call it what it is: the "Tea Party Downgrade"

S&P said as much in their statement last night, without actually saying the words "tea party".

So let's label this properly and keep hammering it home.

They put us in the situation by voting to promote ignorance.

and their congressional minions as the culprits. But I'll take innuendo if that's the best they can do.

Can you believe the nerve of these people?

She said if Obama hadn't raised the debt ceiling this wouldn't have happened - how stupid is that woman?

debt ceiling should have been raised when the Bush tax cuts were extended in December 2010.


http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

"...We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the
prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related
fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the
growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an
agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and
will remain a contentious and fitful process. We also believe that the fiscal
consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week
falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the
general government debt burden by the middle of the decade.

...The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as
America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective,
and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt
ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in
the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year's wide-ranging debate, in our
view, the differences between political parties have proven to be
extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting
agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program
that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and
Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on
discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on
more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have
dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions
only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements,
the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key
to long-term fiscal sustainability..."

For a better descriptive sound bite.

But "Tea Party Downgrade" is descriptive enough also.

:yourock:

He could have stopped it with a stroke of the pen, instead eh encouraged it.

have been signing?