U.S. loses AAA credit rating from S&P

Yahoo.com via Reuters ^ | 8/5/11 | Walter Brandimarte

[GQuagmire]

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

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

Screw Impeachment! This skinny bastard should be tried for treason in our Courts and hung! Let it be strong lesson to any other aspiring POS dictators.

He, and countless others.

We need an across the board purge of Zimbabwe on Potomac!

[comebacknewt]

Goldman Sachs will be VERY pleased.

[ponygirl]

Well, I was just over at the comments section of the USA Today story. I would say the blame is running 1) Tea Party’s fault; 2) Bush’s fault; 3) it’s everybody’s fault; 4) It’s certainly not Obama’s fault, he’s the Messiah. And yes, they are referring to Tea Party as Terrorists. Amazing how quickly such small brains can be washed...like they used bleach or something.

[ponygirl]

Heck, they could even have a look-up table for the current worth of the denomination affiliated with the number on the bill. Or, how about a futures market on what denomination will be assigned to an existing note?

Just give everyone a Sharpie marker. Problem fixed. WINNING!

[nfldgirl]

J-U-S-T WOW!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Just what I was thinking. Can being extremely inept lead to impeachment? There must be a way to get him out ASAP before he can do anymore damage.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I can remember growing up, and well into the 90s, that people would crow “ America is the greatest country on Earth”. No one says that any more. Thanks to you, President Obama, for the first time in my life I’m ashamed to be an American.

[littleharbour]

Havel was a voice crying in the wilderness and was mocked and vilified by the global media. He was the only national leader to unequivocally call out global warming as a socialist fraud. One of the few politicians to have read and understand Hayek.

[littleharbour]

Wonder where gold will go next week? $1800?

[PieterCasparzen]

Can being extremely inept lead to impeachment? There must be a way to get him out ASAP before he can do anymore damage.

In the Presidential oath of office, the President is sworn to uphold the Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The Preamble to the Constitution includes the phrase:

"provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity".

Any President who is leading the country into disaster could be impeached on the grounds of not fulfilling their Constitutional duty related to defence, general Welfare and securing the Blessings of Liberty to posterity (too much debt).

Of course, very few of the political class in America would regard citizens has having any redress involving what the Federal government subjects them to, so this would solely be done af the perogative of a Senate where most Senators think only of their own political future.

In their wisdom, however, the Founding Fathers created a Constitution that will subject all citizens to the brutal destruction of Obama's policies, therefore chastising the electorate for the error in their 2008 decision to elect him, and reinforcing in our citizen's minds the timeless truths that the left wing denies.

It may well take enormous pain before most people anywhere left of center in America really admit that a statist approach to government works to their disadvantage.

One can see that obviously no one on TV yet has expressed what the problem is clearly and correctly, even when they say things like "too much government" or "too much regulation". They should be saying simply that they will methodically go about eliminating most of government and transitioning the little that it actually does to the private sector. To their defense, real conservatives already in the race like Bachmann (it's really just coming down to her, IMHO, at this point), can't - at this point - say they want to eliminate, as that would give enough ammunition to their detractors (like government employee unions) to effectively knock them out of the race. One can't go out too far on a limb early on in saying exactly what one really intends to do - instead, one needs to speak about one's vision. The classic case is Herman Cain having to walk back his anti-mooselimb rhetoric. It would have been far wiser to parry the thrust of the Cabinet question than to go on the record - even though the original statement resounded extremely well with real conservatives. The political calculus is: he already had dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, he needs to be going for people in the center, and speaking to very staunch conservatives like me "in code". This has to be adhered to until one wins the primary and has pieced together a strong coalition within one's party, at which time some more startling rhetoric can be used to differentiate from the opposing party and inspire those who are not inspired.

We have to get past the primary until the Republican candidate can start differentiating themselves from the Democrat by dropping explicit hints about elimination as opposed to reduction. Until then it has to be in code. As conservatives, we can only hope and pray that if elected, the next President would be a non-Democrat and would get out the chain saw on both regulations of citizens and companies, while successfully pushing the private sector and States into taking over what the Federal government does except for the bare bones. We have many things that need to be phased out that are obsolete ideas, the chief of which is institutionalized promotion of immorality, another is government borrowing (there is no need for it); of course there are many others.

That all being said, if things get bad enough and the Senators start getting afwaid, I would not at all be surprised to see the fastest bi-partisan agreement you've ever seen to type up and process an impeachment and remove this usurper. IMHO, they'd probably work up a deal to get rid of plugs as well, since he's far too tied to all that's been going on and rather off his coconut.

You just can't make this stuff up. The stupidity of much of American leadership in politics and big business never ceases to amaze me. IMHO...

[chessplayer]

“How are they gonna spin it? You’re kidding, right? Here’s a hint. “Bush’s/Tea Pary fault.” And, no, I am not Nostradamus or one of Dionne Warwick’s psychic friends.”

Thats EXACTLY what they were doing last night on MSNBC and CNN. Blaming Bush and Republicans. And they`re just getting started. Not a word of criticism of The One for the downgrade.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"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 government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said Friday shortly after markets closed.

The only way to solve the spending and debt problems throughout government is a Constitutional requirement for Balanced Budgets. Few in government understand this. And those who do are called racists or terrorists hellbent on throwing granny off a cliff, or simply wanting dirty air and water.

This mountain of debt, call it a 'government bubble', will burst and is likely to impact our economy and society for at least a generation doing more damage that 911.

[Red in Blue PA]

As though I needed an excuse to buy more guns.......

[samtheman]

And people said Glenn Beck was crazy....

A lot of people here in FR said that too, some just because he's a mormon.

I think mormonism is a cult as much as any of the mormon-critics here in FR, but I am also able to listen to what people are SAYING, unfiltered by my perception of who they ARE.

I never saw a Glenn Beck program that didn't make perfect sense to me.

Fox should have put him on prime time, not kicked him off the air.

[Truth29]

This may have been covered up thread, but Peter Morici on Fox & Friends just suggested that there was bias in the S & P analysis. He indicated that there was extensive coordination with the Treasury Department and the comments are designed to favor Obama in the upcoming negotiations over cuts vs. tax increases.

[bert]

-——And people said Glenn Beck was crazy———

Beck was not prescient. He was merely acknowledging what was widely known.

The actual down grade came in January when PIMCO announced it was out of treasuries.

The announcement yesterday was pro forma

[napscoordinator]

The democrats will double and redouble their efforts to RAISE taxes. The absolute worst next step.

My exact thoughts. The Democrats are going to get our taxes raised for sure and we will get SOME cuts. I believe that decisions without thinking will be the next step.

[napscoordinator]

Wow. Such a true statement that everyone has been thinking but you are the only gusty person to say it.

[patriotspride]

” Not really surprising. The media ignored it, but S&P made it clear that their real concern was the long term failure to balance the budget, not this summer’s debt ceiling BS.

What joke this all is.”

So true. Talking to a Obama voting relative of mine on the debt issue I said.

Forget about all the hype/doom, just think about it this way.

You overspent your credit card.

You go to the bank to get an increase. You tell them it’s ok as you will use other peoples money to pay for your past and future irresponsibility.

What do you expect them to say.

He said “ Why Hell NO”, then paused and stated. So that’s what this is all about ?

[no-to-illegals]

I think it is great you were able to get through to one of zer0’s voters. Good Job!