Fitch downgrades Chicago bond ratings

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit worthiness of Chicago's bond debt because of its public pension problems.

Fitch dropped the rating from AA- to A- on $8 billion in general obligation bonds, backed by property taxes.

It also dropped the rating on $497 million in sales tax bonds — paid for by both the city's local sales tax and its share of the state sales tax. And the rating was downgraded on $200 million in commercial paper notes, financed by a general obligation pledge from any available city fund.

Friday's downgrade stems from "the lack of meaningful solutions" to the city's pension situation. City and fire pension programs have no more than 30 percent of the money needed to cover obligations.

The downgrade makes it more expensive to borrow money.

Via Yahoo FInance

Continue Reading.....

Fundamentally Transforming the United States of America

Remember when candidate Barack Obama promised his acolytes that they were only “five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America”? That was back in October 2008, when the hectic flush of Obamamania was at its peak.  To be fair, it’s taken a bit longer than five days, but here we are, five years into the most destructive presidency in the country’s history, and we can see that fundamental transformation at work just about everywhere.

The economy: During Obama’s first term, the credit rating of the United States was downgraded by S&P for the first time in history. That might seem pretty abstract: who cares about a country’s credit rating?  But then there’s news like this: According to a report released in 2012 by the Federal Reserve, Americans have seen their wealth plummet by 40 percent over the past few years. Hope & Change.

Race relations: They are in a rawer state than I can remember thanks to a president who played the race card at every opportunity. The Cambridge police were “stupid,” according to the president, in the way they handled the case of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., famous Harvard huckster, back in 2009.  If he had had a son, said the president, he would “look like” the thug Trayvon Martin, who jumped George Zimmerman and was shot dead by Zimmerman while pounding his head into the concrete sidewalk.

And then there’s the position of the United States on the world stage.  Obama was supposed to hit the “reset” button not only with respect to our relations with Russia (how’s that working out?), but also with respect to our position in the world more generally. The bad old days of unilateral action under George W. Bush were to be banished in favor of a kinder, gentler America that was no more “exceptional” than was Britain or Greece. He’s certainly done a lot to make that true.

Via: PJ Media

Continue Reading....

U.S. CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADED AFTER FED PUMPS MORE MONEY

A prominent ratings firm downgraded the U.S. Government's credit rating from "AA" to "AA-" one day after the Federal Reserve announced it would pump more money into the economy by buying more than $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities per month until the economy improves. 

Ratings firm Egan-Jones said it cut its credit reating on the U.S. government because it felt the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing "would hurt the U.S. economy and the country's credit quality" by devaluing the the dollar while doing nothing to "raise the U.S.'s real gross domestic product."

The ratings firm said the Fed's action would increase the cost of commodities and reduce consumer purchasing power.

This is the second time this year Egan-Jones downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating. In April, the ratings firm downgraded America's credit rating from "AA+" to "AA" and gave the country's credit a negative outlook.

The ratings firm's pessimism then was correct, as Obama has mismanaged the country's economy like he has its foreign policy, spiraling the country into more debt and potentially taking it over the so-called fiscal cliff that looms after the November elections. 

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading...