Five European Nations to Be Downgraded by S&P

The fallout from the housing market bust here in America continues:

The Story:

Standard & Poor’s will cut the credit ratings of Italy, Spain and Portugal by two notches and downgrade France and Austria by one notch, a French newspaper said Friday, without citing its sources.

The newspaper, Les Echos, said that S&P would spare Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg in its long-awaited adjustment of euro zone sovereign ratings.

It said the announcement would come at around 4:30 pm ET, after the US stock market has closed.

“Remain alert tonight when U.S. markets close,” one euro zone source told Reuters.

US stocks slumped in reaction, though were well off their lows, while European shares closed lower.

In December, S&P placed the ratings of 15 euro zone countries on credit watch negative— including those of top-rated Germany and France, the region’s two biggest economies—and said “systemic stresses” were building up as credit conditions tighten in the 17-nation bloc.

Since then, the European Central Bank has flooded the banking system with cheap three-year money to avert a credit crunch. At the time, the U.S.-based ratings agency said it could also downgrade the euro zone’s current bailout fund, the EFSF.

Five European Nations to Be Downgraded by S&P: Report – Business News – CNBC.

This is what happens when progressives game a system and it comes all crashing down around them. Now you would think that they would learn from this little idiotic mistake; well, you would be wrong. They honestly believe the way to recover from this, is by spending their way out of a recession. Idiots, all of them. 🙄

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