Britain To Lose Aaa Credit Rating

[punter]

Spendthrift politicians who won't make the necessary cuts to the budget are dooming the economy:

-

George Osborne has today shrugged off fears Britain is perilously close to losing its gold-plated AAA credit rating.

International agency Fitch has warned it may be taken away after the Chancellor revealed he must borrow an extra £100billion and will miss important debt targets.

Putting a brave face on it Mr Osborne admitted: 'It wouldn't be a good thing' but added the UK was still one of the best places in the world to invest.

Loss of the coveted rating would push up the Government's borrowing costs and blow a hole in the Coalition's plans to tackle the huge budget deficit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2243858/Osborne-borrow-100bn-missing-debt-targets--putting-Britains-AAA-rating-risk.html#ixzz2EI3WTCnL

-

Osborne is lying of course and Balls statements are rank hypocrisy. This is a big FU to the political class and to the big spenders in government. When will they learn and stop pilling up this unimaginable debt?

[EUBanana]

I noticed Peston is preparing the way by arguing on the BBC website that it won't make much difference if we are downgraded.

Fitch are French though and therefore particularly biased, the French have been waiting for an excuse to downgrade us given they themselves have been downgraded (by everybody but Fitch I think!).

Edited December 6, 2012 by EUBanana

[DTMark]

I noticed Peston is preparing the way by arguing on the BBC website that it won't make much difference if we are downgraded.

I thought that.

Then I remembered Osborne's plan for 100 year gilts.

And that insurance * pension companies have to buy AAA rated (if I am correct on that, welcome to clarification?)

So it might cause him a problem with that if they ever decide to offer them on the open market instead of just getting the BoE to print the money.

But then of course, it does leave that latter option open, so perhaps it doesn't make much difference. At least not in the term of this Parliament which is as far as the coalition are interested in.

* Edit to correct horrendous error.

Edited December 6, 2012 by DTMark

[The Masked Tulip]

I think it will be on Friday once the markets close.

[punter]

I noticed Peston is preparing the way by arguing on the BBC website that it won't make much difference if we are downgraded.

Fitch are French though and therefore particularly biased, the French have been waiting for an excuse to downgrade us given they themselves have been downgraded (by everybody but Fitch I think!).

Well Moody's and S&P should also downgrade us and downgrade even more (though I doubt they will , it's coming though) and Peston is an idiot peddling propaganda.

It makes servicing our enormous debt more expensive which means less money for public services.

The interest on the debt alone will become all consuming in the budget and further cuts will be needed.

We're headed for a Greek style death spiral because these big spending politicians won't make the necessary cuts to the budget and to public services.

Peston is an official propaganda mouthpiece of the political Establishment that wants to destroy the economy through deficits and debt.

[OnlyMe]

the UK was still one of the best places in the world to invest

How did fukwit work that one out?

Loss making - trade deficit every year.

Can't make loan payments without borrowing more.

Can't make accrued states pension liabilities without borrowing more.

Can't make infrastructure investments without resorting to cripplingly bad value for money pfi deals.

Can't invest in new energy production without slush funcing it with other peoples (the taxpyer's money).

Has a central bank with financial squits, can't help itself printing money and pretending it is making things better by making poeple poorer.

Low investment

High costs.

Lack of infrastructure, building land / exapansion for existing companies that haven't already left.

Foreign ownerhsip of nearly every utility.

Failing private pension system.

etc etc,

The list is bloody endless.

[EUBanana]

Well Moody's and S&P should also downgrade us and downgrade even more (though I doubt they will , it's coming though) and Peston is an idiot peddling propaganda.

It makes servicing our enormous debt more expensive which means less money for public services.

The interest on the debt alone will become all consuming in the budget and further cuts will be needed.

We're headed for a Greek style death spiral because these big spending politicians won't make the necessary cuts to the budget and to public services.

Peston is an official propaganda mouthpiece of the political Establishment that wants to destroy the economy through deficits and debt.

Oh absolutely. What Peston spouts is a load of Ed Balls.

But the fact that he's spouting it tellsme that opinion is being prepared, the Astroglide being applied as it were.

[punter]

the UK was still one of the best places in the world to invest

How did fukwit work that one out?

Loss making - trade deficit every year.

Can't make loan payments without borrowing more.

Can't make accrued states pension liabilities without borrowing more.

Can't make infrastructure investments without resorting to cripplingly bad value for money pfi deals.

Can't invest in new energy production without slush funcing it with other peoples (the taxpyer's money).

Has a central bank with financial squits, can't help itself printing money and pretending it is making things better by making poeple poorer.

Low investment

High costs.

Lack of infrastructure, building land / exapansion for existing companies that haven't already left.

Foreign ownerhsip of nearly every utility.

Failing private pension system.

etc etc,

The list is bloody endless.

George is just a front man, dancing on the deck of the Titanic.

The amazing thing is our creditors are still swallowing our BS when the Treasury hasn't got a forecast right in nearly a decade and now claims to be able to balance the books in 2018

[DTMark]

the UK was still one of the best places in the world to invest

How did fukwit work that one out?

Loss making - trade deficit every year.

Can't make loan payments without borrowing more.

Can't make accrued states pension liabilities without borrowing more.

Can't make infrastructure investments without resorting to cripplingly bad value for money pfi deals.

Can't invest in new energy production without slush funcing it with other peoples (the taxpyer's money).

Has a central bank with financial squits, can't help itself printing money and pretending it is making things better by making poeple poorer.

Low investment

High costs.

Lack of infrastructure, building land / exapansion for existing companies that haven't already left.

Foreign ownerhsip of nearly every utility.

Failing private pension system.

etc etc,

The list is bloody endless.

Imagine the heads of all the Western countries stood side by side spinning plates, "It's a Knockout" style.

Greece, Spain and Italy have already had to exit the contest because they have dropped one already.

Ours are still spinning for the moment.

[Stainless Sam]

Can't come too soon for me. I'm fed up with poor (and getting worse) interest rates on my savings and a housing market defying gravity because the idiots who spent over the odds continue to get cheap money and believe that someone is going to pay 2007 prices.

[Democorruptcy]

I noticed Peston is preparing the way by arguing on the BBC website that it won't make much difference if we are downgraded.

Fitch are French though and therefore particularly biased, the French have been waiting for an excuse to downgrade us given they themselves have been downgraded (by everybody but Fitch I think!).

:

You have to be biased to downgrade a country printing money to buy it's own debt then handing the gilt interest back to itself.

Have you considered a career as a comedian?

[Number79]

That should knock sterling, get us back in the currency race to the bottom and improve exports

[EUBanana]

:

You have to be biased to downgrade a country printing money to buy it's own debt then handing the gilt interest back to itself.

Have you considered a career as a comedian?

Huh? It's a statement of fact. The first ratings agency to demote us will probably be them. They are the ones most inclined to do so, for political reasons.

I guess the other ones who think we are AAA are keeping us AAA also for political reasons of their own, as it seems to have little to do with economic reality in any case.

It's not a comment on whether it's deserved or not: of course it is.

[Democorruptcy]

Huh? It's a statement of fact. The first ratings agency to demote us will probably be them. They are the ones most inclined to do so, for political reasons.

I guess the other ones who think we are AAA are keeping us AAA also for political reasons of their own, as it seems to have little to do with economic reality in any case.

It's not a comment on whether it's deserved or not: of course it is.

I think you might find that rating agencies are more likely to be hedge fund than political entities.

[OnlyMe]

Huh? It's a statement of fact. The first ratings agency to demote us will probably be them. They are the ones most inclined to do so, for political reasons.

I guess the other ones who think we are AAA are keeping us AAA also for political reasons of their own, as it seems to have little to do with economic reality in any case.

It's not a comment on whether it's deserved or not: of course it is.

The Chinese are reading the script. There's also that other less well known US one which escapes me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8532373/Chinese-rating-agency-downgrades-UK-debt.html

Chinese rating agency downgrades UK debt

A Chinese ratings house has downgraded Britain's sovereign credit rating over what it said was the country's gloomy economic growth prospects and weakening ability to pay back debt.

Chinese rating agency downgrades UK debt

Dagong was concerned about uncertainties arising from the Bank of England's future monetary policy and the impact of eurozone debt woes on public finances. Photo: PA

AFP

11:30AM BST 24 May 2011

Comments141 Comments

Dagong Global Credit Rating Company downgraded the UK's local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating to A+ from AA- with a "negative" outlook for its solvency, the company said in a statement.

[@contradevian]

These the same credit ratings agencies that were rating any toxic shit going as an AAA investment for a fee?

How short memories are.

Not saying UK isn't in a mess but why these agencies still exist is a mystery to me.

[punter]

These the same credit ratings agencies that were rating any toxic shit going as an AAA investment for a fee?

How short memories are.

Not saying UK isn't in a mess but why these agencies still exist is a mystery to me.

Yes, those ones.. the fact that they still maintain the U.K as AAA for so long is also a mystery. They have very little credibility with the wider public but in the investment world they still somehow retain that credibility.

[punter]

Huh? It's a statement of fact. The first ratings agency to demote us will probably be them. They are the ones most inclined to do so, for political reasons.

I guess the other ones who think we are AAA are keeping us AAA also for political reasons of their own, as it seems to have little to do with economic reality in any case.

It's not a comment on whether it's deserved or not: of course it is.

They need to downgrade us for the actual reason that we're broke and can't pay our bills. It's a political decision keeping us at AAA for so long when we're clearly not, missing growth and debt forecasts left and right, buying our own bonds, have massive unfunded liabilities and a debt we will never pay back along with exploding deficit just put back a few more years into the never never.

That's the reason we ought to be downgraded not because one of the three ratings agencies happens to be french and for some reason hates us.

Edited December 6, 2012 by punter

[OnlyMe]

That's the one Egan-Jones.

AA-.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/04/uk-unitedkingdom-rating-eganjones-idUKBRE8530ZR20120604

Egan-Jones cuts UK sovereign rating to AA-minus

NEW YORK | Mon Jun 4, 2012 9:30pm BST

(Reuters) - Rating agency Egan-Jones cut the credit rating for the United Kingdom on Monday to AA-minus with a negative outlook from AA, the latest in a string of European sovereign downgrades from the agency.

Dagong Global Credit Rating Company downgraded the UK's local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating to A+ from AA- with a "negative" outlook for its solvency, the company said in a statement.

[alexw]

Yes, those ones.. the fact that they still maintain the U.K as AAA for so long is also a mystery. They have very little credibility with the wider public but in the investment world they still somehow retain that credibility.

The thing is pretty much all the major AAA rated nations should not be AAA rated.

UK - certainly not. (one of the most indebted nations in the world)

Germany - certainly not. (target2 liabilites, and on the hook for EU bailouts)

Canada - certainly not. (epic housing bubble that will burst)

Australia - certainly not. (epic housing bubble that is bursting)

etc

etc

AAA ratings are 80% politically driven, and 20% based on monetary fundamentals.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Georgia O'Keeffe

[Democorruptcy]

They need to downgrade us for the actual reason that we're broke and can't pay our bills. It's a political decision keeping us at AAA for so long when we're clearly not, missing growth and debt forecasts left and right, buying our own bonds, have massive unfunded liabilities and a debt we will never pay back along with exploding deficit just put back a few more years into the never never.

That's the reason we ought to be downgraded not because one of the three ratings agencies happens to be french and for some reason hates us.

The ratings agencies aren't owned by governments they are owned by the financial sector. If the financial sector benefits from us printing money, then isn't that what we will be allowed to do?

Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake in rating agency Moody's for the third straight quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

But other big investors have been buying the beleaguered rating agency, whose shares have fallen 19% this year.

Berkshire (BRKA), run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, sold a million shares of the New York-based company in the first quarter ended March 31. Berkshire remains Moody's (MCO) biggest single investor with a 31 million-share stake worth $663 million at quarter-end.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/05/18/buffett-sells-more-moodys/

Would you like to have a bet on a firm, country, currency then be in a position to influence which way it goes in the market? It's not a conflict of interest, it's within the rules.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

The ratings agencies aren't owned by governments they are owned by the financial sector. If the financial sector benefits from us printing money, then isn't that what we will be allowed to do?

Would you like to have a bet on a firm, country, currency then be in a position to influence which way it goes in the market? It's not a conflict of interest, it's within the rules.

nope the rating agencies are owned by govt, as dictated by Solvency II, anyone thinking rating agencies are independant would have to explain where their power comes from outside of regulation

[Democorruptcy]

nope the rating agencies are owned by govt, as dictated by Solvency II, anyone thinking rating agencies are independant would have to explain where their power comes from outside of regulation

I thought Solvency II was about the extra capital that insurers had to hold. Like Basel III is about extra capital banks have to hold. I'm not sure why this makes the rating agencies owned by governments.

[Ulfar]

The sooner they downgrade us the better, the quicker we end the farce the better.

Time for all the lenders to take a haircut, I think this would have already happened if Greece had defaulted by now and caused the Euro to implode.