re: #779 Killgore Trout

When Congress can’t own up to the mess of its own creation, it does what it always does - launch an investigation. They love that. And the end result is that Congress doesn’t do a damned thing.

They could have reformed the credit ratings system; but they didn’t.
They could have put together a better debt ceiling package; but they didn’t.

So, S&P downgrades the US (curiously the markets think S&P’s guidance is more relevant than Moody’s or Fitch’s AAA ratings, despite the fact that all screwed the pooch so many times over the past couple of years) even as they acknowledged massive math errors. They instead blamed the downgrade on the political situation rather than a statistical/economic one.

They’re right that the politics regarding the debt sucks, but a deal did get done - ugly as it was and no default occurred. S&P is essentially arguing that the politics of the deficit and debt and the budget suck.

If that’s their argument, then S&P should have downgraded the US long ago - like when the US had to raise the debt ceiling pretty on average about 12-15 months apart from the budget as it has done for the past 2 decades.