S&P Downgrades US Credit Rating - Los Angeles Times

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Reporting from Washington—

Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating Friday for the first time in history, saying the recent plan worked out to raise the federal debt ceiling "falls short" of what's needed to stabilize the nation's longer-term finances.
The credit rating agency also said the partisan stalemate that put the U.S. on the brink of default this week did not bode well for efforts to reduce the nation's soaring debt.
"The political brinkmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable than what we previously believed," said S&P, one of three leading credit rating agencies.
"The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy."
U.S. debt now will carry a rating of AA-plus instead of the coveted AAA, dropping it into the same general category as countries such as Japan, China, Spain, Taiwan and Slovenia.
The downgrade could increase U.S. borrowing costs because its bonds could be considered more risky. The higher interest rates the U.S. Treasury might have to charge for its bonds could spill over into other areas, such as mortgages.
But the impact of S&P's move could be muted because Treasury bonds are still considered a safe haven, particularly in stressful financial conditions. In addition, the other two leading credit rating agencies — Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings — decided this week to keep their AAA rating for U.S. debt for now.
Both those firms, however, warned that a downgrade could come if the nation didn't do more to reduce its debt, now at more than $14.3 trillion.
Still, the S&P downgrade was a significant blow to the nation's reputation. And the timing of the announcement, coming late Friday night after a long week of financial market turmoil, "seems like a sucker punch," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo.
"Why would you do this now?" he asked.
Obama administration officials were upset, saying the downgrade was based on a faulty analysis.
S&P initially made a $2-trillion miscalculation in its economic projections, which administration officials noticed Friday afternoon when the firm shared its analysis with them before publicly releasing it, said a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
But S&P would not agree to change its rating or take more time to do a new analysis, the person said.
"A judgment flawed by a $2-trillion error speaks for itself," said a Treasury Department spokesperson.
S&P said it agreed to change the economic projections but that it did not affect the ratings decision.
Shortly after the downgrade was announced, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), blamed President Obama and congressional Democrats for not doing more to reduce the deficit, even though Obama had pushed for a much larger "grand bargain" that included tax increases and cuts to entitlement programs, such as Medicare.
"This decision by S&P is the latest consequence of the out-of-control spending that has taken place in Washington for decades," Boehner said.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the solution would need to include increased revenues.
"The action by S&P reaffirms the need for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines spending cuts with revenue-raising measures like closing taxpayer-funded giveaways to billionaires, oil companies and corporate jet owners," Reid said.