Could very well be. S&P might just being overcautious. I know treasuries are still a hot buy and interest rates continue to fall. It will be interesting to see if S&P changes their mind in a couple months.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
This is why they never thought an agency would pull something like this and i heard that the white house asked them to take the weekend and be sure about it but they did do it in a big hurry. Who knows.
S&P ought not to have really strong credibility following their behavior in 2006-2008 regarding junk securities. And it's telling that the others haven't followed suit.
There are economists out there who have predicted in book form, the evolving scenarios of housing and economic bubble collapse. Their view of what lies ahead is not very pretty and specifically, Obama's attempt to reassure the American people is BS if their predictions hold as they have so far. So who knows? The economists who study these types of problems and have a proven record of correct predictions. Obama's claims simply do not inspire assurance, not for me and a lot of others. They certainly are not in line with the most successful economic evaluations and predictions out there. I'll take the hint and go with the proven rather than with politically motivated assertions.
I disagreed with the White House talking to the S&P at all, I don't like the idea of the US asking them for anything. I think the government and the media made such a big deal of this that it spooked the market. If a more measured response had been forthcoming, I don't think the market would be swinging so wildly. Just say "we're disappointed that the S&P took this step, we don't see it having any great effect on how the US does business" then move on.
This whole SP nonsense is a distraction. There is plenty of visibility into the governments crappy financial situation, investors know the numbers and make their own evaluation. The value of the bond rating agencies is for the thousands of non-Federal bonds they evaluate and rate (with varying accuracy), where the financial visibility is less open to Joe investor.
Europe's pending debt collapse and the slowing US economy, and non-recovery are what is driving stocks. Forget about SP
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Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
