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S&P Downgrades US To AA+, Outlook Negative - Full Text
United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To 'AA+' On Political Risks And Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative
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 of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.
Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics any time soon.
The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. We could lower the long-term rating to 'AA' within the next two years if we see that less reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government debt trajectory than we currently assume in our base case.
Rating Action
On Aug. 5, 2011, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA'. The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. At the same time, Standard & Poor's affirmed its 'A-1+' short-term rating on the U.S. In addition, Standard & Poor's removed both ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed on July 14, 2011, with negative implications.
The transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment of the U.S.--our assessment of the likelihood of official interference in the ability of U.S.-based public- and private-sector issuers to secure foreign exchange for debt service--remains 'AAA'.
Rationale
We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. We also believe that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the general government debt burden by the middle of the decade.
Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty, consistent with our criteria (see "Sovereign Government Rating Methodology and Assumptions," June 30, 2011, especially Paragraphs 36-41). Nevertheless, we view the U.S. federal government's other economic, external, and monetary credit attributes, which form the basis for the sovereign rating, as broadly unchanged.
We have taken the ratings off CreditWatch because the Aug. 2 passage of the Budget Control Act Amendment of 2011 has removed any perceived immediate threat of payment default posed by delays to raising the government's debt ceiling. In addition, we believe that the act provides sufficient clarity to allow us to evaluate the likely course of U.S. fiscal policy for the next few years.
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. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year's wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.
Our opinion is that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising U.S. public debt burden in a manner consistent with a 'AAA' rating and with 'AAA' rated sovereign peers (see Sovereign Government Rating Methodology and Assumptions," June 30, 2011, especially Paragraphs 36-41). In our view, the difficulty in framing a consensus on fiscal policy weakens the government's ability to manage public finances and diverts attention from the debate over how to achieve more balanced and dynamic economic growth in an era of fiscal stringency and private-sector deleveraging (ibid). A new political consensus might (or might not) emerge after the 2012 elections, but we believe that by then, the government debt burden will likely be higher, the needed medium-term fiscal adjustment potentially greater, and the inflection point on the U.S. population's demographics and other age-related spending drivers closer at hand (see "Global Aging 2011: In The U.S., Going Gray Will Likely Cost Even More Green, Now," June 21, 2011).
Standard & Poor's takes no position on the mix of spending and revenue measures that Congress and the Administration might conclude is appropriate for putting the U.S.'s finances on a sustainable footing.
The act calls for as much as $2.4 trillion of reductions in expenditure growth over the 10 years through 2021. These cuts will be implemented in two steps: the $917 billion agreed to initially, followed by an additional $1.5 trillion that the newly formed Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is supposed to recommend by November 2011. The act contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
The act further provides that if Congress does not enact the committee's recommendations, cuts of $1.2 trillion will be implemented over the same time period. The reductions would mainly affect outlays for civilian discretionary spending, defense, and Medicare. We understand that this fall-back mechanism is designed to encourage Congress to embrace a more balanced mix of expenditure savings, as the committee might recommend.
We note that in a letter to Congress on Aug. 1, 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated total budgetary savings under the act to be at least $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years relative to its baseline assumptions. In updating our own fiscal projections, with certain modifications outlined below, we have relied on the CBO's latest "Alternate Fiscal Scenario" of June 2011, updated to include the CBO assumptions contained in its Aug. 1 letter to Congress. In general, the CBO's "Alternate Fiscal Scenario" assumes a continuation of recent Congressional action overriding existing law.
We view the act's measures as a step toward fiscal consolidation. However, this is within the framework of a legislative mechanism that leaves open the details of what is finally agreed to until the end of 2011, and Congress and the Administration could modify any agreement in the future. Even assuming that at least $2.1 trillion of the spending reductions the act envisages are implemented, we maintain our view that the U.S. net general government debt burden (all levels of government combined, excluding liquid financial assets) will likely continue to grow. Under our revised base case fiscal scenario--which we consider to be consistent with a 'AA+' long-term rating and a negative outlook--we now project that net general government debt would rise from an estimated 74% of GDP by the end of 2011 to 79% in 2015 and 85% by 2021. Even the projected 2015 ratio of sovereign indebtedness is high in relation to those of peer credits and, as noted, would continue to rise under the act's revised policy settings.
Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act. Key macroeconomic assumptions in the base case scenario include trend real GDP growth of 3% and consumer price inflation near 2% annually over the decade.
Our revised upside scenario--which, other things being equal, we view as consistent with the outlook on the 'AA+' long-term rating being revised to stable--retains these same macroeconomic assumptions. In addition, it incorporates $950 billion of new revenues on the assumption that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high earners lapse from 2013 onwards, as the Administration is advocating. In this scenario, we project that the net general government debt would rise from an estimated 74% of GDP by the end of 2011 to 77% in 2015 and to 78% by 2021.
Our revised downside scenario--which, other things being equal, we view as being consistent with a possible further downgrade to a 'AA' long-term rating--features less-favorable macroeconomic assumptions, as outlined below and also assumes that the second round of spending cuts (at least $1.2 trillion) that the act calls for does not occur. This scenario also assumes somewhat higher nominal interest rates for U.S. Treasuries. We still believe that the role of the U.S. dollar as the key reserve currency confers a government funding advantage, one that could change only slowly over time, and that Fed policy might lean toward continued loose monetary policy at a time of fiscal tightening. Nonetheless, it is possible that interest rates could rise if investors re-price relative risks. As a result, our alternate scenario factors in a 50 basis point (bp)-75 bp rise in 10-year bond yields relative to the base and upside cases from 2013 onwards. In this scenario, we project the net public debt burden would rise from 74% of GDP in 2011 to 90% in 2015 and to 101% by 2021.
Our revised scenarios also take into account the significant negative revisions to historical GDP data that the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on July 29. From our perspective, the effect of these revisions underscores two related points when evaluating the likely debt trajectory of the U.S. government. First, the revisions show that the recent recession was deeper than previously assumed, so the GDP this year is lower than previously thought in both nominal and real terms. Consequently, the debt burden is slightly higher. Second, the revised data highlight the sub-par path of the current economic recovery when compared with rebounds following previous post-war recessions. We believe the sluggish pace of the current economic recovery could be consistent with the experiences of countries that have had financial crises in which the slow process of debt deleveraging in the private sector leads to a persistent drag on demand. As a result, our downside case scenario assumes relatively modest real trend GDP growth of 2.5% and inflation of near 1.5% annually going forward.
When comparing the U.S. to sovereigns with 'AAA' long-term ratings that we view as relevant peers--Canada, France, Germany, and the U.K.--we also observe, based on our base case scenarios for each, that the trajectory of the U.S.'s net public debt is diverging from the others. Including the U.S., we estimate that these five sovereigns will have net general government debt to GDP ratios this year ranging from 34% (Canada) to 80% (the U.K.), with the U.S. debt burden at 74%. By 2015, we project that their net public debt to GDP ratios will range between 30% (lowest, Canada) and 83% (highest, France), with the U.S. debt burden at 79%. However, in contrast with the U.S., we project that the net public debt burdens of these other sovereigns will begin to decline, either before or by 2015.
Standard & Poor's transfer T&C assessment of the U.S. remains 'AAA'. Our T&C assessment reflects our view of the likelihood of the sovereign restricting other public and private issuers' access to foreign exchange needed to meet debt service. Although in our view the credit standing of the U.S. government has deteriorated modestly, we see little indication that official interference of this kind is entering onto the policy agenda of either Congress or the Administration. Consequently, we continue to view this risk as being highly remote.
Outlook
The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. As our downside alternate fiscal scenario illustrates, a higher public debt trajectory than we currently
assume could lead us to lower the long-term rating again. On the other hand, as our upside scenario highlights, if the recommendations of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction--independently or coupled with other initiatives, such as the lapsing of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high earners--lead to fiscal consolidation measures beyond the minimum mandated, and we believe they are likely to slow the deterioration of the government's debt dynamics, the long-term rating could stabilize at 'AA+'.
On Monday, we will issue separate releases concerning affected ratings in the funds, government-related entities, financial institutions, insurance, public finance, and structured finance sectors.
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His name is the Bernank.
Listen homies, this downgrade doesn't mean shit. If the world continues to fall apart, where is the money going to go? To the deepest, most liquid market in the world: Treasuries. We're going to do a full Japan. And the Fed is shooting blanks. The whole credit, fiat based system is scrambling to make 2+2=5. Shit isn't going to work. All the lazy MOFs in europe like greece, italy, spain, and portugal are going to say say "Yes mrs. Merkel, we're REALLY going to tighten our belts... cheque please.". There's not a fat chance in hell europe is not going to explode. But there money's got to go somewhere. So for all those looking for US bond yields to rise, good luck. Biotches.
I think that you're missing the big picture here. This is the start of a big paradigm shift. People thought that money always piled on a pile (kind of like "houses always go up in value/price"). But now everything's going into a hole. Dumping money in a shallow hole is STILL dumping money in a hole; just because the hole is shallower it doesn't mean that that will hide the fact that it's a hole. People are now seeing that it's all a worthless endeavor. Loss of confidence means GAME OVER: and at this point it's ALL about commodities that are fundamental to living (fiat, bonds and treasuries [and equities of crap stuff] ain't in this picture).
We are not even close to being Japan. After Fukushima did you see riots and gangs, etc? Also, the Japanese are savers at the individual level and individuals don't have debt up to their eyeballs. Most of the Government debt in Japan is owned by the population. Granted they have some huge problems but those that say we are just like Japan don't really know the Japanese.
Listen homies, this downgrade doesn't mean shit. If the world continues to fall apart, where is the money going to go? To the deepest, most liquid market in the world: Treasuries. We're going to do a full Japan. And the Fed is shooting blanks. The whole credit, fiat based system is scrambling to make 2+2=5. Shit isn't going to work. All the lazy MOFs in europe like greece, italy, spain, and portugal are going to say say "Yes mrs. Merkel, we're REALLY going to tighten our belts... cheque please.". There's not a fat chance in hell europe is not going to explode. But there money's got to go somewhere. So for all those looking for US bond yields to rise, good luck. Biotches.
Time to open the perfect business:
http://www.healthywealthywiseproject.com/Home/the-perfect-business
Thought for a minute gov had enough political capital to kick the can with little retribution...gut told me otherwise... Go with your gut
Dang
Dang Dang DANG
Okay, so for a newb like me. What do I do? Buy gold,silver, or oil? And also, if i'm buying silver/gold how/what do I buy?
My money, if a protective hedge were a concern, would be in Silver Bullion - U.S. Eagles preferred.
If not, start with nonperishable food, bottled water, and anything essential that might become scarce in a full-blown financial emergency.
(There are loads of "preppers" on YouTube who will be happy to help.)
Think Argentina.
Practically the same corporate players had a hand in their hyperinflationary collapse.
In Argentina, paperback novels had more value than Gold.
People could not go outside their house at night. They were bored. And no one would sell food for gold.
Most of us ole timers here have both. Gold is more likely to outperform in this climate, and over a longer time horizon. But it's more expensive. Protect yourself. Gold (and silver) are the best and now more clearly the only safe way
Avoid the paper version of either (ETFs or futures). Better to own physical for many reasons. First off, you have it on hand and you don't trust your money to a hoakey exchange system run by thieves and bots. And you can ride out dips or volatility and sleep at night.
Gold or silver coins purchased from a reputable dealer is the easiest way to buy. Easy to deal with firms like Apmex have been good to many.
This is a long-term thing. Be useful in things that matter, that's the best insurance: otherwise you're a short-lived useful idiot to TPTB or a maintainer of a cache of supplies to be stolen from. Balance...
if you're serious stay the fuck out of this market and watch a bunch of monkeys chase the bacon...(check out mon trades)
Buy crude and park it in a tanker just offshore.
What filthy propaganda. Of course we should lose the rating although S&P could never pull th trigger on the MBS Trash being sold or the Euro trash nanny states bankruptcy till after the fact.
The reasons ?
Congress didn't scalp the middle class further.
We are not willing to reform entitlements.
NOT ONE MENTION of the six military campaignsbeibg waged as fiscal maddness.
Blame the tea party, Ron Paul and anyone who wants DC to go die.
What rubbish if all is - wall street is complete trash.
1-2-3 hold on America the austerity fucking will begin shortly.
Shut up and be happy. The housing association officer will be round at 7am to collect urine samples. Anyone caught taking drugs not prescribed by thief supervisor will be shot!!
Shut up Be happy !!!
You guys need to throw out your entire constitution down there and start from scratch. That shit show over the last couple weeks has made you the laughing stock of the world.
Somehow, I am failing to feel bad that a bunch of barbarians and socialists found a reason to think they suck a little less.
i can't believe it but i gave you a thumbs up
Let's hear from Michelle Bachmann, your Preselected Next President:
“Tonight’s decision by S&P to downgrade our credit rating to AA+ is a historically significant and serious event for the United States. The United States has had a AAA credit rating since 1917. That rating has endured the great depression, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the terrorist attacks on 9/11. This President has destroyed the credit rating of the United States through his failed economic policies and his inability to control government spending by raising the debt ceiling.
“We were warned by all of the credit agencies that a failure to deal with our debt would lead to a downgrade in our credit rating, but instead he submitted a budget that had a $1.5 trillion deficit and then requested a $2.4 trillion blank check. President Obama is destroying the foundations of the U.S. economy one beam at a time. I call on the President to seek the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around and put Americans back to work.”
I call on President Obama, and Future President Bachmann to close our borders, evict illegal immigrants, impose tariff's on imports, and rebuild the manufacturing base that both the Democrats and Republicans dismantled in the name of 'Globalism'. Also, they can both start talking about getting back the 16 trillion bucks we 'lent' some 'mystery parties' during the meltdown of 2008.
Again, we'd like to know where the 2 trillion missing from the Pentagon prior to 9/11 went. Also, we'd like to know what happened to the 1.2 trillion in cash in the possesion of Iraq went during the invasion under Bush.
In short...we know this is a run up to ending social security and other 'entitlements' , a total crock of shit since Social Security is a cash positive proposition until 2014 or therabouts. Again, what happened to all the loot
taken from Social Security during the surplus years...and so on.
Also, please explain to the American people what you did with all the money you spent on the so called 'Moon Program' when we know you staged that shit with Stanley Kubrick. Was it for drugs?
Did you spend all the moon money on drugs or was it spent on weird shit involving black helicopters and mutilated cattle?
Please explain your plan for continued economic expansion in a world of finite resources. Is this like the 'Zero Point' energy version of financial responsability?
Also, can you please explain to the Chinese that we don't owe them a dime, since they already got paid in full by Billy Boy Clinton when he arranged for them to 'somehow come into possesion' of that
laptop at Los Alamos labs with the detailed blue prints of all our most sophisticated nuclear weapons representing 100's of MILLIONS of intelligent American worker man hours?
Not those idiot peasant chinese worker man hours they got over there. Chinks couldn't design a fucking working mouse trap much less an egg shaped plutonium pit, you dumb chink fuckers!
Also, can we now Lynch those fuckers at NASA that overode Morton Thiokol and launched the shuttle anyway killing the 9 crew on board? Can we please? We used to be a goddam COUNTRY
WORTH A DAMN, and now we're a third world shithole ruled by rappers and street scum wearing K mart suits selling Assfucking DVD's and fake pot on every street corner.
Mobarley -
Just take another pull off that bong, and sleep it off, willya?
Yep, excessive cutting and pasting is a sure sign of excessive bong use
Well done mobarley, for your nerve
Easy to see from this statement why we're in trouble, and why it won't end any time soon. Fingerpointing and blaming are just a cover to squeeze more juice out of the US taxpayer and US Treasury, out of greed. Did Bachman mention that GOP is planning a major "Tax Reform" package that cuts the key US revenue source at the worst possible time? (I think this was one of the major reasons S&P acted now). Even worse, the plan was to cut tax rates and the AMT (bonanza for high incomes) and cover some of the cost by not letting average people deduct mortgage interest, charitable contributions and medical expenses anymore. Great plan for America
Precisely, Caviar. Since 1917 the Banksters have been transferring their own risks to the middle class.
Yup. The conflicts run deep. And the vested interests are not going to back down (not just banksters, ALL the corporate welfare queens)
+++
To infinity and beyond. Pretend is the name of the game.
We thought we were free?
What a marvelous joke that was/was not?
Oh well, I'll guess we will settle at $3000 for history Alex?
"only in GOLD muther fuc##r"
See you all next time.
Always ends the same eh?
Sorry for being such a bear. Just can't find that damn blue pill....
No need to apologize. You're just calling out the big lie that is hurting the country. Part of the problem has been a climate where dissenters are silenced and groupthink prevailed.
They'll have to take my gold from out of my cold, dead hands
+ $1655 and a green.
Our guns as well.
mobo
got to agree , that fake pot is a bitch , where is the fukin DEA when you need 'em , get that crap off the corner.
Maybe Sarah Pailin could become Michelle's running mate?
Now, that would be entertaining!
green shoots
bytches...
S&P does nothing without the approval of their masters.; therefore, this was in the script. It is essentially QE-3 in disguise. it will cause the dollar to fall without creating any "new" printing, the dollar will fall faster than the relative interest rate rise, so that the net cost of carrying the debt decreases, while the sheeple must still run for dollars to pay off their debt. BUY GOLD!!!
George Carlin's words ring truer today, "They don't give a fu@k about you." We miss you George.
http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/george-carlin-they-dont...
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win - Gandhi
you beat me to this quote by one minute under a different zh article. scary.
We need to get that damn fence built.
Protect our beavers!!
lol..beavers
The fighting won't get better. It's about to get a whole lot worse.
Bottom line: nobody wants to actually pay for austerity.
But wealthy powerful interests are wealthy and powerful for a reason: they won't pay without a fight, they want everyone else to cover the tab.
Uh ... Timmy and S&P top dog Deven Sharma are both CFR ... jus' sayin' ... Just like that Soros guy who's all hot for a new global reserve currency...not that I think any of this high drama could be staged, mind you...
www.MalthusUniversity.com
We spiral towards disaster
Survival fading faster
Riding out the wave
Content to feed off the machine
Bleeding us to death
The new American dream
You're blinded by your hunger
Beware, your days are numbered
The album artwork pretty much sums up where we are now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oasnbzEMV08
I'm done... Let's compare a lightning strike/ V.S> Reality.
Remember this day-bitchez- and I don't use that lightly. This day should burn in your memory like 9-11, pearl Harbor, the challenger disaster. Only those events made us feel bad for the nation. This event hits EVERY American, rattles every world nation, shatters the confidence of every human dreaming of a free world...
Revolt is at hand. I don't care if you would die for your country. I want to know if you will kill to defend my, your, our and everyones freedom.
This day shall resonate through history as a moment of clarity...
Just what we need. A good slap in the face to wake up America to the insanity of all this.
Obviously there has been some sort of mistake. The White House is promoting their latest video titled "Disaster Averted." You need to check your sources on this downgrade. We have the official White House aversion video.
http://tradewithdave.com/?p=7611
Dave Harrison
www.tradewithdave.com
Announcement delayed while White House studied how to downgrade AAA rating of gold
Didn't you hear? Owning gold is racist:
http://earthblog.org/content/corporations-lobby-blood-gold-disclosure-lo...
In the coming days, watch what they do not what thy say: Nobody's going to go check diving to pay the tab for austerity. Even if they're lighting cigars with trillion dollar bills
unfortunately the charlatans at s&p focused on the politics rather than the economics....in any event, i am expecting a few dead bodies to float ashore along the potomac....
but, but, but gwandpa buffett says amewica is stwong and has lots of money and that the bad people are trying to huwt ouw pwesident by saying mean things. gwandpa says he doesnt undewstand why they would do it. he says amewica is "aaaa", what evew that means........
Too twoo, kito. Buffet's advice was always "Don't bet agianst Amewika". That was a key warning to not fix anything ever. Especially not corporate welfare
Shit just got real....
S&P played smart, it is the next downgrade that counts.
picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
lol
I just cleaned out ebay of any gold coins even close to spot. I've never had such a strong urge to buy physical. I was guessing someone would throw out a downgrade, but to actually see it. It definitely had an effect on me.
I am guessing the workers over at Apmex may be booking some overtime hours this weekend. The premium to buy with a CC is high right now. I would think they will have to raise it before long.
You can still find a few 1 ozs right around 1800 on ebay. However, I doubt those even last too much longer. My WAG is physical 1 ounce coins could be selling $1900+ by Sunday night.
I don't understand your post. Why not just buy from APMEX at $1757. You cleaned out Ebay.....LOL. Try cleaning out APMEX...they are waiting for your call.
Can't speak for hedgefunds and institutions, but I predict mom and pop will sell and hold cash.
They'll lock up, puking with fear.
Gold steady to up a bit, silver down, (I always get fukked) stockmarket tanks.
QE3 will be trotted out.
Sooner or later silver recovers, gold jumps quickly.
That's just a gut...
I donn't know but porca vacca. Cuz dammit made of "pig cow" satisfies right now.
I assume Berlusconi was roused from whatever whorehouse he was napping in to misconfigure a riposta.
Good times.
non event...
just another
can of peas
to kick...
Ok now, most Americans could'nt care much about this, Cancel the TV shows and they will rebel. So much for America and its folks. Sold out period.
S&P at last mustered courage to do the right thing. This is a good start and hopefully arrests financial frolic lab that Ben and administration has been running to large extent for USA. The threat of further downgrades by external agency is a good thing since Americans lost the check and balance ability through the political process. This is the first significant statement made on state of finances of the country that may have an impact (other than some habitual bickering by a few politicians but nothing substantial ever coming out of them). shame on the other rating agencies who can't/refuse to see the light of the day. Will S&P start scrutinizing seriously fiances of major European countries as well? And yes, screw the dissenters/politicians/other vested interest wall street parties and keep doing the right thing S&P cause "so much is riding on those tires", this may be an inflection point when we look back 10 years later if the system were to be brought back on track (don't know if that is doable but one can hope).
S&P at last mustered courage to do the right thing. This is a good start and hopefully arrests financial frolic lab that Ben and administration has been running to large extent for USA. The threat of further downgrades by external agency is a good thing since Americans lost the check and balance ability through the political process. This is the first signficant statement made on state of finances of the country that may have an impact (other than some habitual bickering by a few politicians but nothing sustantial ever coming out of them). shame on the other rating agencies who can't/refuse to see the light of the day. Will S&P start scrutinizing seriously fiances of major European countries as well? And yes, screw the dissenters/politicians/other vested interest wall street parties and keep doing the right thing S&P cause "so much is riding on those tyres", this may be an inflection point when we look back 10 years later if the system were to be brought back on track (don't know if that is doable but one can hope).
Disclosure?
Well Dagong! my China liner.
S&P should of downgraded them while the market was open, gutless wonders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri8_ux8ZCL0&feature=player_embedded
Marc Faber: Fire 50% of the US Government including Obama
Iceburg straight ahead
You guys can try to explain why the US could exist as "country" without a government, after you extract your heads out from where they shouldn't be.
The Tea Party's problem with our government is that it's elected democratically by the citizens of the United States. Democracy is so un-American.
Here comes the goldgasm with J6P rushing in as all of those gold advertisements rush into his head all at once. If this doesn't do it then WTF will?
Nice perspective there. You may be on to something.
So the gov will confiscate your gold when it reaches $? Per oz.
Maybe they are encouraging a gold bubble
So they know where all the gold is at when it is time to confiscate.
It's like gold holders are doing the Feds work.
You better have a way to get those coins past TSA.
I would say $3000 oz should trigger that event.
Of course gold holders will be labeled financial terrorists.
After reading all these comments....
What a bunch a whiny bitchez.
I thought this country had some balls.
Whatev.
I'm jumpin' ship at the first oppourtunity.
Have fun with the niggers.
don't let the door hit your racist ass on the way out.
MAJOR FALSE FLAG CYBER ATTACK COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!
WATCH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4JvkobHzYg
We should be disavowing this debt rather than panting for austerity. Did you call your Congressman to vote to bail out the banks? Did you call your Congressman to argue against auditing the Fed or to avoid dismantling the Fed, etc? Who says we need to pay these debts? Granted we will be forced to pay them, but are they legitimate? Recall that 99% of the populace was opposed to TARP, but that got rammed down our throats. Furthermore, it narrowly missed being protected by de jure non-accountability, rather than the actual de facto non-accountability it enjoys now.
This non-legitimate debt is really the test case for whether we as a people have any say at all in how the government is run. The debt should be disavowed, first by the people realizing that it is illegitimate, and secondly by putting pressure on our bought and paid for congress, using whatever works to get those arrogant SOB's to pay attention, and I'm not suggesting violence here, which, in the long run would only serve to discredit the perpetrators as well as the whole project. At the same time, we should probably view these so-called "representatives" as adversaries, truth be told.
EPIC! :-) SDS
Finally !
This was long overdue !
A profligate nation that is considered by most other nations as world parasite number two, after Israel, does not deserve to get AAA.
Here are our demands:
1. Hand us over Lloyd Craig Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs
2. Hand us over Natalie Portman, Hollywood actress
3. Hand us over Nathaniel Rothschild
4. Hand us over Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System
So we can take care of them and give them the treatment they deserve ! ;-)
You have 10 days to comply.
END-OF-MESSAGE
I met a guy like you in a Munich beer hall once. He kept using the word "schuessen". He was a WWII vet.
There is nothing more enlightening than a nice little beer hall brawl with accompanying melee.
"They flew down the stairs with gashed heads."
Bring it on !
It is unfortunate that it has come to that. Would be interesting to see the effects on the market. My expectations are these: no immediate effect on treasuries, negative for the stock market, positive for gold, negative for the greenback. Longer term the effects are going to be negative for treasuries and the dollar. These effects will be mostly on the back of official reserves being moved to other assets. As the US continues to run a current account deficit, just a lower willingness by foreign holders to keep the additional dollars and selling these dollars in the market will result in a weaker dollar. Also, we are not likely to see a selling of treasuries by China or others but rather a lack of willingness to increase positions. This will make it more difficult for the Treasury to sell new bonds as the debt keeps increasing - higher relative yield. These are effects that are going to take time as nobody wants to rock the boat. I expect the faster moves to happen in equities, FX and gold (actually gold is part of FX in my view).
I have a comment on the AAA/AA+ rating of the US and this involves the willingness to pay. While everybody was convinced that a deal avoiding default would be done (and it was), the political mess made it clear that the willingness to pay (and this is clearly a part of any credit risk) is not as high as people had thought. Calls for an outright default were heard and this is not comforting to bond holders. The assumptions used by S&P includes a GDP growth of 3% and inflation of 2%. Given the latest experience, these look rather optimistic. I think that it is possible that growth ends up being lower and inflation higher. The pressure to ''adjust'' the inflation calculation and print money will be very high. However, at some point the country may have to assess if printing more money (very high inflation) or defaulting on debt is more harmful. Other countries have ended up in situations like that and sometimes have chosen to simply restructure their local currency debt than face hyperinflation. This is often the case when much of the debt is in foreign hands and the US is in this category.
As a part of the big picture, I think that over time gold will go much higher as the alternatives are few and far between and no fiat currency is safe. I am looking at the situation in Europe and it does seem that the new measures will include QE by the ECB. Of course, they may sterilize their bond buying program but this is total bs as with the other hand they will increase lending to banks against any type of dodgy collateral under the sun. As this bank lending would never ever be repaid by insolvent banks, the ECB will effectively increase the money supply. My thinking is that the FED may choose to come out strong and not be beaten at its own game of money printing by the ECB. Will be interesting to see who comes ahead. My view on the FX part of this is that the EUR will do better than the $ simply because Europe is doing fiscal tightening as well. Big positive for the EUR will be if over time they push out weaker PIIGS (back to the drachma) but who knows if they will do that (they should).
How the mighty fall. The Isle of Man still has its 'AAA' rating - and is the 5th most likely nation to go back to the moon....not bad for 80,000 alcoholics clinging to a rock!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4
Apollo 17, December 19, 1972. The last moon landing. We haven't been back since. Why?
No bathrooms...
Yes, but maybe they only buy the alcohol they can afford.
Guys i know i have been talking about this a lot but i just found an article with even MORE reports of black helicopters!
http://theintelhub.com/2011/08/06/more-reports-of-unmarked-black-helicop...
I Came across this while studying for an exam. Thought you would enjoy a laugh:
Issuer
The issuer's stability is your main assurance of getting paid back. For example, the U.S. government is far more secure than any corporation. Its default risk (the chance of the debt not being paid back) is extremely small - so small that U.S. government securities are known as risk-free assets. The reason behind this is that a government will always be able to bring in future revenue through taxation.
burn your school to smoldering cinders...that's what they're tryin to do to you
It's looking good guys, reeeeaaaally fucking good!!
<< -- S&P 1,100
<< -- S&P 999
With a dated constitutional political system this is not a surprise. This system is based on the idea that compromises should be reached.
The system is a two-party system which has become a plutocracy (political system ruled by money) because of the plurality principle and the constitution (the one that gets the most votes as opposed to >50%).
The system is from the 18th century (some even brag about it being the oldest and best). One thing or two have changed since then.
In my view the system is the root cause of the problems. Its old, It undemocratic, It is dependent on big money.
That is what I think S&P should have said. The rest is band-aid.
All you need understand (and think through) is Govt is a monopoly. Govt is a monopoly of authority (Lawmaking and Judiciary, monopolieses violence calling it 'Defence' and a monopoly on money)
If you understand how the competition mechanism works in the free market, where power is distributed between end-users and competing enterprises, and how competition provides huge benefits and economic progress, mutual benefits
Then work through the 'shut-down' of progress by a monopoly from all angles, both public or private (ie. both pub' and priv' monops' produce non-stop garbage: see Microsoft, the Nuclear Industry, Trains, healthcare etc).
Govt does not have to answer to end-users (except the sham elections every 4 years), it's a monopoly, it can do what the fuck it wants. Think about what a competing businessmans ego is compared to a monopolists: one can run out of control into a delusional moron answerable to nobody, the other is always 'checked' by having to compete in the market every day)
We don't have a 'democracy' we have a monopoly institution 'managing' society. Mnopolising power is the very enemy of a social freedom and free enterprise and sure enough that's precisely what the US and European Govts have been doing for decades.. destroying freedom and free markets (hence our upcoming Depression because of the destruction of wealth and employment by Govt)
..'democratic Govt' was never going to work from its inception, dumbest idea in history
.
Bullshit.
The Constitution is a brillliant system meant to control government. But the barbarians are at the gates and breeching the walls by usurping the Constitution using the monetary system, as they've done to governments throughout history.
Woodrow Wilson sold the USA out to the international bankers with the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. The socialists and other cronys have since been encouraged to go around the Constitution at every turn using the money system making them de facto banker agents, which they are. 100 years later, and it's no surprise we no longer have self government responsive to the people.
Politicians' push for more debt for wars and socialism make bankers rich by financing all of it with usury at the expense of the little people. And this time aorund, there's no pretense of gold backing, which allows the international banker fiat currency monopoly to steal from people by simply printing and diluting what people have saved.
The Constitution didn't do all that. Practically everything these guys are doing is unconstitutional. The Constitution was there to protect us from this. It needs to be taken back and enforced.
They've been pimping the Constitution a heck of a long time there in DC: From White House to whorehouse in 40 years flat on August 15th.
I don't think anything is going to happen.
Sure, I want a change--I want a better goddamned society, but you underestimate the power of the medicated masses and their desire to cling to their concept of "normal."
Like it or not, we've still got a large number of naive & eager middle class people--and that's all that matters. The show will continue until they say it's over. There's still much to be taken from them, so don't go thinking the end is here now.
The apocalypse will be delayed, bitchez.
And it won't come until many more of the middle class fall down to the lower class.
Well, good to see at least one rating agency trying to regain its credibility lost long ago.
JPM sure had the right moves opening their new GOLD bank in Singapore and moving everything out of New York............... they know.. they know...
Mobama 2012... Will his next campain slogan be "Roots". we need to get back to our roots, thats what made this country great... blah ... blah...blah.. change is happening biachezz...
Can't resist sharing these from the FT:
"... Still, while the eurozone authorities’ response to their debt problem may have been dilatory and uncoordinated, Mr Booth says America’s effort is worse. If the eurozone is ignoring its corpse, in the US “the cadaver has been placed in a chair, given a cup of coffee and is being engaged in conversation”. ..."
"... The country that can borrow astonishingly cheaply is choosing not to, while the nations that could be heading for default are getting deeper into debt. The Europeans may be on holiday, but critics say the US Congress is out to lunch. We have got to the moment in the horror movie when the audience starts to fear that all the characters are werewolves and there are no normal people left. ..."
I miss Math Man and Johnny Bravo. Please come back !
The Markets gets pummeled tha last 2 days before this announcement.
Gee I wonder if...............
No it couldn't be - could it?
fucking duh, hold the weekend and die Monday mornings are back again.
I loved 2008, as every weekend a new crisis emerged and monday bag holders got creamed
We all have expected this. I thought Fitch would be the one to do it. Still do not think Moody's will do squat, but you never know. I forget the poster who always types AUSTERITY Bitchez, well it is most likely now coming full force.
I see this playing into the politicians hands quite nicely. Another crisis. Politicians will now tax everything we have. They are going to try and take all they can from those that are doing their best to keep their heads above water. Trading in gold may be outlawed as they cannot confiscate it all this time. Both parties have wanted to cut entitlements for a long time. Well now it will happen and people will love it, once they start their spin. Income taxes on everyone now we must get that AAA rating back they will say and we cannot lose our reserve currency status. Still the sheeple will go along with it. More SNAP for the people they will say as unemployment will finally be alot higher. You have too much money in a bank or 401k look out. They are coming for it. We must get our fiscal house under control and you will need to sacrifice even more they will say. The great teleprompter and chief will stir the masses and criminalize those of us that did the right thing.
Bartering will be coming back so you actually can make a decent living. We deserve a further downgrade and most here know it. But these are now even more dangerous times for us. Never let a crisis go to waste.
Trying to tax everything we have!?!....despite the crisis and wars, not even the popularly supported closing of loop holes and tax subsidies has been accomplished by either side in past 10 years, we couldn't even let the tax cuts to rich expire....
No, the fix on will be all spending cuts, the Tea Party demands it, so it shall be. And the cuts will contract the economy many times more than closed loop holes, increased taxes on big corps and rich...but we will, of course, correct the problem in the way that is most painful to average person and least painful to most well off, rich individuals and cash rich big businesses.
tyler tyler, when we wrote about it yesterday S&P to Downgrade the US?
you said it had nothing to do with the rumour;
(and the plunge has nothing to do with any ridiculous rumor of an S&P downgrade - the S&P would be sent into exile if it dared to defy Obama at this point in his debt ceiling hike victory lap)
This is bullish for stocks.
. . . denying the obvious belies most scholastic exegetics in their elastic and near-endless plasticity ____stretching-the-truth____ through such a rubegoldberg of concatenation and convolution so as to even here, @0, end up as arguing under the misconception of fragments and indeed figments like regulatory authorities, select committees, ratings agencies vs. governments, nations, countries . . .
a citizenry held hostage, they've just delivered the ransom note
ffisted all-the-way-right-up-the-spine, into the very mind of what's said matters, yet here @0 is still the elusion of Who's Who doing it
{yeh. once-you-start-talking-to-the-hand . . .
Soap - Chuck and Bob Mindreading
. . . might as well just continue to discuss-amongst-yourselves, as it is all along happening, if it depends on what Is. is}
Is. ffemur--connected-to--fforearm--connected-to--ffingers--right-up--your whole FFucking BackBone--coming-out-of-your-mouth giving you a clue . . .
okay. a rhetorical device
so much of Is. and Being and Nothining here @0 indeed being an epistemology, but not an ontology, so unlike the woolgathering and gangrape and gossamerspinning of the poor rest of the sheeple
Of course we were downgraded. Our fucking central bank is hoarding worthless MBS and UST's for shit-sakes!
You might as well downgrade every country in the world, they all hold that worthless garbage. Turn those machines back on or it's war i tell you!
You got that right: This is how all the currencies of the world devalue all together in one fell swoop.
Expect big chaos in the repo and seclending market on Monday - it won't be a pretty picture!
you are on the money. any huge repo ops will shut up shop. be looking at japan/asia on monday. stocks will sink further on this. US had it coming
QE3 on aproach for runway HA-738, requesting clearance to land ! Permission granted.
Bernank entering the Roflcopter to Drop some Lollars ontop of The TBTF banks go go go ! 10th august.
HTF is the Bernank going to do QE3 in this climate of limited spending? I asked in another post if there was a relationship between these events? Won't QE3 be contrary to congress' brilliant agenda?
I honestly don't know. I just know that we ain't in Kansas anymore.
Will Obama even be nominated, by the way?
Great depression 2 coming, courtesy of all those crazy guys and gals in both political parties.
Funny thing is how exactly they did what the Hoover administration/congress did. Honestly, does austerity now mean anything but fewer jobs and more pain? WTF were they thinking?
Oh yeah, this will be good for the country in the long run. IN ABOUT 20 YEARS.
Well, I'm prepared. I did what Graham Summers told me to do, including hoarding 100,000 gallons of water in my basement.
Turns out that was the investment of the decade. Plastic gallon jugs of.... LOLOLOLOL.
Wait, when did the S&P, Moody's, Fitch or any other ratings agency grow the balls to downgrade any paying customer even if the customer had fake money? Must be they lost their rubber stamp or something. And, since when did anyone want to pay attention to any warnings these rating agencies declared anyway. You'll have to excuse me, I've been living in fantasy land so long, it's a bit of an extreme culture shock to have anyone come out with an obvious judgement on the state of economic affairs and actually describe exactly what the white elephant in the room looks like.
should crimp japans insane money burn operations now.
get ready for crazy ass markets overkill
Lots of unintended consequences with this one.
Do O'B and BB hold pressers before markets open Sunday night?
Look for PIIGS to tumble - they ain't AAA but they're all going lower, sooner rather than later after this.
Japan and Swizzy will have to take further action to block inflows into their currencies.
It's been quite a while since I read a prospectus on a fund that is required to only own AAA paper, but won't we see massive selling by funds that are contractually bound to sell?
I am very interested on how the Treasuries sell next week.....they are selling 30 years........who would buy those????? But I do think they WILL sell and the TPTB will all say "see...all is good" it will be an under the table deal....you buy them...and I will buy them back soon...Gold and silver SHOULD go up....but you never know with HFT´s........but only buy the hard stuff...no etf´s....S&P said they will come out Monday with all the collateral ratings...now that could get dicey too...and what do the other agency´s do now....do they stay politicial..or do they become honest...lots of questions and exciting times ahead....I am a PM investor....so I am sitting on the sidelines....and watching the fiasco..
So wait a minute. The S&P has consistently missed necesary downgrades on corporate debt and they are labeled idiots. But when they take a hit at the US Government, do they now all of the sudden restore their credability?
I would think its harder to properly predict a downgrade on corproate debt since the people running the show inside corporations are smarter than anyone inside the fed.
. . . since the people running the show inside corporations are smarter than anyone inside the fed.
such a calibration based on just what, exactly: an unconstitutional nevermind criminal Entity which, hiding-in-plain-sight for a century, continues to do what it's been hired to, by those who with impunity accrue trillions while again and again hiring whatever cohort to do so, successfully beyond any/and all natural or international Law within whose aggregate IQ they operate not only without detection but not so much as a mention __by any of your smartguys
Ha ha! Reality bites (finally), Yank bitches! :)
I don't like the wording about "Republicrats can't get together and do anything", as one of the reasons for the downgrade. S&P essentially saying, the government is not getting on board with raping taxpayers to a great enough degree.
As far as conspiracies go, this one doesn't fit the bill. On the surface, I have to give the S&P credit. First they warned, and then, about on schedule, they downgraded the rating. They said if the debt continued to grow (and this is an absolutely 100 percent iron-clad guarantee with Obama as President), then they would downgrade, and they did. If there was some deep political or economic manipulation by a small handful of actors, then they would have issued the downgrade on Thursday when the market tanked. Instead they seem mindful of general political and economic concerns by ussuing the downgrade on Friday after the market closed. Again, just looking at it on the surface.
"On Friday afternoon, hours before S&P publicly announced the downgrade, the agency revealed its plans to the Obama administration and sent an analysis to the Treasury Department. The senior administration official said the analysis inflated U.S. deficits by $2 trillion."
S&P 2 trillion error. Anyways, this downgrade
makes no sense what so ever. Standard and Poor,
name speaking for itself.
people, the same globalist bastards which own the banks, the fed, own the rating agencies. this is all part of the theatre of the debt level increase. now oBLAHma will come out and tell the americans, we all have to pull together to get our AAA back. we'll start by cutting social security and medicaid. this is all pre-planned people!
I am on board with at least starting to phase out medicaid and social security as a rational citizen driven initiative. I think it is a shame that the vast majority of the elderly in the country (and alarmingly increasing numbers of working-age people) can't (or won't) pay their medical bills, and can't (or won't) save for retirement, and resort to the threat of violence against productive citizens to pay for them.
mind_imminst,
How about we start with the Fking FEDERAL Payrolls?.............Under this Manchurian Poys, we have increased the red tape and bureaucracies multiple thousands.
They produce NOTHING, bring in ZERO profits, and cost us trillions, and this Administration, has added THOUSANDS more new blood sucking posts, agencies, and useless jobs in D.C..........................
After we clear that Shi*ThoUse out, then we start w/SS/Medicare.
By all means start with the ones who actually PAID for most, or part of their supposed FREEBIES.
F*$* ME.
I H@#$ those bstds.
I am on board with trimming Federal payrolls first. Lets roll!
Hearing rumours that Geithner will be let go and Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher will be brought in as next head of Treasury.
This is a serious wake-up call for our elected representatives. They need to transfer all their assets overseas immediately. That is, the assets that aren't already overseas.
"Change we can believe in"
Obama will face a 2012 primary
Dem. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.):
"good idea for Obama to face a primary challenger"
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/173201-sanders-says-it-...
So, I'll ask again. Who will the DNC run for prez in 2012?
Mr. Paul?
Yes Tom.
Its the DNC Chair on the line...
Are insuance companies or municipalaties requeired to hold Triple AAA?
II think my brother has a fund that says "nothing less then AAA"...wonder if they must now dump any bonds rated lower then AAA?
check earlier articles, but i think rules will be changed to allow holding onto less than AAA. this was done intentionally. inside info anyone?
Policies and laws governing municipal investments vary from state to state and even city to city.
I have been trying to keep up with this thread since last night, hard to do given it's size. Obviously we are fucked and will continue to be for the forseeable future. The only thing I can contribute is this:
S&P: they did it for the LULZ, bitchez.
Good morning.
Duplicate.
Wasn't so sure about holding some puts over the weekend being we're on support. I would've prefered this announcement monday am, lol.
Yep, notice 'entitlements' is the root of all evil. Trillions on wars, trillions in foreign aid, trillions to bankers............and the hammer comes down on grandma and the unemployed. Sick. Just sick.
Yes, im aware of the h&s target but many were expecting a bounce here. I'm hoping it's a bounce down.
I am on board with ending the wars, trimming the Federal fat, and ending the banker subsidies first. No problem there. We will still be left over with a culture of dependency. A society is not healthy when tens of millions are on food stamps, tens of millions didn't save for retirement, tens of millions can't or won't pay for their own health care. There is a root problem here and just handing out more freebies (stolen from other people) is not going to reverse the situation.
@TIS:
"So, does anyone really, truly believe that any private ratings agency (the David) could do this without approval from Uncle Sam (the Goliath), without complete and total retaliation and destruction in response?"
Yes.
People don't get together to plot shit out. Things happen that you have zero control over even if you are a CEO or the Treasury Secretary.
People at that level are not omnipotent and omniscient.
They don't even try to figure out what the other guy wants so that they can have colluded, but unverbalized, interests.
Everyone is trying to kill the other guy so that they can have more. No one is nice and no one cuts anyone else any slack. No one asks permission and no one clears shit with anyone else before they act.
Interesting:
"It is possible that insiders at S&P who knew of the impending downgrade leaked the information to Wall St. types who are "in the know".
The resulting sell-off was a reaction, not to any real market forces, but to insider rumors floating around about S&P's impending action.
This week the FBI, Justice Department and SEC should raid the S&P offices and get to the bottom of this. Insider trading has long been tolerated. Traders who are plugged into the rumor mill make millions trading on information that is not publicly available. I think that once the SEC and others look into it, the cockroaches at S&P will flee the light. Maybe we can squish a few."
http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/joshua_montgomery/2011/aug/6/insider-tra...
Go get those Bitchez..
Interesting, so we do get the bounce monday and my puts get smoked. LOL.
One things for sure.........widespread distrust of the gov't is at an all time high. Credibility is GONE.
My opinion on the US: Stick a fork in it.
Who's the pussy that released this on a Friday night?
You must of missed the pre-release on Wednesday night...
About ten days ago, it was reported in some French newspapers(don't remember which one) that Sarkosy sent someone to Berlin to inquire about a supposed dumping of Greek bonds from German banks.
And then a weeek ago El Pais reported that the Deutsche Bank reduced it's exposition to spanish bond by 70%.
Is the widening in Europe caused by German banks leaving the boat?
I don't have a Bloomberg terminal, someone knows who's selling?
Since the last Europian bailout is supposed to take place in september and asks bank to participate voluntarily up to 15%, this selling would not even break the agreement.
I yes, then we have just a month to go.
I wonder about the widespread chaos on Monday. It's obvious now the big dicks already adjusted themselves on Thursday. Many who 'must' hold AAA will just adjust their rules. Yep, they will just ignore the newest warning sign (like they've ignored all others for years). It will be business as usual. "America can't possible default..."
As we sink further into the abyss you will see more and more people clinging to the past pretending that all of this is a bad dream.
That's what worries me. Ignore the problems, pretend they don't exist. The rich stay rich and stay in power and take the rest of us threw a 30 year long ride thru fucking hell.
E-rade baby loses everything...hilarious!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4hfdaC7eL4&feature=player_embedded
Well done, 11 years ago we had a budget surplus, were paying down our debt and were on track to have it totally paid off by now....and we were in a position to do all this debt reduction without gutting social safety net, we just had to keep same taxing and spending policies of Bush 1 and Clinton....but just 10 years that's been all trashed. Who benefits and whom gets screwed?
China attacks US debt 'addiction' after America loses AAA credit rating http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8685968/China-attacks...
"There's hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes... Sammy took to stealin,when he got that empty feelin, for a hundred dollar habit without overtime."
-John Prine
John Prine makes a great soundtrack for the fall of the american empire. My favorite track "Spanish Pipedream", seems to fill the void the MSM created in my id.
She was a level headed dancer, on the road to alcohol;
an i was just a soldier, on the way to Montreal.
She pressed her chest against me, about the time the jukebox broke;
she gave me a peck on the back of the neck, these are the words she spoke.
Blow up yer TV,
Throw away your paper,
Go the the country,
Build you a home,
Plant a little garden,
Eat alot of peaches,
Trying to find jesus on your own.
P.S.
Prine's, "Sam Stone" also helps you understand the Keynesian mind; looks like the fed will "pop its last baloon" before the 2012 election.
May our foresight protect us all from whatever happens in 2012.