Who'd a thunk it?

This is a bit of a surprise. The New York Times recently reported that the business group Standard & Poor's recently released a report arguing that inequality in the US is threatening economic growth.

According to the Times,

The fact that S.&P., an apolitical organization that aims to produce reliable research for bond investors and others, is raising alarms about the risks that emerge from income inequality is a small but important sign of how a debate that has been largely confined to the academic world and left-of-center political sources is becoming more mainstream.

The full report is here. I like the last lines:

The challenge now is to find a path toward more sustainable growth, an essential part of which, in our view, is pulling more Americans out of poverty and bolstering the purchasing power of the middle class. A rising tide lifts all boats...but a lifeboat carrying a few, surrounded by many treading water, risks capsizing.

Downgraded

The above image, circulated by MoveOn.org, leaves out the role of a certain chief executive who seems enamored of Neville Chamberlain's management style.

The big news is the downgrading of the US' credit rating by S&P. Robert Reich goes after them and the horse they rode in on here and Krugman throws in his two cents here, while E.J.Dionne ponders the issue here. Meanwhile, WV groups ponder what the Satan sandwich debt ceiling deal means for ordinary people here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: DOWN A LEVEL