August 6, 2011

While it’s fair enough to make the Tea-OP own the S&P downgrade, it doesn’t hurt to remember that the S&P has no credibility.

It was S&P that had Lehman Brothers rated AAA just a month before they went bankrupt.

It was S&P that rated AIG’s credit default swaps as rock solid investments

It was S&P that admitted to making a $2 trillion accounting error (remember, playing with numbers is their core business and reason for being) in advance of the downgrade of U.S. debt.

A downgrade in U.S. debt means functionally that U.S. treasury bills are, in S&P’s oh-so-wise opinion, less trustworthy and a greater credit risk to investors. This comes only a day after investors fled the DOW and S&P500 into the safe and waiting hands of…you guessed it: U.S. treasuries. The same treasuries that S&P suddenly finds a more dangerous buy. So what does that say about the stock market, and the S&P500? Perhaps S&P might wish to re-evaluate the credibility of its own market index.

None of the other ratings agencies are taking the drastic step that S&P has. S&P is all alone in their move to downgrade U.S. credit.

When all is said and done, U.S. treasuries are still the safest investment in the world, and it would take either an idiot or someone with a strong political agenda to contend otherwise.

So, learn to say “the GOP downgrade”, say it often, and say it to anyone, whenever it’s the topic of conversation.

But don’t panic. The S&P doesn’t know what they’re doing.