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U.S. President Barack Obama remained largely silent as China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, demanded Saturday that America confront its "addiction to debts" in the wake of Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. The president, spending the weekend at Camp David, left it to press secretary Jay Carney to say it's clear Washington "must do better" in tackling soaring deficits and other economic woes. A statement from Carney said talks that produced Tuesday's $2 trillion US compromise on raising the country's borrowing limit had been too drawn-out and "divisive." But the statement didn't directly...

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says the tea party was "totally unreasonable" in the deficit-reduction debate and warns that Republicans are being held hostage. "This is a tea party problem," Dean said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation." "They are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it." "This is ridiculous what's going on here," he said. The firebrand Democrat and former Vermont governor said the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the nation's credit is "a good thing" because it underscores the need to...

Taking a bit of a pool here...Hussein's one trick left, and it is one of diminishing returns, is to run in front of his sycophant press and pretend he is a problem solver. So when does he do it again? My guess is next Thursday.

A credit rating is an informed opinion. Nothing more. Nothing less. That helps explain why one major credit rating agency -- Standard & Poor's -- has downgraded the United States, while another -- Moody's (Symbol : MCO Loading... ) -- has chosen to affirm its credit rating with caveats. Both agencies had the same essential set of facts about U.S. debt: There's a lot of it now. There's a lot more of it to come. And there's very little in the way of actual policy today that looks likely to seriously change that outlook. Where the agencies differ, however, is...

U.S. Treasury debt is as safe as it was before a Standard & Poor's rating downgrade of the United States and Congress' "damaging" debate over raising the country's debt limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday. Geithner, in an interview with NBC/CNBC television, also called on European leaders to ensure that there is an "unequivocal financial backstop" for euro zone governments facing fiscal and debt problems. He added that a double-dip recession was unlikely if governments and central banks made good decisions. Asked whether Treasuries were as safe now as they were last week, Geithner replied: "Absolutely. And the...

I believe it will dip under 11,000, but I don't see it going much farther down than 10,500 next week. I expect it to bounce around a lot while margin calls and shorts covering add some turbulence. If you are on the sidelines, there should be some attractive bargains presenting themselves. If you are holding (as I am) trying to weather the storm may be difficult to do but may be better than letting your shares go too cheap.

Something tells me this is gonna be a rough night in the markets, despite the EU's Emergency Decision to monetize the debt of Italy AND GREECE. The market in Japan (Nikkei) will open first at 5PM PDT, follow by the Chinese market in Hong Kong (Hang Seng)at 6:30PM PDT. Not sure when Singapore opens. Fox Business will be going LIVE at 9pm.

Market crash for Mon?

(CBS News) Former White House adviser David Axelrod on Sunday pinned responsibility for the recent U.S. economic downgrade on the Tea Party movement, arguing that the group's political "brinksmanship" during debt ceiling negotiations "brought us to the brink of a default" -- and that, subsequently, "this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade." In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Axelrod, currently a campaign strategist for President Obama, said the U.S. economic downgrade was "largely a political analysis" and that "there's a broad consensus that [the U.S.] is still the safest place to invest your money." Nevertheless, he argued, the...

ERUSALEM (JTA) -- The Tel Aviv Stock Market experienced its largest one-day loss in nearly three years in reaction to the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. The exchange's TA-25 benchmark index of 25 stocks fell 7 percent on Sunday to 1,074.27 -- the biggest drop since November 2008 at the beginning of the global economic crisis -- despite a delayed opening by nearly an hour to allow traders to react to the news on the U.S. downgrade without pressure. Standard & Poor's on Aug. 5 downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA, the top designation it had held since...

In the wake of one of the US's biggest financial setbacks, president Obama did nothing to calm investors down in advance of Monday's markets opening. After the S&P credit ratings downgrade on Friday, president Obama celebrated his 50th birthday party in Chicago. We had expected the nation’s leader to hold a press conference in an effort to calm investors and assure them that the US is safe and good investment. Or at least release a statement. There is a very real concern that come Monday, August 8th ,investors will drive the financial markets down. Assurances from the US president that...

By KHALIL HANWARE | ARAB NEWS Published: Aug 7, 2011 01:02 Updated: Aug 7, 2011 01:05 JEDDAH: China bluntly criticized the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the "good old days" of borrowing were over. Standard & Poor's cut the US long-term credit rating from the top-tier AAA by a notch to AA+ on Friday over concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. China — the United States' biggest creditor — said Washington only had itself to blame for its plight and called for a new stable global reserve...

China bluntly criticized the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the "good old days" of borrowing were over. Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. long-term credit rating from top-tier AAA by a notch to AA-plus on Friday over concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. China -- the United States' biggest creditor -- said Washington only had itself to blame for its plight and called for a new stable global reserve currency. "The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days...

China, the largest foreign holder of United States debt, said Saturday that Washington needed to “cure its addiction to debts” and “live within its means,” just hours after the rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded America’s long-term debt. Though Beijing has few options other than to continue to buy United States Treasury bonds, Chinese officials are clearly concerned that the country’s substantial holdings of American debt, worth at least $1.1 trillion, are being devalued. “The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of...

• We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA' and affirmed the 'A-1+' short-term rating. • We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch negative. • 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. • More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time...