The Downgrade's Real Casualties

Suzy Khimm at the Washington Post astutely identifies them: city governments. Which in turn means, still more local austerity to come: S&P’s is poised to  downgrade thousands of municipal bonds that are directly tied to the federal government, with an announcement expected later …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday August 10, 2011

The S&P Bond Rally

In a column for the National Post , I explain why the current price of government bonds repudiates the S&P downgrade of American debt: If I were Standard & Poor's, I'd be damn embarrassed. On Friday, the famous bond-rating services took the momentous step of downgrading the sovereign …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 9, 2011

S&P Was Right to Downgrade

The dispute between the Treasury Department and Standard and Poor’s over America’s sovereign bond rating is a tempest in a teapot.  Worse, it overshadows the reality about America's debt: Congress cannot handle it politically and Americans will have difficultly handling it personally. The …

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Written by Steve Bell on Monday August 8, 2011

Downgrade of U.S. Debt Looms on the Horizon

Moody's may give U.S. debt a full-fledged downgrade as soon as next week. A well-placed source tells me that Moody's, the bond rating giant that just announced a "review" of the U.S. debt , may turn it into a full-fledged downgrade as soon as next week. True or not, the real risk of a downgrade …

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Written by Eli Lehrer on Wednesday July 13, 2011