S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt

Well, it happened. This afternoon, S&P downgraded U.S. long-term debt one notch from AAA to AA+. This is the first time the U.S. has had a less than perfect credit rating since, like, ever.

But more to the point, fuck S&P. These are the same jackasses who maintained that AIG, Countrywide, credit default swaps, and all the other gargantuan bullshit that got us into this mess in the first place was AAA and as good as gold. Now they want to pretend they're actually doing their jobs. You know what? Too late, jerks. You (should) have no credibility.

Sadly, no matter how catastrophically wrong they were in the past, people still treat their analysis as fact, and the media reports on it in a way that allows them to drive the markets, all the while maintaining that all they do is observe and report. Bastards.

Maybe there's an optimistic way to look at this, though. Searching... Ok, try this: Maybe this is a sign that these major players in the economy—ratings agencies, major investors, etc.—are going to hold Congress' feet to the fire over this debt ceiling nonsense. The whole debate over the debt ceiling was and is complete nonsense, and if it were possible I would say the entire country should sue Congress for gross negligence and dereliction of duty. (Can we do that? Someone look into it.) It's going to hurt, but maybe reactions like this one from S&P will show these asshats that nothing they did was good for anyone, on either side. Maybe record low approval ratings (14%!!) will get through to them and they'll start doing their jobs. It could happen, right? Right?

The real danger is that we're going to enter a period in which no one ever gets re-elected, and we'll have a series of hundreds of freshman legislators (see Tea Party) holding the government hostage while they try to look important on TV and survive long enough to get a nice job when they inevitably get booted from office. Meanwhile, the country will have no leaders. So much for looking on the bright side.

Have a nice weekend!

P.S. - Do you listen to Planet Money? You should. Those guys are smart.