Major rating agency downgrades Greek debt; warns of possible further downgrade

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC

BREAKING NEWS: Major rating agency downgrades Greek debt; warns of possible further downgrade

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36712807/ns/business-world_business/

Greek debt crisis deepens; rating downgraded
Moody's downgrades country's debt rating, citing significant risk


LONDON - Moody's Investor Services has downgraded its rating on Greece's sovereign debt and warns that further downgrades could be in the offing.

The credit ratings agency says Thursday that the reduction in its rating to A3 from A2 is based on the view that there is a significant risk that the country's debt may only stabilize at a higher and more costly level than previously thought.

[lonestarnot]

1. Woopsie.

[ixion]

2. Note the path Greece is walking, folks

because we're staring down that very same path.

[Imajika]

3. Indeed...

A few other European nations will probably implode due to debt first, but we are not far behind.

Simply can not borrow and spend this much money forever.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Keep and eye on Portugal

[nyy1998]

5. And Spain, they are between a rock and a hard place

20% unemployment and 10-12% deficits. It's not hard to see with problems like Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, if the EU is not in deep trouble, atleast the Euro is.

[liberation]

9. ... and their idiotic government is making things worse.

Their minister of economy has the distinction of having wrecked the Spanish economy *twice*

Proof that incompetence is a bipartisan quality (Spain's current government is Socialist)

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. But Moody's has also been accused of accepting bribes to rate

the big bank bonds and stuff.
So...who to believe?

[liberation]

8. It is worse than bribes, their commissions are tied to the ratings they give.

I honestly can't understand why rating agencies are not facing criminal charges. They are at the epicenter of the worst economic meltdown in over 7 decades.

Obviously, this is Wallstreet's way of saying "thank you" for the BCE buying all those toxic dollars in 08 to prevent the dollar from drowning on its own filth. I don't think any parasite in nature displays a similar level of virulence and lack of regard for their hosts as most of Wallstreet critters do.

[liberation]

7. So who rates the rating agencies?

Funny how they can be in the middle of the biggest financial cataclysm in the past 3/4 of a century, and they still get to dictate debt ratings.

[Iowa]

10. +1

[Synicus Maximus]

11. Greek debt crisis gets worse as EU revises figures

Source: AP

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Civil servants staged a 24-hour strike Thursday against austerity measures and expected job cuts by Greece's crisis-plagued government, and the EU's statistics agency said the country's budget was even worse than previously thought.

The strike disrupted public services, shut down schools and left state hospitals working with emergency staff. Protesters from a Communist-backed trade union blockaded Athens' main port of Piraeus, disrupting ferry services.

Eurostat, meanwhile raised Greece's budget deficit in 2009 to 13.6 percent of gross domestic product from its earlier prediction of 12.9 percent, while the ratio of government debt to GDP stood at 115.1 percent, the second highest in the European Union after Italy.

In comments that are sure to rattle markets, the statistics agency also expressed "a reservation on the quality of the data reported by Greece." It also said Greek's 2009 figures could be revised further, to the tune of 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points of GDP for the deficit and 5 to 7 percentage points of GDP for the debt.

Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100422/D9F845DO3.html

[Rapier09]

12. Mama mia

What a waste of a beautiful country.

[Psephos]

13. A preview of coming attractions.

Portugal, Spain, and Italy are next.

Ireland's been on the crisis lists also, but is actually biting the bullet and severely curtailing public spending. It might just work for them...but the medicine is almost as bad as the disease. Almost.

Look for California to join the club soon, too.