All ratings have been proven a fraud. Ever hear of the subprime mortgage crisis involving AAA debt? It is all a fraud.
Well, I trust good old Germany more then any other country to pay back debt. Why ? Hum...let me think about it : because i know that the savings rate in Germany is 11-12 % of disposable incomce since World War II. By the way : In the last months savings rate in Germany sky rocketed to 18-19 %. Tripple A rating DOES MATTER !
It was only rated AAA b/c of the mortgage insurance written on it. The underlying assets were never AAA, but the addition of insurance made the rating higher. This is why Ambac and MBIA are toast. No one ever said that the subprime mortgages, by themselves, warranted a AAA rating.
OP, are you talking about that: "Standard & Poor's rattled investors when it said Britain may have its rating cut because of rising debt levels." If yes, then it's not the US that got that "downgrade", it's the UK. A US downgrade would be very, very meaningfull.
That may be true, do you remember how long it took for Ambac and MBIA to be downgraded themselves after everyone knew their assets were worthless??? Months. The rating agencies were ordered to hold their downgrades to avoid a full-on collapse in confidence, that was warranted and should have happened. The rating agencies are rotten to the core.