S&P OFFICIALS DEFEND US DEBT DOWNGRADE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Standard & Poor's says it downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating because it believes the U.S. will keep having problems getting its finances under control.
S&P officials on Saturday defended their decision to drop the government's rating to AA+ from the top rating, AAA. The Obama administration called the move a hasty decision based on wrong calculations about the federal budget. It had tried to head off the downgrade before it was announced late Friday.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SP-officials-defend-US-credit-apf-685948715.html?x=0

I have been reading reaction to this, and it surprises how many are not worried, don't see this as an escalation of our issues. See it as a but the news opportunity.

More reaction http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-downgrade-raises-anxiety-apf-821085521.html?x=0
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The real danger from the downgrade of U.S. government debt by Standard & Poor's isn't higher interest rates. It's the hit to the nation's fragile economic psyche and rattled financial markets.
S&P's decision to strip the U.S. of its sterling AAA credit rating for the first time and move it down one notch, to AA+, deals a blow to the confidence of consumers and businesses at a dangerous time, economists say.
The agency is "striking at the heart of what makes the global economy tick," says Chris Rupkey, chief financial economists for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. "It isn't just dollars and cents."


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