US downgraded to AA by S&P

Oh look, blowing money on a drunken bender pays off. The bill's coming due, and we'll end up paying - one way or another. Emphasis added. [Link]

The United States has lost its sterling credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

The credit rating agency on Friday lowered the nation's AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917. The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion - a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts were not enough to satisfy S&P.

The drop in the rating by one notch to AA-plus was telegraphed as a possibility back in April. The three main credit agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Service and Fitch, had warned during the budget fight that if Congress did not cut spending far enough, the country faced a downgrade. Moody's said it was keeping its AAA rating on the nation's debt, but that it might still lower it.

Tim Geithner should go. [Link]

The facts are this: Under Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the United States has piled up more debt at a faster pace than at any other time in our history. Despite Geithner’s blithe promises back in April, when S&P first warned that a downgrade might be in the offing, a downgrade has now occurred. Today’s downgrade has been decades in the making, but the US government was specifically warned about it nearly four months ago, and the Obama administration failed to act.

Under Geithner’s watch, the United States has not had a national budget at all, and that includes two years when the party of his president controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. As Treasury Secretary, it was Geithner’s job to make the case that living without a national budget was reckless. The fact is, Geithner has offered no leadership at all. He should resign.

If only there had been people who argued for reduced spending? [Link]

Democrats own the downgrade.  They fought Republicans and Tea Party supporters every step of they way, and forced a deal which was insufficient.  They played class warfare and race politics against arguments that we needed to drastically change our spending habits.
This is Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s crowning achievement.

We've kept kicking the can past the next election for decades. It just hit the wall and bounced back.