Kucinich Downgrades Rating of Standard & Poor's

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement after Standard & Poor's (S&P) threatened the fiscal health of the nation by announcing the possibility of a future downgrade of the United States' credit rating.

"No nation, agency or organization has the authority to dictate terms to the United States Government," said Kucinich. "S&P and its compatriot Moody's were a direct cause of the near collapse of the economy of the United States. That industry should be subject to greater oversight, regulation and fundamental overhaul as Washington gets serious about the deficit."

According to a recent report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, S&P and Moody's directly contributed to the near collapse of our economy by giving their highest ratings to bonds that they knew were secured by high risk mortgages, in order to earn profitable fees from Wall Street firms, and then abruptly downgrading those bonds, some of which were less than a year old.

"The United States should not be held hostage by Wall Street. We need to get serious about the deficit, which was created by President Bush's decisions to conduct multiple wars while cutting taxes for the wealthy. We need to end the wars in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Libya, which will lower our deficit. We need to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which will lower our deficit. We need to create jobs, which will produce more tax revenues and lower our deficit. We need to reform our monetary policy which allows unaccountable banks and agencies to exercise inexcusable amounts of power over our economy," said Kucinich.