Last stop Washington....Next stop Paris? ..... The Ratings Agency gangsters march on......

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) The decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the U.S. credit rating leaves France as the AAA country most likely to lose its top grade, some investors and economists say.

France is more expensive to insure against default than lower-rated governments including Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Czech Republic, the State of Texas and the U.S.

“France is not, in my view, a AAA country,” said Paul Donovan, London-based deputy head of global economics at UBS AG. “France can’t print its own money, a critical distinction from the U.S. It is not treated as AAA by the markets.”

While all three major credit-rating companies have confirmed France’s top level in recent months, market measures indicate increasing investor skittishness over the country’s vulnerability to the European debt crisis. Euro-region central bank governors will hold emergency talks today over how to protect Spain and Italy and limit fallout from the U.S. cut. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-07/aaa-rated-france-may-be-vulnerable-to-downgrade-following-cut-to-the-u-s-.html

[RB TexLa]

1. rating agency gangsters

Good God. Pople really have gone off the deep end on this.