Obama Treasury Officials Unable to Deter S&P From Revising Credit Outlook Downward; Not Front-page News to WaPo
Imagine it's April 2007 and President Bush's Treasury department lobbied unsuccessfully to deter credit analysts at Standard & Poor's from revising the credit outlook of the United States government from "stable" to "negative."
No doubt it would be front-page news as the election season was heating up and there's yet another piece of bad news to lay at the feet of Bush and the Republican Party.
Only that didn't happen to the former president, it has happened to Barack Obama, just without the front-page treatment.
From the bottom half of page A5 of today's Washington Post:
The Obama administration privately urged Standard & Poor’s in recent weeks not to lower its outlook on the United States — a suggestion the ratings agency ignored Monday, two people familiar with the matter said.
Treasury Department officials had been discussing with S&P whether the ratings agency should change its outlook on the United States to “negative” from “stable,” an indication that the country could lose its crucial AAA rating in coming years over its soaring debt levels.
Treasury officials told S&P analysts that they were underestimating the ability of politicians in Washington to fashion a compromise to curb deficits, a Treasury official said. They argued a change in ratings was not needed at this time because the debt was manageable and the administration had a viable plan in the works, the official said.
But S&P analysts told Treasury officials on Friday that they were unmoved — and released a report that expressed skepticism that the political parties could come together on how to bring spending in line with revenue.
Any doubts by credit rating agencies about government debt has the potential to increase borrowing costs for the Treasury.
It is not uncommon for companies and governments to push back when they don’t agree with a decision made by a credit ratings agency. Sometimes, companies that issue debt — which also pay for the ratings — will shop around for the best rating.
But the U.S. government is an unusual case — it doesn’t solicit ratings. S&P and the other major credit rating agencies offer their judgments notwithstanding.
Spokesmen for the Treasury and S&P declined to comment on the record.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
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Comments
So the treasury officials don't
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 4:38pm.
want the public to know the truth. There's a surprise.
S and P acted "stupidly"?
Submitted by Tomorama on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 5:01pm.
Funny how many of the liberal pu^^^^^^^ in the media hinted that this was done by S and P for political reasons because they didn't toe the line for Obama.
Now we find out that Obambi and company were trying to get them to suppress the FACTS and reasons behind their decision process.
Funny, every slight nugget of good that comes out is shown as PROOF that liberalism and Omambi is doing a swell job and ALL of the usual suspects trumpet it as if it were TWEETED and told to be talking points or something..............................
ANYONE who dares speak the truth is ATTACKED or the story is just not reported and instead we get the latest Charlie Sheen twaddle....................
Thank god for NEW media.
Yep. S&P looks at the pesky
Submitted by celator on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 6:23pm.
Yep. S&P looks at the pesky data, while Obama and his band of dizzy goons are looking at the 2012 election. Obama's people want S&P to lie about the numbers, just as they themselves lie about everything, all the time.
People (and institutions) who insist on telling the truth are the enemy, in the eyes of the White House.
Yeah, sure
Submitted by Model850 on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 5:06pm.
"They argued a change in ratings was not needed at this time because the debt was manageable and the administration had a viable plan in the works...."
Yeah. And "the check's in the mail."
The S&P couldn't care less about...
Submitted by Order270 on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 7:10pm.
...Obama and American politics. They care about getting PAID. Yeah, the world is a rough place like that.
The people in this administration are in way over their heads
Submitted by The_Barrel_Guy on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 8:43pm.
And the bad news is that there's no practical way to get grown-ups in place until January of 2013...
OMG
Submitted by stunned on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 12:22am.
Never heard of an administration lobbing S & P to avoid it's rating and after the rating came out they demonized them. Thuggery of Obama on display once again.
tired of liberal lies
If you start with a cage
Submitted by jdhawk on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 1:04am.
If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes an attempt with the same result ... all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put the cold water away.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs.
To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment... with enthusiasm.
Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Nor do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water.. Nevertheless, none of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana.
Why, you ask? Because in their minds... that is the way it has always been!
This, my friends, is how Congress operates... and is why, from time to time, all of the monkeys need to be REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME.
Meaningless Standards and Statistics
Submitted by scottyusmc on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 6:49am.
There isn't a single statistical measurement, be it economic, the census, inflation, employment or GDP that this administration hasn't manipulated to their own use. The numbers are being worked in the back rooms at this very moment. Don't be surprised to find all the enconomic indicators showing us in great shape by the 2012 election. It's all lies and meaningless as a measurement of progress. S&P is trying to sound the alarm soon enough and loud enough so that even the deaf and dumb in government can see the trainwreck to come. Pretty sad really - if you think about it!!!
Oh, really?
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 4:49pm.
"Treasury officials told S&P analysts that they were underestimating the ability of politicians in Washington to fashion a compromise to curb deficits."
Yea, right. Those politicians haven't even been able to produce a budget, balanced or not, in over 18 months now, even when a single party had majority control of the entire federal government for twelve of those months. What makes the Treasury department, who doesn't even HAVE an official budget (which means they're running on a 100 percent deficit), think that S&P is going to trust their judgment? It's equivalent to telling the bill collector that, yes, you'll have some money soon in which to pay down your debt because you're currently working on a resume.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.