Standard and poor

James Fallows has been great lately, first by accurately describing "the serious and brave Paul Ryan." And now, on the S&P decision to downgrade U.S. treasuries.

1) To repeat Clive Crook's point, S&P knows nothing more about U.S. budget prospects than you or I do. They're saying they have an opinion on the state of Congressional-White house dealings on the budget. Fine. Go on a talk show or start a blog.

For those of you interested, the S&P decided that the U.S. government is in danger of defaulting on its own bonds. Forgetting, apparently, that the U.S. government prints its own money.