LeMaquis Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Would it be too cynical to suggest that these 'ratings agencies' are in the pockets of governments and big business, and produce findings to suit? Yes it would. Even the Telegraph says "Osborne staked everything on AAA. This downgrade is a disaster for him". http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100203982/osborne-staked-everything-on-aaa-this-downgrade-is-a-disaster-for-him/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolness Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Perhaps we should stop paying billions to the EU, billions in foreign aid that goes to corrupt regimes and letting all the immigrants in to claim benefits Sign this petition to restrict Bulgarian and Romanians from entering the UK: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41492 Now over 42,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Was Moodys one of the agencies that gave good credit ratings to those toxic debts? This could well be the start of a down-would spiral, which some were hoping for just so they could say "I told you so" while in the grand scheme of things, I doubt it will have much effect. If Osborne did stake everything on the UK keeping its AAA rating, and this is not a media created headline, he should go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Was Moodys one of the agencies that gave good credit ratings to those toxic debts? Yes. And continued to support Osborne's seriously flawed austerity experiment even when it became very clear it was failing a year ago. It's a scandal that Osborne staked the future of the country on courting major rating agencies that had already proven to have a uniformally disasterous track record in economic analysis. The only ratings agency worth taking notice of is Egan-Jones, and they already downgraded the UK to AA- in June 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Anton Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Was Moodys one of the agencies that gave good credit ratings to those toxic debts? This could well be the start of a down-would spiral, which some were hoping for just so they could say "I told you so" while in the grand scheme of things, I doubt it will have much effect. If Osborne did stake everything on the UK keeping its AAA rating, and this is not a media created headline, he should go. On the contrary I think we have done well to hang on to the AAA rating these last 3 years. The agencies were threatening to downgrade in 2010 unless we cut spending. Since then virtually every EU nation has downgraded several points. So in real terms we have gained ground. Our borrowing costs have actually fallen because regardless of our actual rating we are perceived as a safer haven for investors cash than the others. It is all relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Keeping that AAA rating has cost us a lot. We could have lost it 2 years ago and be no worse off. What’s it cost us? There are more people in work. People are still cueing up to have their cars washed. The shops are still full of people buying stuff. The roads are still full of traffic. Who is actually worse off because the economy isn’t growing. I don’t live in a wealthy area and I don’t see anyone going without, people can still afford to buy food, cloth their kids, drive their cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Yes. And continued to support Osborne's seriously flawed austerity experiment even when it became very clear it was failing a year ago. It's a scandal that Osborne staked the future of the country on courting major rating agencies that had already proven to have a uniformally disasterous track record in economic analysis. The only ratings agency worth taking notice of is Egan-Jones, and they already downgraded the UK to AA- in June 2012. its not an experiment, its the same process used by the majority of other effected countries. The only countries left with their AAA rating are Germany and Canada, and they are also looking to be downgraded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glamrocker Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 So if AAA's are going what do we put in remotes in their place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister M Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Yes. And continued to support Osborne's seriously flawed austerity experiment even when it became very clear it was failing a year ago. It's a scandal that Osborne staked the future of the country on courting major rating agencies that had already proven to have a uniformally disasterous track record in economic analysis. The only ratings agency worth taking notice of is Egan-Jones, and they already downgraded the UK to AA- in June 2012. In relation to this, the IMF also initially backed Osborne's austerity programme (as they did Greece and Spain's), but about 6 months ago began to express grave reservations about such austerity programmes when they realised things weren't going to plan. It's shocking that such institutions who national governments place so much esteem upon are at best apologists for the current crisis, at worst chief architects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat owl Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 What’s it cost us? There are more people in work. People are still cueing up to have their cars washed. The shops are still full of people buying stuff. The roads are still full of traffic. Who is actually worse off because the economy isn’t growing. I don’t live in a wealthy area and I don’t see anyone going without, people can still afford to buy food, cloth their kids, drive their cars. Nail & Head immediately spring to mind !!!! Top post !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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