How S&P downgraded the government — and itself

By Ezra Klein,
WashPost
Monday, August 8, 4:15 PM

Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the United States has drawn a lot of criticism. The White House called its performance, which included a miscalculation of about $2 trillion, “amateur hour.” Rep. Barney Frank was even less sparing. “These are some of the people who have the worst records of incompetence and irresponsibility around,” he told Rachel Maddow. They are trying to “justify their reputation.”

All of this is true. But it doesn’t make Standard & Poor’s wrong. In fact, this downgrade is arguably serving two important functions: It’s drawing attention to the failures in the American political system, as well as the failures in Standard & Poor’s.

Let’s begin with the country. “The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges,” Standard & Poor’s said in the statement accompanying Friday’s decision.

After Republicans in Congress spent three months weighing whether or not to default on our debt and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that paying our bills would never again be a foregone conclusion, can anyone really argue with that? After every Republican presidential candidate save Jon Huntsman either remained silent on, or flatly opposed, the deal to raise the debt ceiling, can anyone really say that U.S. debt is completely riskless? That there’s no chance of a political miscalculation, and if there is such a chance, that they can perfectly predict the outcome of the ensuing chaos?

(More here.)