As I’m sure you know, America has been downgraded from a AAA country to a AA+ country by Standard & Poor. While I’m sure there are many who agree with S&P’s decision to downgrade the country–they cited political strife as their chief reason–Time Magazine has taken the ratings agency to task.
In a piece called “Why Congress and S&P Deserve Each Other,” writer Bill Saporito wrote that the agency lecturing the country on how to be politically cohesive is like “having the Catholic Church lecture Scout leaders on the proper behavior toward boys.”
“S&P, you may recal, is one of the ratings agencies (the others being Moody’s and Fitch) that greased the skids of the financial crisis by awarding AAA ratings to tranch after tranche of mortgage bonds called collateralize debt obligations, or CDOs,” wrote Saporito.
Saporito also addresses what he calls “the other laughable irony” which is that Congress had the ability to deregulate the ratings agencies, but decided not to. In short, all of the “woulda coulda shouldas” have screwed over the American people.
You can read the full article here at Time.com. What do you make of all of this political, monetary mess? Sound off in the comments section below.
