The debt ceiling issue was all political grandstanding. The downgrade has almost nothing to do with it, nor the evil bogeyman of "omigawdweregonnadefault!".

S&P has been warning publicly since April, and implying since before then, that a downgrade was imminent. They're actually the 3rd house to do it, but they are the first of the big 3. Politically they threw the WH a bone by doing it after close on Friday.

US downgrade will be followed by GSAs, States, Munis, large insurance companies, and large pension funds.