Why elections? Chinese opinion actually matter now - today - when the USA forms fiscal policy. This isn’t some future abstraction.
The decision overruled restrictions in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission that limited corporate spending to oppose or support political candidates. By removing the restrictions, corporations can spend whatever they want for whatever candidate or cause. Yes, it’s ‘trying’ to influence elections; but ‘trying’ yields better results when you have a huge bankroll.
You’re looking in the rearview mirror while driving. I would not count on China buying hundreds of billions of dollars of your debt in the future:
I would. US debt remains the safest investment in the world in the eyes of the market, as demonstrated by its low interest rates. And China continues to want to keeps its currency artificially low to feed exports.
Its also worth noticing that we’ve been asking China to buy less of our debt for most of the last decade, because its keeping the Yuan high relative to the dollar. Its not like they’re doing us some awesome favor by buying it. Again, demand for US debt is high, we wouldn’t have problems selling it even if the Chinese reduced the amount they purchased.
I think the rating agencies were fraudulently guilty in the run up to the great reset.
That said, they are pretending to do their jobs again now. And political risk is a big factor in a sovereign debt rating. Without apportioning blame, the US has shown that government is gridlocked and unable to *effectively *address the current economic challenges. Be clear, it’s the political gridlock and not the level of debt that caused the downgrade.
Not hard to understand.
That said, the real bitch is that ratings are all predicated on the US being AAA. Theoretically at least, you can’t have corporate debt rated higher than sovereign debt. Implying that GE and Microsoft now are AA+.
It’s also implicity, that since US is global fiat money, the only major debt market of sufficient liquidity and investment timeframe, and the biggest economy, rates other sovereign ratings as being equal or lessor than US sovereign ratings.
At least moody’s and Fitch (although Fitch is much less important) still rate the US as AAA. Gives markets and risk managers wiggle room.
Not trying to hijack the thread. But we are dependent on foreign loans. Given that lowering the credit rating might very well increase interest rates, and given that China is a huge investor, the possibility is there for China to promote or oppose one candidate or another through their corporate proxies by putting out more ads for their position than their opponents do.
Might be helpful.
Try looking at the evidence instead of your feelings:
In other words, China is seriously considering moving away from buying the US dollar, and instead creating a basket of international currencies as the de facto global reserve currency.
But I don’t imagine your average Tea Partier understands even an iota of what that would imply.
If your plan amounted to “spend less” then the detail I provided is commensurate with that.
Are we to have a thread on methods to reduce unemployment and save healthcare?
S & P also said that the decision did not address S.S, Medicare or allow for additional revenue. Since many rightys have signed a pledge to no raise in taxes, nothing will get better.
Starve the beast?
The Repubs are playing a dangerous game to defeat Obama. They are putting the country at risk to play political games. The world looks at us like an ungovernable mess . They were amazed that the Repubs would take the debt ceiling to the limit like they did.
What would they do if they had presidency, House and Senate? Bush would be the good old days.
Umm, low interest rates are not “my emotions”. They’re far more concrete evidence then the diplomatic tit-for-tat statements of Chinese officials.
Except they’re not acting like they’re actually considering it. They’re just saying they’re considering it. Just as they did the last six times they’ve “considered it”. China is far more addicted to a low value Yuan then the US is to selling China treasury bonds.
Um…nobody likes to be a stereotype.
Whoosh. Also, I don’t really think the downgrade could’ve been avoided if Obama had slipped S&P a ten dollar bill. Just to avoid confusion. 
Hey, that’s a stereotype!
Posted by Gonzomax.
I would imagine:
Unlimited defense spending
Privatization of Social Security per Shrub’s original attempt to do this
Medicare replaced by a voucher system that benefits insurance companies
Deep, deep cuts to Medicaid
Religious persecution of Muslims and an attempt to limit the First Amendment to Christians only
Deep cuts to Planned Parenthood
Continuation of the War on Drugs
I didn’t offer a plan. I was commenting on the lack of one. And I think you should see if you can get your “just reduce unemployment and fix healthcare to eliminate the debt” plan onto this program, it will be be perfect, no need for a new thread. 
If revenues exceed outlays then debt does not go up. The government borrowed money from the SS trust fund and counts that money as income. It is not income. It is money borrowed from a trust fund that must be paid back. It is nothing more than an accounting trick. The ONLY number you need to know is the national debt. If the national debt increases over a particular year then the government spent more than it collected in revenue. It is that simple.
Then what is the flaw in my example?
The SS Trust fund is funded by a tax. That tax is indeed income for the gov’t.