Other views: Where fingers are pointing

Sen. John Kerry, D.-Mass., on Meet the Press: "I believe this is, without question, the 'Tea Party downgrade.' This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal, to do $4.7 trillion, $4 trillion, have a mix of reductions and reforms in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid but also recognize that we needed to do some revenue. … The real problem for our country is not the short-term debt. We can deal with that. It's the long-term debt; it's the structural debt of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid measured against the demographics of our nation."

• OUR VIEW: S&P confirms what everyone already knew

Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., on Meet the Press: "I agree that there is dysfunction in our system, and a lot of it has to do with the failure of the president of the United States to lead. I would remind you that Republicans control one-third of the government. The Senate and the presidency are controlled by the Democrats. And the fact is that the president never came forward with a plan. … We could have reached an agreement a lot earlier, but the members of the House of Representatives had a mandate last November, and it was jobs and the economy and spending. And for them to then agree to tax increases and spending increases (would have been) a repudiation of the mandate that they felt they had."

Xinhua, China's state-run newspaper, in an editorial: "China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets. To cure its addiction to debts, the United States has to reestablish the common sense principle that one should live within its means. … For centuries, it was the exuberant energy and innovation that sustained America's role in the world and maintained investors' confidence in dollar assets. But now, mounting debts and ridiculous political wrestling in Washington have damaged America's image abroad."

Kenneth Rogoff, co-author of This Time is Different, in Project Syndicate: "The real problem is that the global economy is badly overleveraged, and there is no quick escape without a scheme to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, either through defaults, financial repression, or inflation. A more accurate, if less reassuring, term (than 'Great Recession') for the ongoing crisis is the 'Second Great Contraction.' … Many commentators have argued that fiscal stimulus has largely failed not because it was misguided, but because it was not large enough to fight a 'Great Recession.' But, in a 'Great Contraction,' problem number one is too much debt. … The most effective approach is to catalyze debt workouts and reductions."

John Bellows, acting assistant secretary for economic policy, on a Treasury Department blog: "There is no justifiable rationale for downgrading the debt of the United States. There are millions of investors around the globe that trade Treasury securities. They assess our creditworthiness every minute of every day, and their collective judgment is that the U.S. has the means and political will to make good on its obligations. The magnitude of this mistake (a $2 trillion miscalculation in S&P's initial report) — and the haste with which S&P changed its principal rationale for action when presented with this error — raise fundamental questions about the credibility and integrity of S&P's ratings action."

David Beers, head of S&P government debt rating unit, on Fox News Sunday: "In lowering the (U.S. debt) rating by one notch to AA-plus, what we actually are saying is there's been a mild deterioration in the U.S.'s credit standing relative to AAA. But based on historical experience, we wouldn't expect that much financial impact in terms of higher interest rates, for example. … It doesn't change the fact that in our estimation the underlying debt burden of the U.S. government is rising and will continue to rise most likely over the next decade."

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