We can all sleep soundly, the Treasury Secretary told ABC News that a downgrade of US debt “will never happen to this country.”
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/11634/geithner-u-s-will-never-lose-aaa-debt-rating/
Geithner: U.S. will never lose Aaa debt rating
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Hey look guys! Another Government official is about to eat his words! Let’s all point and laugh!
The hubris shared amongst federal government officials disgust me…
I’d be laughing if I wasn’t so F’ing terrified . . . if the US goes down, it’s game over for pretty much the entire world–and the Democrats (especially) are working hard to make that happen . . .
Ha … ha.
On the face of it his statement is absurd. You can’t vastly expand the debt limit every year and then claim that people will keep lending you money at low interest rates forever. Either he’s lying and bullsh&tting the public, or he has some tricks up his sleeve, e.g.
If he could pull that off, all those government-sponsored-but-technically-private activities would have lousy credit ratings, but they might preserve an AAA rating for the bonds that they use to fund the war machine (and congressional perks).
I’m not saying he can pull it off, but I can see him trying. Both Bush’s attempt to reform SS and Obama’s attempt at health care seemed to be moves in this direction. The guiding principle behind this would be – get the numerous but relatively poor and powerless welfare bums and old people off the books, and maintain another set of relatively pristine books in order to keep the money rolling in to the extremely wealthy and powerful interests on Wall St and in the military-industrial complex.
The answer is that no US rating agency will rate UGBs lower, but there may be quite a few foreign agencies with different values for UGBs now and there certainly will be in the future.
Think what will happen to Moodys, S&P, etc if the downgrade US Government debt before they have to do so. They were raked over the coals for their part in the mortgage fiasco and now Washington has them under its thumbs.
Since there is no “Gonads for Moody’s” in any Healthcare reform plan, Tim Geithner is probably right. Moody’s did not downgrade Fannie or Freedie, Lehmans, Citibank or BofA until well after the fact. The US will never get downgraded unless it actually goes into default. Moody’s does not consider devaluation of the dollar as a credit incident.
Oh, but I completely agree. Why would the USA lose it’s AAA rating? The government has the power to effectively bribe people with printed up money, blackmail them with regulatory hell and tax law, and murder people via various militant behaviours and wars. Any honest credit rating agency would have lowered the rating to “junk” status a long time ago. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the US maintain it’s AAA rating as it’s economy spirals out of control into a 3rd world hell hole.
Moody is effectively a government agency so he’s probably right.
“Geithner taped the interview before heading to Iqaluit, in Canada’s northern territory of Nunavut, for a meeting with finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations.”
So he’s going to the middle of nowhere (look it up its close to GREENLAND!) to meet with the most powerful financial leaders in the world? What?
“This is within our capacity to do,†Geithner said.
I beg to differ
Wouldn’t it be a boon for the rest of the world if the US collapsed? That’s what Peter Schiff has been saying at least. Personally, I don’t understand why it would be bad for anyone if the world’s largest empire crashed. Obviously there would be some adjusting in the short run, but in the long run it would be for the better, even for the Americans.
And how is it that Geithner isn’t in jail yet, along with other senior politicans and bureaucrats?
“And how is it that Geithner isn’t in jail yet, along with other senior politicans and bureaucrats?”
I hope this was rhetorical.
b is the new a.
Have to agree with mr. Geithner here. I think the rating agencies are bound to go before they can ever rate the US down.
I join the chorus of those agreeing on the fact US debt will never lose its AAA rating. The same will apply to Japan, Spain, Italy etc.
In fact I expect Moody’s to create a new “AAA Gold” rating given the present US GDP figures (which, by the way, allow the US to keep flogging debt without substantially increasing interest rates).
In Russia, government rates YOU!
from Thomas:
“Geithner taped the interview before heading to Iqaluit, in Canada’s northern territory of Nunavut, for a meeting with finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations.”
So he’s going to the middle of nowhere (look it up its close to GREENLAND!) to meet with the most powerful financial leaders in the world? What?”
Iqaluit is ok, but its nowhere near as good as-
http://www.oldcrow.ca/index2.htm
Timothy Geithner Says The U.S. Deserves the Aaa Debt Rating!
I think everyone is confused. Geithner was talking about the nominal debt rating. It’s not lying and scheming if you refer to the nominal debt rate and, simply, nobody realizes it! Well on second thought it might be scheming just a little since until that moment there was no such thing as the nominal debt rate.
In real terms the U.S. has the same debt rating as other bankruptcies and Ponzi schemes and counterfeit operations. We owe it all to crooks like Geithner and the other pawns of the unConstitutional coup.
I for one do not listen to Geithner, the government, the Federal Reserve, or even to Moody’s. They have no choice but to always paint the U.S. economy in a good light because everything depends on it.
I instead watch the increasing national debt, budget deficits, unfunded liabilities, and what the dollar is telling me. I make my decisions from what they do, not by what they say and I’m sure I’m not the only one. In fact, I bet foreign nations with large U.S. dollar holdings are thinking along those same lines to.
Read my lips
The meeting at Iqaluit puzzles me. Not that they’re having a meeting, but the location. This “town” is a collection of prefabricated shacks and a single-strip runway in the high Arctic.
It’s a sign of the G7′s collective financial weakness and insecurity that they would skulk to such a place for an important meeting. One can smell the fear of security leaks, fear of their creditors, fear of their own people.
Surely the BRIC countries would never meet in such a laughable backwater.
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