Debt Ceiling

After Triggering Downgrade, Debt Default Skeptics Try To Run From Their Records -- But They Can't

Brian Beutler | August 12, 2011, 10:16AM

Standard & Poors has a specific justification for downgrading the U.S. bond rating, and it's deadly for Republicans. It wasn't just that Congress showed itself to be reckless and dysfunctional, or that the GOP shows no sign of ever ending their anti-tax jihad. It's that for a period of weeks, some lawmakers (read: Republicans) were quite literally shrugging off the risks of blowing past the August 2 deadline, running out of borrowing authority, and missing payment obligations.

"[P]eople in the political arena were even talking about a potential default," said Joydeep Mukherji, senior directior at S&P. "That a country even has such voices, albeit a minority, is something notable," he added. "This kind of rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns."

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Debt

'Uncle Sam' Actor Is Back -- Pro-Biz Anti-Debt Group Launches New Ad Campaign

Christina Bellantoni | April 29, 2010, 5:09PM

Randolph Bragg, an actor from Northern Virginia, holds a sign as part of a paid stunt done by a group calling itself Defeat the Debt

The pro-business front group that brought fake homeless people to the streets of Washington to highlight the swelling deficit is back today with a $10 million ad campaign, this time showing "Uncle Sam" drowning in debt.

Defeat the Debt's new campaign appeared last night on Seventh Ave. in New York's Times Square, just as thousands of people were marching on Wall Street to call for financial reform. The group, funded by non-disclosed private donations, is calling it the second phase of its deficit education plan. It also will be accompanied by new television commercials and newspaper ads. Readers may remember the campaign paid big bucks for a SuperBowl ad showing children pledging allegiance to China.

"America is drowning in debt," the ads declare as the Uncle Sam actor is shown going under water. It is designed to drive traffic to the Defeat the Debt web site, which shows a ticker of the growing national debt.

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