Yikes, I'd hate to be in the accounting department at S&P the next few years. Can you say, "random IRS audit". Crazy to see the feds calling out a company like this in a blog post. Crazy times.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/moody-s-s-p-caved-t...
I'm not a big fan, but from a 'credit worthiness' standpoint, I'm not surprised the US was downgraded. With the sorts of people running the show, we demonstrated that we were cavalier enough to nearly get to a point where we couldn't pay our bills. And the rhetoric coming out of the Congress was serious enough to contribute to this.
Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but if I kept broadcasting to the all my creditors as well as experien, transunion and equifax that I might not pay my debts, eventually that might factor in to my credit score. If I kept announcing that I might not pay, and my credit score was lowered, I shouldn't be surprised.
s/couldn't/wouldn't
Our ability to pay our bills at present was never in question. The issue was whether we would merely decide not to pay. That induces a certain queasiness in the upper deck cabins on the ship of state.