US credit rating under review - What took so long?

"Paper money eventually returns to its

intrinsic value -- zero."
Voltaire

Global credit rating agency Fitch has put the United States’ ‘AAA’ credit rating on “rating watch negative” based on stalled debt ceiling negotiations.

The real question of the day is, "What took so long?"   After all, with the Federal Reserve printing trillions of phony Obama Dollars every year it is not like our currency has any real value. 

"Although Fitch continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon, the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a US default," Fitch wrote in a release Tuesday afternoon. 

The agency said the US Treasury, though it could still make some obliged payments after October 17, may be exposed to “volatile revenue and expenditure flows” based on the impasse in Washington reports RT News.

“The US risks being forced to incur widespread delays of payments to suppliers and employees, as well as social security payments to citizens - all of which would damage the perception of US sovereign creditworthiness and the economy,” Fitch wrote.

Halted talks on raising the debt ceiling risk "undermining confidence in the role of the US dollar as the preeminent global reserve currency, by casting doubt over the full faith and credit of the US,” Fitch went on. “This ‘faith’ is a key reason why the US 'AAA' rating can tolerate a substantially higher level of public debt than other 'AAA' sovereigns.” 

"The announcement reflects the urgency with which Congress should act to remove the threat of default hanging over the economy," a US Treasury spokesperson said. 

In August 2011, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the US credit rating from ‘AAA’ (outstanding) to ‘AA+’ (excellent) amid a similar stalemate in Washington on raising the debt ceiling. 

Call me crazy, but maybe default would be a good thing.  Bankruptcy would be a true shock to the political system that would force real changes in money printing, spending and debt.

“We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper,
mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no sir, representing
nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, 
 cheated creditors and a ruined people.”
Daniel Webster
Congressman, U.S. Senator
Federalist Party

.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt
Both the U.S. and world are living a fantasy that the dollar has any real value.  To bottom line it, the dollar is only paper and it is losing value by the day through endless money printing.  At some point the bubble will burst and no one will want to buy our debt.