While S&P’s credibility can and should be called into question, they did indicate the US needed to reduce its budget deficit by at least $4T. Those who warned of fiscal armageddon if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised are now saying it is conservatives (and their failure to compromise) who are at fault for the stock market plunge that raising the debt ceiling was supposed to prevent. The S&P does not seem to be focused on political turmoil as Obama wants us to believe and claims the numbers speak for themselves while pointing at the country’s debt (currently 100% of GDP). The soonest a country has ever regained a AAA rating after being downgraded was 9 years. I can understand the President not agreeing with the opinion of S&P, but to point the finger at conservatives and suggest the downgrade was more about political turmoil and not about the debt (as S&P claims) smells of shameless politics. After researching S&P, we needed the political will to reduce the deficit by $4T and we instead compromised at $2T. Just a couple weeks ago conservatives were being criticized (failure to compromise) for trying give S&P what they wanted. Now, just a few days after Obama hailed the compromise deal, conservatives are now being criticized for not having the political will to go further. S&P downgraded the United States, so if we want to know why they downgraded our rating, we should probably listen to them…I do find it odd that many people who blame the TEA Party for the downgrade (reading my Twitter feed was entertaining this weekend) are many of the same people who think we need to borrow and spend more to get us back on track. That is some interesting logic…