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HomeBreaking News: S&P Downgrades United States
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 5th, 2011 7:55 PM |
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Standard & Poors has just downgraded the credit rating of the United States from a AAA rating.
This is a HUUUUGE story. What do I see as the implications?
1. Short term lending markets will get tighter and activity will likely decline as the quality of what had been the highest quality collateral, US Treasury debt, is now downgraded.
These short term lending markets, also known as the repo market, are the liquidity in our financial markets’ engine. As the liquidity lessens and the cost of doing business increases, overall activity in the markets will be negatively impacted.
2. Other entities which had owned and used US Treasury debt for collateral purposes will be negatively impacted by the higher costs of holding lower quality debt. Other entities which were closely aligned with the US Treasury, such as Freddie and Fannie, will also be negatively impacted in terms of higher borrowing costs. (more…)
Do You Trust Uncle Sam to Deliver on Healthcare?
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 23rd, 2010 6:11 AM |
Sifting through all of the pros and cons of healthcare reform, I strongly believe the greatest fear for the majority of Americans is that Uncle Sam will screw up the delivery of healthcare itself. Healthcare is the equivalent of the third rail for Americans. Uncle Sam can go ahead and touch almost every other aspect of our lives, but when it comes to our health and access to our physicians, now that is truly personal.
Can Uncle Sam deliver? I guess it is possible, but regrettably Americans increasingly do not trust the “old man” on this topic. (more…)
