Standard & Poor's

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Guess Who Hiked Taxes to Bolster His State's S&P Rating?

Romney lobbied S&P, bragging of increased taxes and revenues

(Newser) - Back in 2004 when he was governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney successfully lobbied Standard & Poor's to upgrade the state's credit rating by bragging the state had raised taxes in the state during an economic downturn, reports Politico . Last week, in the face of the first-ever downgrade to...

Feds Can&#39;t Fix Economy: Poll
 Feds Can't Fix Economy: Poll 
Aug 11, 2011 10:58 AM CDT

Feds Can't Fix Economy: Poll

New survey shows many of us agree with S&P

(Newser) - Another day, another poll about how much we hate Congress . This latest poll shows, in particular, that just one in four of us believes the federal government can fix the economy. That's down 21 points from October, notes the Washington Post . And a whopping 71% of respondents believe S&...

Daily Show's Advice to Obama: 'Go Blacker'

Larry Wilmore says it's too late for prez to fight the stereotype

(Newser) - America's credit downgrade is being called the "Obama downgrade," and Larry Wilmore—the Daily Show 's "senior black correspondent"—isn't happy about it. "America finally gets its first black president, and our credit goes bad. F***!" The GOP must love this,...

Stock Futures See-Saw After Crushing Fall
 Dow Licks Wounds, 
 Rises Above 11K 
updated
Aug 9, 2011 9:43 AM CDT

Dow Licks Wounds, Rises Above 11K

Stocks rebound at the bell, open up 100+ points

(Newser) - After yesterday's beating, the Dow opened with cautious optimism, up about 137 points to 10,947—and it has inched above the 11,000 mark since then. As of 10:40am EST, it was up 215 points to 11,025. The Nasdaq opened up 41, and the S&P...

Moore to Obama: 'Show Some Guts,' Arrest S&P CEO

At least President Matt Damon might stand up for his beliefs

(Newser) - Michael Moore wants President Obama to arrest the head of Standard & Poor's, blaming the company for the 2008 financial crisis and saying their downgrading of US government debt is threatening to create another one, reports the Washington Times . “Pres Obama, show some guts & arrest the CEO...

Stewart on S&amp;P: Are You Effing Serious?
 Stewart on S&P: 
 Are You Effing Serious? 
THE DAILY SHOW
Aug 9, 2011 5:43 AM CDT

Stewart on S&P: Are You Effing Serious?

Exodus to 'freshly downgraded Treasuries' stuns Daily Show host

(Newser) - Jon Stewart was left dumbfounded by Standard & Poor's downgrading of America's credit rating , not so much by the rationale behind leaving the US with worse credit than Finland, Australia, Singapore, and even the Isle of Man, but by the reaction of financial institutions: "Flushing their money...

S&P Downgrades Fannie and Freddie, Too

And any other agencies linked to long-term US debt

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's has downgrade fever. The ratings agency today downgraded the credit ratings of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a host of other agencies linked to long-term US debt, including farm lenders; long-term government-backed debt from 32 banks and credit unions; and three major clearinghouses,...

Obama: We&#39;ll Always Be AAA
 Obama: We'll Always Be AAA 
Aug 8, 2011 1:23 PM CDT

Obama: We'll Always Be AAA

President addresses downgrade with optimism

(Newser) - Barack Obama did his best to reassure the country after the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US credit rating. S&P pulled the trigger “not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt,” Obama explained , but because “they doubted our political system’...

S&amp;P&#39;s Ratings Are Worthless

 S&P's Ratings 
 Are Worthless 
Nate Silver
Aug 8, 2011 12:45 PM CDT

S&P's Ratings Are Worthless

Nate Silver runs the numbers, and scoffs at ratings firm

(Newser) - Don’t put too much stock in Standard & Poor’s much ballyhooed credit ratings—because they’re astonishingly bad. Nate Silver of the New York Times ran an analysis on S&P’s ratings from five years ago, and found that, had you heeded them, they “would have...

Moody's: We Still Might Downgrade US, Too

Credit agency insists on more cuts

(Newser) - Moody’s may have already reaffirmed America’s AAA credit rating , but it released a statement today reiterating that that could still change. If the US doesn’t find more deficit reductions pronto, it could face a downgrade before 2013, the agency warned, according to Reuters . Analyst Steven Hass wrote...

S&P: Oh, We Might Downgrade US Again

Worried partisanship will block meaningful debt reform

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's yesterday not only defended its decision to downgrade America's once-vaunted AAA credit rating for the first time, it warned that a second downgrade could be on the way if the US doesn't get its act together. “Compared to some other highly rated governments,...

GOP's 'Political Insanity' Caused S&P Downgrade

Downgrade not about numbers as much as GOP extremism

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's downgrade of America's credit rating represents a new factor in America's creditworthiness—"political insanity," writes Edmund Andrews in the National Journal . Indeed, Andrews notes that S&P explicitly cited politics in its downgrade: “The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights...

Standard &amp; Poor&#39;s Made the Right Decision
Standard & Poor's
Made the Right Decision
OPINION
Aug 6, 2011 4:20 PM CDT

Standard & Poor's Made the Right Decision

S&P may be flawed, but that doesn't make it wrong on this one: Klein, Gandel

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's is taking a lot of criticism today of the how-can-these-geniuses-lecture-us variety. Kind of like this . All of it is warranted, writes Ezra Klein at the Washington Post . After all, the folks at S&P "didn’t just miss the bubble," he writes. "They...

Clueless S&amp;P Has No Right to Pass Judgment
Clueless S&P Has No Right
to Pass Judgment
Paul Krugman
Aug 6, 2011 9:20 AM CDT

Clueless S&P Has No Right to Pass Judgment

Krugman: Mortgage mess shows ratings agencies aren't qualified

(Newser) - Paul Krugman blames the "extremism of anti-tax Republicans" for pushing the nation into this credit rating mess , but he finds it a little hard to see Standard & Poor's as the wise elders in the room. "It’s hard to think of anyone less qualified to pass...

China Blasts US Debt 'Addiction'

Irate over credit downgrade, Beijing lets loose

(Newser) - If Washington thought last night's credit downgrade was a just a nightmare, it woke up this morning to the cold, hard reality of China bashing it over the head for its free-spending ways. In what the New York Times calls a sign of America's plummeting global cachet, Beijing...

2012 Rivals Pounce on AAA Downgrade

GOP contenders pummel Obama's handling of economy

(Newser) - Last night's downgrade of the US' triple-A credit rating was the political equivalent of blood in the water for Republican presidential candidates, who immediately pounced on President Obama's handling of the economy, reports Politico. A taste of the blood-letting:
  • Michele Bachmann: “The United States has had a
...

S&P Downgrades Nation's Triple-A Rating

Agency delivers historic setback to U.S.

(Newser) - Goodbye AAA, hello AA+. In a rough milestone, S&P has downgraded the nation's Triple-A rating for the first time, reports the Wall Street Journal . The move came even though the Treasury Department pointed out a $2 trillion math error in the agency's debt projections that delayed but...

Dow Rises 61 After Seesaw Day

S&P 500 and Nasdaq decline

(Newser) - This would fall under the category of "volatile" trading day: The Dow rose 61 points to close at 11,445 after a series of wild fluctuations. This morning's better-than-expected jobs report led to an early surge—the Dow rose 170 points shortly after the opening bell, but the...

Dow Plunges 280+ Points
 Dow Plummets 513 
Aug 4, 2011 3:08 PM CDT

Dow Plummets 513

All major indexes are in negative territory for the year

(Newser) - The only good thing to say about today's stock market is that it's finally over. The Dow fell a staggering 513 points, or 4.3%, to close at 11,384. It's the worst point drop since December 2008 and the worst percentage drop since February 2009, reports...

'Decision Time': McConnell, Reid Work on Plan B

Standard & Poor's threatens to downgrade US credit, too

(Newser) - With negotiations looking more hopeless than ever, a modified version of Mitch McConnell's backup plan is starting to get some serious traction, reports the Wall Street Journal . Conservatives originally swatted down McConnell's idea—basically giving President Obama the ability to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion...

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