Daniel Gross explains why the U.S. just lost its peachy-fine credit rating. His answer is basically that our economy is in trouble as long as tax hikes are impossible…and the G.O.P. and the Tea Party are making them impossible.
Seems to me there's an even simpler explanation. Let's say there's a family across the street from you that's always asking to borrow money. You have a certain assessment of how good a risk they are…how likely they are to make good on that debt. Then let's say some members of that family begin loudly suggesting "Hey, maybe we should default on that debt." Wouldn't you downgrade your assessment of how good a risk that family was?