Moody’s downgraded the US’s credit rating on May 16, citing rising debt levels and political gridlock affecting fiscal policy. Up to now, the US had been rated Aaa by Moody’s going back to 1917.
“Moody’s is a lagging indicator – that’s what everyone thinks of credit agencies,” Scott Bessent told Meet the Press on Sunday after the last of the big three credit rating agencies stripped the US of its triple-A rating.
“We didn’t get here in the past 100 days. It’s the Biden administration and the spending that we have seen over the past four years that we inherited,” Bessent said. The Trump administration is “determined to bring the spending down and grow the economy,” he added.
Before the Moody’s downgrade, Fitch downgraded the US to AA+ in 2023, citing fiscal deterioration, debt and gridlock. S&P did so in 2011, citing political instability and the US’s heavy debt burden ($14.7 trillion then, compared to $36.8 trillion now).
