Great news for Americans. USA! USA!
U.S. debt has shrunk to a six-year low relative to the size of the economy as homeowners, cities and companies cut borrowing, undermining rating companies’ downgrading of the nation’s credit rating. Total indebtedness including that of federal and state governments and consumers has fallen to 3.29 times gross domestic product, the least since 2006, from a peak of 3.59 four years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Private- sector borrowing is down by $4 trillion to $40.2 trillion.
Downgrading the U.S. is premature when the two-thirds of American debt that is private is shrinking, according to Jim Vogel, head of government agency-debt research at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee.
“When one trend goes counter to the only one that they seem to be looking at, that throws up a flag,” Vogel said in a Sept. 27 interview in reference to the ratings firms. “If private debt is getting on a much firmer credit foundation, why do we have a 2013 deadline for one of the thorniest fiscal problems of an entire generation?”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-09/u-s-downgrade-seen-as-upgrade-as-u-s-debt-dissolved.html
