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Amid Criticism on Downgrade of U.S., S.&P. Fires Back
New York Times ^ | August 6, 2011 | NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and ERIC DASH

Posted on 08/07/2011 5:17:23 AM PDT by reaganaut1

The day after Standard & Poor’s took the unprecedented step of stripping the United States government of its top credit rating, the ratings agency offered a full-throated defense of its decision, calling the bitter stand-off between President Obama and Congress over raising the debt ceiling a “debacle.” It warned that further downgrades may lie ahead.

In an unusual Saturday conference call with reporters, senior S.& P. officials insisted the ratings firm hadn’t overstepped its bounds by focusing on the political paralysis in Washington as much as fiscal policy in determining the new rating. “The debacle over the debt ceiling continued until almost the midnight hour,” said John B. Chambers, chairman of S.& P.’s sovereign ratings committee.

Another S.& P. official, David Beers, added that “fiscal policy, like other government policy, is fundamentally a political process.”

Initial reactions from Congressional leaders suggested that S.& P.’s action was unlikely to force consensus on the fundamental divide over spending and taxes. Politicians on both sides used the decision to bolster their own long-standing positions.

Officials at the White House and Treasury criticized S.& P.’s move as based on faulty budget accounting that did not factor in the just-enacted deal for increasing the debt limit.

Gene Sperling, the director of the White House national economic council, called the difference, totaling over $2 trillion, “breathtaking” and said that “the amateurism it displayed” suggested “an institution starting with a conclusion and shaping any arguments to fit it.”

Even as the ratings agency insisted on Saturday that its move shouldn’t have come as a shock, it reverberated around the world. Officials from China to Europe scrambled to assess the downgrade’s impact on the already troubled global economy, and political leaders in the United States sought to frame the issue in their favor.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bhoeconomy; dollarcollapse; downgrade; getreadyhereitcomes; nationaldebt; obamanomics; standardandpoors
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To: reaganaut1

If they were to take it to the streets, they could demonstrate why their figures are more accurate than the figure the government is always devising...


21 posted on 08/07/2011 7:46:28 AM PDT by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: AD from SpringBay

Thanks. I find it interesting that much of the *good*/up-to-date writing is coming from the UK, these days. ;)


22 posted on 08/07/2011 8:23:47 AM PDT by Daffynition ("Don't just live your life, but witness it also.")
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To: reaganaut1
The following table shows the additional debt spending authorized in that disaster of a bill. This is just the initial debt spending. We all know whatever they agree to today will only grow larger tomorrow. This nation's spending is now in freefall, out of control, and no hope in sight. I was suprised the downgrade was only one step lower. It should have been many steps lower.

In $ Trillions 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Total  $1,936 $2,107 $2,319 $2,570 $2,668 $2,854 $2,899 $2,945 $2,992 $3,039
Social Security $623 $751 $924 $1,123 $1,166 $1,309 $1,309 $1,309 $1,309 $1,309
Health and Human Services $270 $299 $329 $361 $395 $414 $434 $454 $475 $496
Discretionary Spending $1,043 $1,057 $1,066 $1,086 $1,107 $1,131 $1,156 $1,182 $1,208 $1,234

23 posted on 08/07/2011 8:42:42 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: reaganaut1

I wonder what the other credit rating agencies are going to do when the S&P downgrades the USA again?


24 posted on 08/07/2011 8:45:28 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: reaganaut1
The "bitter stand-off between Obama and Congress" is the debacle? Nonsense. The DEBACLE is the unprecedented amount of debt the nation is carrying and the fact that it is going to waste 20% of our tax revenue paying the interest on this debt. We are getting WAY beyond the level of debt that the country can carry. I'm very disappointed that S&P didn't point this out.
25 posted on 08/07/2011 9:29:56 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: DrC

Right on!


26 posted on 08/07/2011 9:50:23 AM PDT by Son House (The Economic Boom Heard Around The World => TEA Party 2012)
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To: He Rides A White Horse

But all these components have been there almost from the time Onada stole the WH and Wall Street began overtly covering for Onada. No?


27 posted on 08/07/2011 10:06:06 AM PDT by dools0007world (uestion)
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To: reaganaut1

Small Businesswoman’s Epic Rant Against Obama’s Disastrous Economic Policies

http://antimullah.com/


28 posted on 08/07/2011 10:37:23 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: reaganaut1

...so after watching Lindsey Lohan stagger around drunkenly screaming about how no one would hire her before passing out in the gutter, would you lend her money?

Neither would anyone else.

We have the Lindsey Lohan government - and flashing our private parts at everyone around us isn’t going to make them want to give us more.

Elections have consequences. A majority voted the wrong way and now we’re all going to pay. :(:(:(:(:(:(


29 posted on 08/07/2011 10:39:12 AM PDT by Tzimisce (Never forget that the American Revolution began when the British tried to disarm the colonists.)
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To: CodeToad

Thanks for the numbers. May I ask what is the source? How is SS spending supposed to level off after 2017?


30 posted on 08/07/2011 11:22:32 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: Taxman

A quick blurb about the rise of Hitler and his international clones, past and present: I am convinced that there were and still are powerful forces and ideas at work behind the scenes. Call them the conspiracy, the oligarchs, the super-wealthy elites, human nature, whatever that pass the baton from generation to generation. Motivated by impulses most of us “simple folk” cannot fully understand, while they occasionally fail, they often successfully engineer circumstances that can be predicted to preserve and/or extend their wealth and power (mainly power, as from power flow the riches).

I said that to say this: At Versailles after WWI, some of the cooler heads there warned that the highly punitive provisions of that treaty would cause the German people to become susceptible to the rise of a tyrant promising to restore their national pride and raise their devastated nation to power once again. They got him in the early 30s and the rest is history.

If you don’t yet see a parallel between driving Germany to her knees at Versailles and the intentionally destructive things being done to America — largely sans any meaningful protests or outcry — by the would-be despot in the White House, go back to that NYT crossword or the sports page and order another Starbucks ‘cause it’s gonna be alright — NOT!!!

My fear is that this time it won’t take the 14 years it took Hitler — Versailles ‘(1919) to his appointment as Chancellor (1933) — as the guy selected for the position is ALREADY IN PLACE!

Be afraid. Be VERY AFRAID ESPECIALLY IF WE DON’T OUST HIM AND HIS GANG OF ENABLERS IN 2012.


31 posted on 08/07/2011 2:16:39 PM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: reaganaut1

This White House accuses some other entity of “amateurism?” Wow, that’s rich, coming from the biggest bunch of Executive branch amateurs that this country has ever seen.


32 posted on 08/07/2011 3:01:54 PM PDT by RedWhiteBlue (Mama tried)
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To: reaganaut1

David Axelshaft is the Ultimate CON-ARTIST! He knows Obama is an Absolute Fraud, and Axelshaft perpetrated the Fraud of getting this Muslim Terrorist elected to America’s Most Important Office! Look at who Axelshaft got elected before OBOZO! He saved John Street’s Butt in the reelection bid for Mayor of the Most Corrupt Demorat City of Filthydelphia!
and I believe the EX-Mayor of Detroit who is now in Prison!!
among other Scumbags!! AXELROD doesn’t have a good bone or cell in his disgusting body!!! The Chinese Ministers were saying in the 90’s that they would Conquer America Economically and Financially because of Our Corruption and Decay!!! How RIGHT they were and are!!!!! We are observing and Living through a Textbook overthrow of the Greates Nation to ever exist on Planet Earth!! Thomas Jefferson stated: “The Enemy within America’s Gates are 10 Times More Dangerous than those Outside her gates!! Beware of Them!! Dinghy Harry Reid sold his Soul to SATAN long ago and Loves His CONDO in the RITZ CARLTON in Washington, D.C., just have the RNC run an AD on how much Dinghy Harry spends just for his RITZ-Carton DIGS for a Year!!! MILLIONS!! and MILLIONS!! Does THE DINGHY care about the Working American? absolutely NOT!! Harry depends on the Stupidity and Control over his Voters! SEIU Union Bozos and Illegals and Sponges who get Government Handouts like thos same dirtballs who were entertained in the Roman Coliseum and lived on Handouts! There are NO HANDOUTS in CHINA nor RUSSIA!!


33 posted on 08/07/2011 3:18:58 PM PDT by True Republican Patriot (May GOD SAVE OUR AMERICA from ALLAH and his Prophet, HUSSEIN OBAMA!!)
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To: reaganaut1

34 posted on 08/07/2011 3:24:03 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: reaganaut1
The Bill itself gives the numbers.

Budget Control Act of 2011

35 posted on 08/07/2011 5:45:45 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Taxman; reaganaut1; All

Thanks for the ping/post; post; thread. BUMP!


36 posted on 08/07/2011 7:05:36 PM PDT by PGalt
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