Originally Posted by
sbouslog
You guys do realize that all of the ratings agencies are a joke, right? They meant something before 2008 but since then don't mean shit. When an issuer gets downgraded their cost of money goes up. This means they should have to pay a higher interest rate to borrow money going forward. Last week the 10 year treasury was going for roughly 2.45%. Today, after the downgrade people were purchasing these at 2.37%. Money is still flocking to US debt at an amazing rate because it is still the highest quality debt in the world. Clearly they got it wrong but they can't go back and change it now or the whole country will know what a joke they are.