Posted on 08/07/2011 7:54:22 PM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
While many on the right are lambasting the Obama administration for its failure to maintain the country’s pristine AAA credit rating, one conservative commentator said Sunday that the Standard and Poor’s downgrade needn’t be taken seriously.
Washington Post columnist George Will was asked on ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” how much the downgrade would “affect the basic economy here?” Will said it wouldn’t before trashing Standard & Poor’s track record. (RELATED: Standard & Poor’s ratings head: U.S. could be downgraded even further)
“You called this a shocker,” Will said. “Standard & Poor’s would have forfeited its good reputation if it had a good reputation to forfeit these days. It missed the entire mortgage-backed securities problem right under its nose.”
According to Will, the agency’s downgrade decision reflected its disapproval of America’s governing process more than anything else.
“If you read what they actually said, it’s a kind of half-baked political analysis criticizing the American system of government and how it works now,” Will said.
“Now, they’re entitled to their opinion on politics, but their opinion isn’t entitled to any particular respect. What did we learn from what they said that we didn’t know already? We know that from Athens in Greece to Sacramento in California, with stops in Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels, Dublin and Springfield, Ill., an entire system of governance is under attack and actually collapsing under the weight of its contradictions. We’ve learned nothing from Standard & Poor’s.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
George Will has been a Democrat in disguise for years.
He may sound like Geithner but he is right on this one. This was more political than anything else. Moodys and Fitch did not downgrade. Standard and Poors did because they ran their mouth during the process and had no choice but to downgrade or lose credibility, what little they had left after the Fannie Mae fiasco.
May I be the first to admit, this issue is not something I have any expertise in, so I will bow out and let my FReeper friends comment.
:-)
In other words, things are a lot worse than they look. For political reasons, they were pressured to keep quiet. Now that they're talking, it means we're already far deeper in danger than it looks.
S&P is another Arthur Andersen in my book. If Will is not right on about this it's because he did not go far enough to describe S&P's shenanigans.
“Standard & Poor’s would have forfeited its good reputation if it had a good reputation to forfeit these days. It missed the entire mortgage-backed securities problem right under its nose.”
S&P was one of the “key enablers of the financial meltdown”
I personally believe strongly that S&P should not be to big to be held accountable.
I can’t abide George Will.
Nonetheless, you could well be right about the rest.
This Week with Christiane Amanpour? Somewhere David Brinkley is spinning.
Do I think we are in serious trouble? Yep. But do I think we are in a lot better shape than Spain? Uh...yeah.
I read here that Moody’s is owned by Warren Buffet, so what kind of credibility could that outfit have?
Have not watched THAT show since the death of David Brinkly.
Will missed the sub-prime mortgage fiasco too. And the Tea Party phenomenon still escapes him.
Will is a Beltway insider who lost touch with real America around 1985.
He is an ageing pundit still trying to make himself viable.
"Washington Post columnist George Will was asked on ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” how much the downgrade would “affect the basic economy here?” Will said it wouldn’t before trashing Standard & Poor’s track record..."
Wait...
George Will is a Conservative?!?
So S&P would have KEPT our AAA rating if Barry had his way and simply raised the debt ceiling, yet if the debt ceiling was raised AND spending was cut, we LOSE the AAA rating? This makes little sense.
These people can call the downgrade what they want and they can continue to destroy the messenger instead of paying heed to the message, but in doing so, they all become delusional, in denial, stuck on stupid idiots. Plain and simple. =.=
Most Freepers don’t have expertise in a lot of things but they comment anyway. :>
I agree with Will in that I think S & P overreached. The US bonds are good and there is no chance of any default on our debt. I would take my chances long term with a 30 year TIPS over a similar French or EU product.
But this should be a real wake up call.
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