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tonkatojo
06-Aug-11, 13:46
Interesting the news the yanks have had their credit rating down graded to AA+. Is this the end of the "how great are we swagger" ? or a blip in the news. It must hurt with a bruise in their ego if nowt else, the howls of indignation from the white house will be deafening (oh to be fly on the wall there).
Also interesting the Chinese offer of standing in as the best currency instead of the $ I wonder what will come of it.
I wonder what the coalition will blame for the next global fall, surely they wont still use the " we inherited " one.

And no I am not totally anti American.

ducati
06-Aug-11, 13:49
It shows how lucky we are having Cameron and Clegg at the wheel. We are not as totally screwed as the rest of the western world.

tonkatojo
06-Aug-11, 13:54
It shows how lucky we are having Cameron and Clegg at the wheel. We are not as totally screwed as the rest of the western world.

You missed out one word though " yet ".

Bazeye
06-Aug-11, 13:56
Its still better than my credit rating.

tonkatojo
06-Aug-11, 13:58
Its still better than my credit rating.

Aye but you are not whingin " we inherited it ".

secrets in symmetry
06-Aug-11, 14:53
The BBC say (see US loses top-notch credit rating (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14428930)):



S&P said in its report (http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DUS_Downgrade d_AA%2B.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1243942957443&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8) issued late on Friday: "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 stabilise 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 of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges."

The agency said it might lower the US long-term rating another notch to AA within the next two years if its deficit reduction measures were deemed inadequate.

S&P noted that the bill passed by Congress this week did not include new revenues - Republicans had staunchly opposed President Barack Obama's calls for tax rises to help pay off America's deficit.

The credit agency also noted that the legislation contained only minor policy changes to Medicare, an entitlement programme dear to Democrats.

"The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed," it added.



I find it hard to argue with S&P's statement.

The founders of the American state and the writers of the constitution would be appalled to learn that the checks and balances they inserted into it may have caused (albeit indirectly) the US's credit rating to be lowered! The Westminster system of Government with its FPTP electoral system is far from perfect, but it's unlikely to ever suffer from the recent lack of action and subsequent humiliation that America has suffered.

A similar thing could have happened in the annual budget discussions several times in the previous parliament at Holyrood though, and without the Tories' support for Swinney's budgets it would have done.

Of course, with next year's presidential election looming, the inaction in America was mainly due to political posturing and manoeuvering. A conceivable consequence is that the money men are playing games with Italy and Spain. Could America be their next target, or is it too big?

sandyr1
07-Aug-11, 16:23
To answer your last comment....Nothing/no one is too big to fail.
And you are correct....Election posturing~!
Firstly they have to stop their wars....and being the World's Policeman.
Then they need to take in more money....

Their mortgages are tax deductible/
They have very little Sales Tax/ some States do, but it is minimal.
They have no VAT....In Canada we had a Provincial sales tax and a Federal one....now we have.....wait for it....a Harmonized Sale Tax.... of 13%.

And the Leaders of the World's Countries are all saying that things will be 'fine', and they are rallying around the US.......wrong....things are not 'fine'. We are all in trouble......Over 80% of goods/cars etc.manufactured in Canada go to the US.......
We are being fed a story of smoke and mirrors....In Europe these Countries are covering for each other...If one goes down, we all may.