The three main ratings agencies declined to comment Monday on the prospect of future downgrades. However, the agencies, along with economists and analysts, have signaled that doubts about the nation’s debt will persist.
Moody’s Investors Services has said it will probably rate the US debt as AAA for now but with a negative outlook, a rating that indicates a possible downgrade yet to come.
Fitch indicated that the deficit must be reduced to a “more sustainable level” for the US to maintain its AAA rating. Moreover, Standard & Poor’s has said any deal to raise the debt ceiling must cut at least $4 trillion from future budget deficits or the rating will probably be lowered to AA.
The deal crafted by Obama and congressional leaders cuts only about half that amount, which led at least one expert to suggest that S&P could still downgrade the rating as early as next month.
However, ratings agencies probably will not look favorably on the fact that most of the spending cuts in the current plan will not be made until after 2013, one income strategist told reporters.
Some lawmakers have taken the threats with a grain of salt, after all these are the same companies who had guaranteed the near certainty of the solvency of the US housing market, and companies such as AIG, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Moreover, some Democrats say that the threats seem to be a strategy for companies to bully the Federal government from passing too many tax increases over the next two years, although that accusation remains impossible to verify.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com