Chinese ratings agency threatens US with new downgrade

The head of China’s biggest ratings agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating, is warning that it may downgrade the US’s sovereign debt rating again because of Washington’s failure to tackle the federal budget deficit. Dagong, which has maintained a pessimistic outlook on US fiscal policy, has been leading the charge to downgrade US debt over the […]

What the S&P Debt Downgrade Means

Credit rating agencies are creatures of Wall Street. Just as they did Wall Street’s bidding in assigning investment grade ratings to derivative junk, they will do Wall Street’s bidding in downgrading the US credit rating. Wall Street might complain about downgradings, but that is just to disguise that Wall Street is calling the shots. The […]

More financial woes in stock markets and federal debt

U.S. stocks plunged, European markets closed sharply down, and Asia exchanges lost ground across the board Monday, as investors responded to the unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt on Friday, and concerns around the ongoing eurozone crisis. John Chambers, managing director of Standard & Poor’s, says of S&P’s decision to lower the nation’s credit rating for […]

US credit rating downgraded

The Standard & Poor’s rating agency announced today that it has downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA. “The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the […]

The countries in the AAA debt club

Amid the contentious debt ceiling debate, the United States is at risk of being booted out of a prestigious group of 17 countries that boast a spotless credit rating. Triple-A rating enables nations to borrow funds at a low cost, because their governments are considered stable and their bonds safe. Germany, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden, […]

Downgrade of the US AAA credit rating

A downgrade of the United States’ stellar AAA credit rating seems likely. The White House had been alerted repeatedly over the past month by rating agencies that without a strong, long-term plan to restructure the country’s debt, they would lower America’s credit rating as soon as today, according to two officials familiar with the process. […]

What happens if Congress does not raise the US debt ceiling?

What happens if lawmakers fail to act by the Aug. 2 deadline? A failure to raise the debt ceiling would send shockwaves through the underpinnings of the financial system — and possibly ripple out to individual investors and consumers. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the federal government won’t be able to pay 44% of […]

Standard & Poor’s to downgrade United States?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the fallout from a failure to raise the US debt ceiling could be “catastrophic” and “self defeating.” On an annualized basis, it’s the rough equivalent of cutting spending by $1.6 trillion — which is nearly all of so-called discretionary spending, including defense. The United States doesn’t bring in enough […]

US risky credit rating further erodes American dollar economy

For every dollar the federal government spends, it takes in less than 60 cents in revenue. And Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has now threatened to downgrade the United States’ prized AAA credit rating unless the Obama administration and Congress find a way to slash the yawning federal budget deficit within two years. A downgrade, which […]

Obama to ask more money for War, even as U.S. is about to lose its AAA credit rating

The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year. Meanwhile, one million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody’s Economy.com expects another 2.4 million homes to […]