Brazil's Lula to Portugal: Don't take bailout

LISBON, Portugal (AP) – Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has some advice for Portuguese politicians: Don't take the bailout.

But even as the popular Brazilian supported Portuguese efforts to stick to their own plan for clearing the country's crippling debts, financial pressures mounted Tuesday as Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating of Portugal's bonds to just one notch above junk status.

That cut — the rating agency's second in six days — will make it even harder for Portugal, one of the 17-nation eurozone's smallest and weakest economies, to raise money on international markets, where nervous investors view the country as a very risky bet.

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its sovereign credit ratings on Portugal to BBB-/A-3 from BBB/A-2 and said Portugal's high debt load and poor growth prospects make it likely the ailing country will need a financial rescue. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110329/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_portugal_financial_crisis

the IMF should always be told to fuck off.

:applause:

were these the same folks that rated those junk mortgages triple-A?