S&P says it thinks America's debt will only increase in the future. President Obama disagreed.
BARACK OBAMA: "The fact is, we didn't need a rating agency to tell us that we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction. That was true last week, that was true last year, that was true the day I took office."
He said this week that markets still consider United States credit "as among the world’s safest."
Still, there are growing worries of another recession -- a double dip. On Tuesday, policy makers at the central bank said economic growth so far this year has been "considerably slower" than they had expected. The Federal Reserve said it would likely keep short-term interest rates near zero for at least two more years.
Borrowing costs for the United States remain very low. But debt worries in two of Europe's biggest economies have increased costs for their governments in recent weeks.
On Monday the European Central Bank began buying debt securities from Spain and Italy. These efforts have helped push down interest rates for those countries. Nick Parsons, an economist with the National Australia Bank, says the bank made the right move.
NICK PARSONS: "It has been an absolutely critical decision."
But he also thinks the bank will have to buy more. And Europe must still deal with the rescues of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25