Standard & Poors says the economic outlook for America is negative

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Can you blame them, after the humungous dose of socialism Obama has inflicted on this once mighty nation?

Thank heavens for George Osborne. Without him, we too would be in danger of losing our AAA credit rating.

Lehman Brothers was rated triple AAA

Maybe the rating agencies need to be tamed.

Reagan had impeccable political instincts. He knew that the American public would be right behind him when he smashed the Air Traffic Controllers' union after they tried to blackmail him with their "indispensability". He knew that America would back him as he, together with Thatcher, defeated communism and embedded capitalism as a defining tenet of the West - a body blow from which the left still hasn't recovered. Above all, Reagan made America feel good about itself, the same way that Thatcher made Britain feel like Great Britain again (well-known exceptions, such as NUM members, aside).

Bush was stupid but at least he had conviction and guts. Obama is smart, but his values are rooted far to the left of those of America. Not to mention - he vacillates and dithers, and doesn't instincively believe in American exceptionalism the way every US President before him has - a rather sad state of affairs for a US President.

Remember when Regan swore under oath, 'I cannot recall' during Iran-Contragate and years later it came out, he was telling the truth! :o

The US is playing a risky game with the bond market which has the potential to end in disaster for them, should the bond markets lose confidence in their ability to pay their debts. Conversely though it could be argued that Obama is using the Americans unique position in being able to borrow large amounts of money due to the strength and size of their economy. In truth I don't think anyone can say how it will work out for them but for the sake of the world economy we need a strong growing American economy.

America has hitherto been seen as a special case. America was seen to be able to run deficits bigger than other countries, because of the dollar's status as a reserve currency - and America's de facto place at the very top of the international tree.

However, if even the President of the United States doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, why should anyone else? For those of us with a deep affection for that old American swagger, it is very sad to see. Combine that with persistent overspending, and a complete lack of reality when it comes to deficit reduction - and the downgrade in outlook is inevitable.

S&P thought the sun shone out of Enron's butt, too.

Giddy, the thing about there is that there's no big welfare system like there is here. That's the biggest target for austerity cuts in other countries.

The other thing is that is that states have much power of self-governance. Yes, the federal system is 'superior' but states are sort of like devolved Scotland. They have a lot of leeway in how they spend the monies they are allocated by the Treasury (which is accorded by population), they can levy their own taxes in many ways, etc.

The other thing is that people there are much, much, much less accepting of government interference and nannying in their lives. They don't take it lying down, either, and just moan about it.

Things that work here aren't going to work there just like things that work in France won't work elsewhere.

yeah, it's funny how the credit ratings agencies are being taken seriously as if everyone's decided not to mention that little kerfuffle with Lehmans. And Enron. And the near-collapse of capitalism.

Did any of them spot the problem with the Icelandic banks, at all?

Well - I am a firm Atlanticist - but given America's woes, their socialism, and their pathetic President - we in Britain should capitalise.

We should have big tax breaks for American companies to come and create jobs in Britain. We are already going in the right direction by cutting corporation tax, cutting welfare, cutting income tax, and hopefully, by the end of the Parliament, cutting national debt as a proportion of GDP.

We could capture some of that private sector dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit that has made America the success it is. If Obama wants to "spread the wealth around" and punish the rich, then he will just drive them abroad - we should capitalise on our beautiful English language and shared heritage, and welcome the wealth creators of America with open arms.

Donald Trump tried it. Don't think the locals were too impressed with his golf course plans, IIRC. Maybe someone told him what his name means round here...

Gah, the Donald. His mother was Scottish. He bought this house up here. Some English guy sold it to him and was more than happy to take the money. But then the vendor got shirty, after he'd sold the house, that the Donald officially changed its name to his mother's surname. Haahaahaaa. He is so tacky. His tacky son, too (well, he has Ivana for a mum, go figure).

Actually, the council was very impressed with his plans. A few tetchy locals got in the way.

'Obamacare'? Socialism inflicted on a once mighty nation? 'Perfectly sensible Ryan plan'??? What's sensible about cutting the healthcare budget for the elderly to make them pay upfront for their own care costs while using the money saved to pay for massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans instead of reducing the deficit?

Here's some free advice: stop watching Fox News and start reading some newspapers or other sources of information instead of mindless propaganda...

In some ways, Obama is a victim of circumstance just like our own PM & Cleggy are.

Whatever you think of Clinton, he left office with a massive government surplus on the books. George Dubya Bush then let rip with massive tax cuts for the rich (bear in mind that the US pay way less tax anyway), got involved in both Iraq & Afghanistan and as a result, left office with a ridiculous deficit. Add on top of that the woes caused by the economic crisis and voila a huge headache for Obama to sort out. Voters have short memories and most think politicians can wave a magic wand (or tax the rich) to fix every problem.

Ditto here really.