U.S. Credit Rating Cut Again

Independent ratings firm Egan-Jones cut its rating on U.S. government debt to “AA-” from “AA” on September 14.

The decision was taken following the Federal Reserve’s decision to print money—which would, in Egan-Jones’ opinion, hurt the economy and the country’s credit quality. cnbc reports:

In its downgrade, the firm said that issuing more currency and depressing interest rates through purchasing mortgage-backed securities does little to raise the U.S.’s real gross domestic product, but reduces the value of the dollar.In turn, this increases the cost of commodities, which will pressure the profitability of businesses and increase the costs of consumers thereby reducing consumer purchasing power, the firm said.

Although Egan-Jones is the only credit rating agency (to my knowledge) that sees the money printing danger, all three other major ratings agencies (Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P) now also have America on a negative outlook for other reasons.

The big three raters are notoriously slow when it comes to ratings downgrades. Last year, Dagong Global Credit Rating Company from China downgraded America’s rating. Americans laughed, but it wasn’t long before S&P followed suit.

Should America’s credit rating be cut more? I can think of $16 trillion reasons why it should.