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Originally Posted by porno jew
how is it ironic? the republicans and tea party were cited by the rating agency themselves as a reason for the US downgrade. your dictionary must have a different definition of irony then mine.
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Really? Perhaps you show me that part of the s&p report
So why did it happen?ha If you listen to the party elite and their cheerleaders in the media, it was the recalcitrant Tea Party and those pesky House Republicans who dared to stand up against the fiscal irresponsibility of Congress and Washington?s unrestrained spending habits that caused our credit downgrade.ha Truth be told, even Standard & Poor?s report recognizes the politicization of the debt-ceiling increase as one of the reasons for the downgrade.ha To blame the Tea Party representatives so myopically, however, is to miss the more important reasons for the downgrade.ha The S&P report clearly blamed the insufficiency of the debt deal in curbing U.S. governmental spending for the downgrade. haIn that regard, the S&P report stated ?that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the general government debt burden by the middle of the decade.?
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Not content to leave it at that, the S&P report commented more pointedly on the need to decrease spending significantly after warning government officials that a $4 trillion dollar spending cut was needed to avert a downgrade:
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?Despite this year?s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.?
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The opinion of Standard & Poor?s purports to be clear: ?that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising U.S. public debt burden?.?ha In the report, S&P expressly ?takes no position on the mix of spending and revenue measures that Congress and the Administration might conclude is appropriate for putting the United States? hafinances on a sustainable footing.?ha The full text of the S&P Report can be found at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/text-of-sp-downgrade-of-us-rating-...