Here’s what Reuters said about Fitch’s downgrade warning:
Fitch warns U.S. AAA at risk from debt ceiling struggle
Jan 15 (Reuters) – There is a material risk the United States would lose its triple-A if there is a repeat of 2011 wrangling over raising the country’s self-imposed debt ceiling, rating firm Fitch said on Tuesday.
“If anything the pressure on the U.S. rating is increasing,” Fitch’s head of sovereign ratings David Riley said at a conference hosted by the firm.
“If we have a repeat of the August 2011 debt ceiling crisis we will place the U.S. rating under review. There will be a material risk of the U.S rating coming down,” he added.
That’s the news story, in its entirety, clearly implying that Fitch just wants the debt ceiling raised in order to avoid a downgrade.
Not quite. Here’s what Reuters left out:
“In the absence of an agreed and credible medium-term deficit reduction plan that would be consistent with sustaining the economic recovery and restoring confidence in the long-run sustainability of U.S. public finances, the current negative outlook on the ‘AAA’ rating is likely to be resolved with a downgrade later this year even if another debt ceiling crisis is averted.”
In other words, the exact opposite of Reuters’ spin.
Is it any wonder the Democrats keep winning the PR battles with the MSM carrying their water like this?
I wonder if the MSM guys have a clue what Fitch actually said. A lot of those guys really aren’t all that smart.
It seems to me that Fitch was warning about both prospects: an immediate downgrade if there was another debt ceiling debacle, or a downgrade later on if there isn’t some movement on debt reduction in the coming months. Reuters may have focused on the first concern because it was timelier. Of course,I could be wrong; Reuters could just be part of the MSM water-carrying plot.