Geithner says US will never lose AAA credit rating

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the US could never lose its AAA crediting rating. Seeing how the track records for the Fed and US Treasury are spotty regarding economic forecasts, I'll beg to disagree with Geithner.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahGwg7V3u3Gs&pos=3

The major credit ratings agencies missed the subprime and financial crises, failing to downgrade insolvent banks and toxic mortgage-backed securities, so for them to call into question the sovereign credit risks of Dubai, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the UK, Japan, and now the US, should cause one to sit up and take notice.

Moody’s Investors Service Inc. last week said the U.S. government’s bond rating will come under pressure in the future unless additional measures are taken to reduce budget deficits projected for the next decade.

Why the economy still stinks

Despite proclamations of green shoots, a pending recovery (and a surging stock market), I am skeptical of any economic recovery. Here are a couple articles on two common themes: bank insolvency and lack of transparency of toxic assets, and under-reporting of unemployment:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a5BsXz90CMso

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm