Rating Agency Likey To Downgrade USA again

http://news.yahoo.com/u-rating-likely-downgraded-again-merrill-165346478.html

I really find those rating agencies annoying.

Surprise level: 0

I admit I'm having a hard time getting mad at the credit agencies for correctly deciding that we can't get our shit together.

In before its all Obama's fault but they should have downgraded the USA to at least a B in August.

Bleh... the first time I was mad, but honestly, it's really just proof of how bad it all is.

Oh well. So it's my generation that gets shafted. Thoroughly predictable.

Should we really care about what the rating agencies say? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they give high ratings to securities they knew damn well should have been in the junk category.

(VERY ninja'd) kinda agreed. Though, two things:

1. the ratings agencies over-value private loans and severely undervalue public loans.

2. we never should have been downgraded in the first place. If the Republicans had not stamped their feet and said NO and then failed to agree to anything proposed by democrats, INCLUDING THEIR OWN PLAN FROM A FEW WEEKS EARLIER, we would not have been downgraded. There was NO JUSTIFICATION AT ALL for trying to balance the budget right then at the expense of the debt ceiling, except to try and pass these ludicrous austerity measures.

And no, it was not just because Reid filibustered the republican bill the week before hand, the GOP had plenty of time to agree to something else.

edited 23rd Oct '11 11:24:18 AM by Enkufka

^That right there is an excellent example of why political parties in the US should be killed with fire. "Here's an excellent solution...wait, what? Those guys we have to mindlessly oppose on every matter to distinguish ourselves want it?! ABORT!"

edited 23rd Oct '11 12:00:54 PM by INUH

Anyone else think that this is all just a plot to manipulate markets for the benefit of the super-rich?

It wouldn't surprise me, really.

~shrug~

Even if it is, they'd still be right, in that the US really is no longer a safe bet. Maybe this time the predicted effects—fleeing from US bonds—will happen, rather than the opposite.

Meh, the ratings agencies are supposed to be juding countries objectively and fairly. The world economy has gone to shit right now, so that means even the most powerful countries have suffered. If that means their rating has to take a hit to reflect the reduction in their strength, then so be it.

I'm with the agencies on this one, and I won't be complaining if the UK gets downgraded because our economy is sliding too.

Yeah, I suppose in the context of today's world, Europe and America are good-ish, but in the context of all the historical data that these agencies have, I concur with them.

Besides, I'm surprised we weren't downgraded after the global economy tanked.

edited 24th Oct '11 3:05:50 AM by Inhopelessguy

It's all Europe's fault! Somehow...

<holds up hands>

Well, y'know.... yeah it is. We kinda did sorta, colonise America, creating the world's largest economy, which caused a global crash in the financial world, so it is mostly our fault.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Well, you said that its all Europe's fault, in jest.

I responded to your jest, with further jest, that involved the historical context of the majority of modern America being founded by Europeans. By the laws of cause and effect, I was saying that its Europe's fault for creating America - a behemoth of a world economy that caused the global crash.

Also, I'm assuming your second post was in jest, which makes this point moot, and rather just me dissecting my own humour.

Tl;dr: Don't Explain the Joke.

I still have no idea what you're talking about.

Never mind. The momentum of the joke's kinda lost now.

Yeah... it's getting awkward.

The moral of this story is that we should always blame Europe.

>blames the GOP congressmen<