Quote Originally Posted by earthJoker View Post
I said common interests, not that they talk to each other behind closed doors (which IMO must be the case before you can talk about a conspiracy). I stay to what I said until they actually put the US to an AA rating and not just talk about it.
Quote Originally Posted by Hazir View Post
Actually it is quite funny to see how Americans (and Randblade, but he's just the fool that blurts out every now and then about things he doesn't understand) get extremely defensive if it is pointed out that American rating agencies and the American government may have interests that have more than a little bit in common.
What interests? The political dynamic is the same here that it is over there: US politicians don't like credit agencies when they say things they don't like.

But there are notable differences between the US debt market and the PIIGS in Europe. The US debt markets haven't had auction near-failures and other crisis-level issues. While our debt is a long-term problem, in the medium-term our debt market is stable and our debt yields are very low. When the world's largest government debt market is that stable, there's no reason to downgrade it.

If the US defaults in August, then we'll merit a downgrade. Which the credit agencies have made clear.