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Posted on 07/18/2011 12:38:59 PM PDT by vikingd00d
JUPITER, Florida (July 15, 2011) — Weiss Ratings, an independent rating agency of U.S. financial institutions and sovereign debts, has downgraded the debt of the United States government from C to C-minus.
The C-minus rating for the U.S. reflects a continued deterioration in the weaknesses cited in the Weiss Ratings release of April 28, 2011, including heavy debt burdens, shaky international stability, and poor economic health.
Weiss Ratings senior financial analyst Gavin Magor commented: “Our downgrade today is not contingent on the outcome of the debt ceiling debate in Washington. It is driven exclusively by the numbers, which indicate that, in addition to a decline in the long-standing weaknesses we noted three months ago, the U.S. has already lost the golden halo that helped guarantee liquidity and acceptance of its government securities in global markets.”
On the Weiss Ratings scale, which ranges from A (excellent) to E (very weak), a C-minus rating is the approximate equivalent of a triple-B-minus on the scales used by other credit rating agencies, or approximately one notch above speculative grade (junk).
For the Weiss Sovereign Debt Ratings on all 49 countries covered, click here. For more information on the Weiss Ratings approach, refer to our white paper, “Introducing The Weiss Sovereign Debt Ratings.” About Weiss Ratings
Weiss Ratings, the nation’s leading independent provider of financial strength ratings on banks, credit unions, insurance companies as well as sovereign debt ratings on 49 countries, accepts no payments for its ratings from rated entities. By adhering to its independent business model, Weiss outperformed Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, A.M. Best and Duff & Phelps (now Fitch) in warning of future life and health insurance company failures according to a 1994 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), while also outperforming its competitors in identifying the safest insurers, according to its follow-up study using the GAO’s research methodology. Similarly, Weiss was the only one to identify, in advance, nearly all major banks that failed or required a federal bailout in the 2008-2009 debt crisis. Contact
Print: Maryellen Murphy, 561-818-8885 mmurphy@weissinc.com
Broadcast: Pam Reimer, 608-727-2600 pam.reimer@wicw.net
Never waste a crisis!
I give it an F-.
This is also known as the “gentleman’s ‘C’ “.
Obama donor no doubt.
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Heads up.
Martin Weiss runs his own economic web site for financial gain and has no standing whatsoever as an official ratings agency.
This story means nothing.
Aren’t Moody’s and S&P also for-profit businesses?
Yes, they are. And they are as crooked as all get out.
However, anyone who has read a lot of Martin Weiss (especially his newsletter - Money & Markets) knows that he is just after web click-throughs and scaring investors into making decisions that aren't necessarily good for them.
For Martin Weiss to be assessed as an established ratings agency is a laugh.
People need to look at Western Europe. That is where the current story lies.
bb.bbbbu....bbb...bbbbbu...bbbbb but, Obama’s in charge, and he always gets graded on the curve
No, no, no.
you should read the report.
It basically questions the ability of the US to service its debt.
I wonder if this is where the dreaded bond vigilantes arrive?
Sorry, just my knee-jerk reaction. Seems like every "responsible" party issuing a breathless call for a "balanced" solution to the debt limit problem is really just shilling for the White House.
Weiss isn’t ‘unknown’... they’ve been around since the Depression and they’ve called many major moves... I suspect they’ve called this one right too.
It doesnt take a genius to figure out we are on the wrong track.
I have, BTW, downgraded the Obama economy.
Downgraded froom “weak and tepid” to “miserable”.
We have a ratings watch alert that we may downgrade Obama’s economy further to “an effing disaster” should there be further economic turbulence due to dollar dilution and DC stupidity.
Weiss’ ratings aren’t worth the electrons used to disseminate them.
Eagan-Jones’ ratings are paid for by investors in debt instruments. They don’t take money from those issuing the debt, which I find a tad more credible than the “sell side” business model of S&P, Moodys and Fitch’s. Eagan-Jones was ahead of the curve on the European mess we’re now seeing, and they were ahead of the curve on the housing melt-down.
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