Standard & Poor’s removal of the AAA credit rating the United States has held for 70 years has generated a lot of finger pointing at and within the federal government. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the agency showed “terrible judgment” and a “stunning lack of knowledge” about what it takes to develop the federal budget. The agency stood by its rating over the weekend, and some members of Congress have called for Geithner’s removal, citing his relentless push of failed economic policies.
Cornelius Hurley, director of Boston University’s Center for Finance, Law & Policy, says at the end of the day what concerns investors is whether or not they’re going to get their money, not what led to the downgrade. From 1981-89, Hurley was general counsel of Shawmut National Corp., a Boston financial institution.
