U.S. loses AAA credit rating from S&P August 5, 2011 (CNN)

August 5, 2011 (CNN) — The Standard & Poor's rating agency announced Friday that it has downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA.

"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," the agency said about the move, which was announced after the markets had closed.

Rating agencies — S&P, Moody's and Fitch — analyze risk and give debt a grade that is supposed to reflect the borrower's ability to repay its loans.

The safest bets are stamped AAA. That's where U.S. debt has stood for years. Moody's first assigned the United States a AAA rating in 1917.

Rumors of a downgrade surfaced shortly after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced in Rome that finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations may meet "in a few days" to discuss the sagging world economy.

The G7 members are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

The announcement came on a day when financial anxiety gripped the globe. Stock markets worldwide saw intense volatility amid worries of a widening debt crisis in Europe and a stalled economic recovery in the United States.

Stock market values fell across Asia and Europe on Friday. U.S. markets were dramatically up and down a day after having their worst day since the 2008 financial crisis.

Concerns about debt issues in Europe appeared to battle with optimism that a positive U.S. jobs report indicated the American economy is not headed into a new recession, the dreaded "double-dip."

"The crisis in Europe is quickly becoming on par with the financial crisis of 2008," David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management, told CNN Money. "The jobs report shows that things aren't getting much worse in the U.S., but the focus is clearly on Europe at this point."

The Dow Jones index spiked 170 points in early trading on a better-than-expected jobs report, but then dropped by 200 points in mid-morning trading. It closed Friday up 60.93 points (0.54%). The Nasdaq closed down 23.98 points (0.94%).

In London, the FTSE 100 closed off 146 points, or 2.7%, to close the week down nearly 10%. Germany's DAX fell 2.78% to finish the week down nearly 13%. And the French CAC 40 declined 1.26% to finish the week off 10.73%.

"We are going to get through this," Obama said before the downgrade at the Washington Navy Yard, where he announced a jobs program for veterans. "Things will get better. And we're going to get there together."

Obama, who spoke Friday afternoon with France's Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the crisis, noted that July marked the 17th consecutive month of private-sector job growth in the U.S. but said much more work needs to be done.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/08/05/global.economy/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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[HeroOfChristArchives]

@th784

Comet C/2010 X1 ("Elenin") will not impact or close-approach planet Earth.

Go propagandize your apocalyptic, doomsday nonsense elsewhere.

[Shepetunka]

America is not downgraded...!

It is collapsing before our own eyes.

Piece by piece, one bit at the time....

CNN = House of Prostitution...!

[Darusdei]

what happens when everyone has been downgraded?

[scarvasa]

you are the most indebted country in the world. 2.4 trillion dollars

[SuperObamabush]

death to islam

[1969626]

credit, det impact as long as we keep purtching goods from other countrys and cutting the jobs here we are not gooing to get out of det this and any economy deponds on people who produce goods for export as well as for themself in this global economy the more we produce here and sale is the only way that this country is going to recover from this det and stop beeing consumers of goods from other countrys. bring the jobs back to the U.S.A (and I dont mean the Japines island of Kyuslu - town usa)

[CaptainSpauIding]

@2010GOP Illinois and California: big time liberal states are both broke.

[kbar8888]

@haitianman117 Of course there is no point in "going back and forth." You see the same numbers I do. You say Republican's oppose Obama's agenda, of course we do. The question is, why don't you?  Why don't you oppose policies that have produced 9.4% unemployment, $1.5T in deficits, govt takeover of GM/Chysler, govt takeover of healthcare, govt blocking Boeing from employing workers in SC, govt blocking oil production, govt intimidation of small banks into giving loans, etc., etc.?

[haitianman117]

@kbar8888 Their is no point going back and forth with u on this, anything this president does you republicans are going to be against it even when he agrees to republican terms and give them what they want its a problem even when hegoes with plans made by republicans its still not good enough. Republicans from day 1 made it clear their number one agenda is not jobs, not the economy, nothing else but making Obama a one term president just sit back do nothing block everything.

[haitianman117]

@kbar8888 ok then with that said then why hasn't their been 1 bill for jobs proposed by the right? The president has made plenty sugestion to create jobs and the right continue to block everything. High speed rail, fix the roads and bridges even fixing schools all these things republicans want to just block them but have time to make up bills against womens rights not 1 sugestion for jobs.

[kbar8888]

@haitianman117 Read the 8 page report. S&P listed 6 reasons. They didn't mention Republicans holding anyone hostage. Obama had a filibuster proof congress in prior to nov 2010. Look it up. He got a couple of Rinos to vote for Obamacare so he could claim it had "bi-partisan" support. Harry Reid specifically said they wouldn't pass a budget prior to the 2010 election so they wouldn't have to defend it at the polls, and the same for the Debt Ceiling. The middle class need a job, not a handout.

[haitianman117]

@kbar8888 S&P said the downgrade was because the threat to purposly default and that was republicans that made that threat. 09 republicans filibustered everything so how could you say their was a filibusterproof congress, 5 had republicans to help pass health care reform. Republicans are trying to to hold the country hostage just so they can keep pushing their own ideological agendas. Now is not the time to be cutting programs that the middle class and poor depend on.