years. The package agreed to by congressional negotiators falls well short of that mark.

So S&P specifically says the down rating was because the debt limit deal did not meet the minimum S&P considered necessary to retain a AAA rating, NOT because of "uncertainty".

Note also that while the very far left MSNBC asserts that "analysts" attributed the downgrading to uncertainty, the only analyst it put on record agreed with S&P.

"When they finally dealt with the debt ceiling, they obviously kicked the can down the road, and the market did not need that. I thought at the time when they released it there would have been a downgrade," said William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Mass.

"I don't think it is a great shock. If it didn't happen now, I think it probably would have happened in a couple of months.

"A double-A plus is not a big issue, but it is going to have an impact. There are going to be ripples going across the pond."

Feel free to disagree with S&P's assertion that the USA cannot just borrow ever more money out to infinity, but please don't lie about S&P's reasons!

 

[DrewSG3]

This is what happens when you don't actually cut out of control spending and entitlement programs. The debt ceiling was raised and NOTHING was slashed. They reduced the increase in the ceiling. See what they did there! Reducing the increase is not cutting spending.

This administration has done nothing but de-value the US dollar...someone is picking it up cheap and really running things.

Obama was willing to cut entitlement spending which was in the $4.7 Trillion cut package that the Tea Party and Republicans rejected. Instead we had to settle on some bullshit spending cuts that 6 dimwits from each party get to make behind closed doors

This is the result of the Tea Party trying to play politics with the US's credit rating.. fuck anyone who doesn't see this shit

 

[randomrogue]

Those of you blaming one party or the other are idiots. Both parties are to blame.

Our leadership is incapable of making the hard decisions. They need to cut entitlement programs, balance the budget, and reduce debt. They need to stop pork barrel spending. They probably need to raise taxes. They really need to start spending our money efficiently be it on health care, eduction, or defense. They need to stop making a mockery out of the system.

The problem is that millions of ignorant Americans keep re-electing these morons who never do anything for us.

I find it amazing that we have social security still. If you make $150,000 a year for like 50 years you only get a couple grand a month. It's practically a worthless program. If you are so poor that you NEED $1000 a month to survive retirement maybe there's a better way for us to help you. 20% of our spending should not be on this dumb worthless program. I'd suggest we spend the money elsewhere but we can't seem to get much right these days. Our spending on education is inefficient too and that's the key to getting out of poverty.

There's really not much to debate. We all need to vote the incumbents out. All of them. Governors, Congressman, and the President. They all need to go. They're innept and wasting our time, money, and future.

 

[werepossum]

In Jan 09 we were bleeding 800K jobs per month and the GDP was shrinking. Cutting off spending then would have caused the economy to crash like the Hindenburg.

Also when TARP was voted down the 1st time the stock market tanked 777 pts in one day. Not exactly the time to stop spending. We have a jobs, demand and debt problem, in that order. We have to deal with this problem in the short term and then in the long term. Doing debt first is bass ackwards.

I largely agree with you there. The fact remains however that the stimulus was largely wasted money, and Obama is on the wrong side of the debt limit debate. You may philosophically think that the bear in the kitchen is a bigger threat than the rats in the den, but if the rats kill you first then the bear is by definition a smaller threat.

 

[HomerJS]

Man, you guys are really doubling down on stupidity today. From YOUR linked article:



So S&P specifically says the down rating was because the debt limit deal did not meet the minimum S&P considered necessary to retain a AAA rating, NOT because of "uncertainty".

Note also that while the very far left MSNBC asserts that "analysts" attributed the downgrading to uncertainty, the only analyst it put on record agreed with S&P.

Feel free to disagree with S&P's assertion that the USA cannot just borrow ever more money out to infinity, but please don't lie about S&P's reasons!

That's why the administration wanted to put revenues on the table but the GOP walked away. We can't cut our way out of the debt.

This thing is complicated. Even in a good economy if everyone stopped spending it would tank.

 

[Imp]

Well here we go... I'm completely checked out of American stocks. But I do hold significant quantities of US$. Can't wait until Monday... What should I expect?

 

[a777pilot]

S&P just down graded the US government to AA+.

Great! Hopefully they and the other credit rating agencies will down grade the US further.

 

[Modular]

Well here we go... I'm completely checked out of American stocks. But I do hold significant quantities of US$. Can't wait until Monday... What should I expect?

Market fundamentals are very sound - but people are going to react negatively. Let's also not forget that 2 out of 3 agencies are still keeping the AAA rating - something the media will not tell you (that doesn't sell).

That all being said, 2 things:

1) To those complaining and trying to blame Repubs - where was Obama's plan exactly? The "leader" came up with nothing and now his cronies want to try and blame Repubs? LoL!

2) Is this the first president to have an economic slump all while market fundamentals are sound? Seems like his policies sure are bringing that hope and change he promised. Hope for those who want to be leaches and change for those of us who actually care and do something for this country.

2012 can't come soon enough.