Downgrade based on mountain of debt, not politics Re:”Dow plunges 513 on recession fears,” Aug. 5
The media’s rationale for the S&P downgrade: partisan battles and the debt burden, with an emphasis on the former and disproportionate blame placed on those rascally Tea Party Republicans. After covering partisan battles 24/7, the media may think they’re at the core of every problem, but it’s just not true.
Partisan battles are the mainstay of politics. What has changed is the size of the debt by materially significant amounts, such that anything other than a downgrade would have been irresponsible. Given S&P’s abject failure to sound the alarm regarding Lehman Brothers, Chrysler, GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie, could it have once again turned a blind eye to the far more serious U.S. debt burden?
S&P is an analytical entity that routinely evaluates the strength and durability of institutions issuing debt. While it attempts to quantify political and other subjective risks that accompany debt issues, S&P is all too aware that such risk factors cannot be the deciding issue in making a downgrade decision.
Put another way, if Congress had merrily tip-toed through the tulips with President Obama, passing the same anemic package instead of a deficit reduction plan focused on cutting runaway entitlement spending, would S&P have kept the bond rating at AAA? A downgrade would have been a certainty, regardless of the rancor on Capitol Hill.
David Beers
Bethesda
Republicans sold Virginian taxpayers out
Accepting the lesser of two evils, or the lesser of two unbalanced budgets, is what got us into this nightmare in the first place. Republicans claimed to have taken our concerns to heart in November, but the debt deal proves they learned absolutely nothing.
Its one thing when a liberal tax-and-spend politician votes for a liberal tax-and-spend bill. It’s quite another when a politician tells you they are fiscally conservative, then lies to your face and sells you down the river. Yet that is exactly what 70 percent of the Republicans in Washington just did. It’s time that they feel the heat at least as much as we fear for our children’s future and our ability to feed our families.
Who sold you and your family down the river and voted to bury our families in debt? Here’s the Virginia GOP Hall of Shame: Rep. Rob Wittman, 1st Congressional District, Rep. Scott Rigell, 2nd, Rep. Robert Hurt, 5th, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, 6th, Rep. Eric Cantor, 7th, Rep. Frank Wolf, 10th. Let these politicians know what you think.
Marg McCausland
Ashburn
Banks create overdraft fees by rearranging debits
Re: “Your Money,” Aug. 7
This article on Bank of America and overdraft fees caught my attention. It isn’t just the large nationwide banks that are rearranging debits to increase overdraft fees. My much smaller Maryland/Virginia bank did it to me.
How do I know? I knew there was going to be an overdraft and checked my account online just before closing. I had four debits for the day and the last large debit caused an overdraft. The other three earlier, very small debits did not.
The next morning, when I checked my account again, the last debit was now the first debit and there were now four overdraft fees on my account. I would not be surprised if all banks are doing this.
Larry Reynolds
Silver Spring
