~ “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan.
“…In a move that could foreshadow decisions from larger agencies, Egan-Jones downgraded the US to AA from AA+.
The company on Thursday cited ‘the lack of any tangible progress on addressing the problems and the continued rise in debt to GDP.’
‘For the first time since WWII, US debt exceeds 100 percent,’ analysts said, predicting that would rise to 106 percent by the end of the year, calling that an ‘inflection point….'”
US DEPT. OF JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE S&P The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation’s largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed by the government and another briefed on such interviews. Read the rest here: CNBC Just S&P? Funny how this “investigation” comes on the heels of the S& …Read More
Question: How many times can the United States of America find itself in a state embarrassment in one week?
Answer: COUNTLESS.
Less than five days after weeks of humiliating exhibitions by Progressive politicians, the inept one and the lame stream media that belittled the United States in the eyes of the world, that which the ratings companies have been warning us about for months has finally transpired, i.e., the USA’s credit rating has finally been relegated from AAA status to AA.
“…The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion — a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts were not enough to satisfy S&P.
The drop in the rating by one notch to AA-plus was telegraphed as a possibility back in April. The three main credit agencies, which also include Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch, had warned during the budget fight that if Congress did not cut spending far enough, the country faced a downgrade. Moody’s said it was keeping its AAA rating on the nation’s debt, but that it might still lower it…”
In spite of the fact that Progressives who lost the House in November but continues to hold the Senate and Executive Office are primarily responsible, they will blame the incompetency and failure on Republicans, the Tea Party and Bush43 (again).
According to John Boehner, this latest snag is “the latest consequence of overspending by Washington.” Boehner is dead-on.
REJECT!
Of course, we can expect endless finger-pointing and nasty assaults by the Marxists self-aggrandizing thugs who have strived from day one to eradicate capitalism thereby collapsing the U.S. economy. They are no doubt celebrating this downgrade as they blame others for that which they themselves are guilty.
A$$hat Harry Reid spouts that the downgrade by S&P shows “the need for a ‘balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines spending cuts with revenue-raising measures.”
Reid is just one of many who should be in prison.
One congressional representative suggested the following, to which I agree:
“GOP Rep. Jack Kingston has called on Congress to reconvene to fix the debt crisis, saying the downgrade ‘confirms my belief that the debt ceiling increase signed into law this week does not go far enough to change the nation’s fiscal trajectory.”
This week’s decision and backroom dealings on the debt ceiling, which left no one pleased, is a catastrophe and disservice to the nation. The creation of a super-congress is nothing short of unconstitutional. The wrongs must be undone.
Those pushing their socialist agenda are blind to the truth that socialism is a failure as repeatedly proven by history.
In furtherance, all that has transpired this summer by corrupt politicians/bureaucrats and cohorts did not transpire by happenstance.
The foretold downgrade occurred on Barack Obama’s watch; therefore, the inept one owns it.
P.S. Many of the Progressive idiots that surround me here in the overly socialist environment known as NYC who for years have been calling for the demise of capitalism, are mortified at this recent turn of events. Go figure.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The equities market is reacting to the Obama administration’s latest attempt to stabilize the economy largely as it did the last eight times the government unveiled steps to curb the crisis, beginning in October 2007.
In terms of the S&P 500’s performance, each government action to deal with the financial system’s breakdown and the economy’s decline “was followed by further deterioration, with the exception of the late November announcement after which the market traded sideways,” said Dan Greenhaus, an analyst with the equity strategy group at Miller Tabak & Co.
On Tuesday, equities investors offered a shaky response as the Obama administration started unveiling its plan to shore up the financial system and stem the economic recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 225 points before recovering slightly. The blue-chip index was lately down 169.33 points at 8,101.54.
The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 20.99 points to 848.9, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) dropped 28.03 points to 1,563.53.
“The truth is economic stimulus won’t work if companies and individuals can’t borrow money, and the financial plan won’t work if the economy’s not doing better,” said Hugh Johnson, chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors.
After months of tortuous trading, Wall Street rang out its worst year since the Great Depression yesterday, leaving shareholders $6.9 trillion the poorer.
The losses in 2008 were so broad and deep that every sector in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index took a double-digit hit, and the financial sector lost more than half of its value. The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, and the S&P, a broader index watched by market professionals, were down 34 percent and 38 percent, respectively, their deepest losses since the 1930s. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 41 percent, its worst year since the exchange was created in 1971.
Overseas, the year was just as dismal. In Germany, stocks were down 40 percent, in Japan, 42 percent, in Brazil, 41 percent. Taken together, all of the world’s stocks lost 48 percent last year.
The year ended with relatively positive economic news, though analysts said it will have limited impact. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell by 94,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 492,000, a bigger drop than expected, but unemployment remains historically high. And rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.1 percent this week from 5.14 percent the week before — the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking that data in 1971. But the housing market remains weak and home values have plummeted.
With the economy expected to sour further during the first half of the year and poor corporate earnings likely to pile up as businesses account for the losses from the financial crisis and housing downturn, a stock market recovery will be bumpy, analysts said.
It has traditionally taken about five years for stocks to recover from a “mega-meltdown,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor’s Equity Research. If the S&P does not revisit the low levels it reached in November, it could gain 15 percent in 2009, making a dent in 2008’s losses, he said.
But “if we find the recession is deeper and longer than we currently expect, if there are more financial land mines that are unanticipated, there is no guarantee” stocks will not collapse again, Stovall said.
PUMABydesign001's Blog 