Moody's downgrades United States credit rating on increase in government debt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

This is not a good thing. Borrowing costs will go up. trump took a great economy and is destroying it

Moody's downgrades United States credit rating on increase in government debt www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/m...

— Joyce M (@jkmoore.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T20:54:24.275Z

Link to tweet

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/moodys-downgrades-united-states-credit-rating-on-increase-in-government-debt.html

Moody’s Ratings slashed the United State’s credit rating down a notch to Aa1 from the highest triple A on Friday, citing the budgetary burden the government faces amid high interest rates.

“This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” the ratings agency said in a statement.

The U.S. is running a massive budget deficit as interest costs for Treasury debt continued to rise due to a combination of higher rates and more debt to finance. The fiscal deficit totaled $1.05 trillion year to date, 13% higher than a year ago. The influx in tariffs helped shave some of the imbalance last month, however.

Moody’s had been a holdout in keeping U.S. sovereign debt at the highest credit rating possible, and brings the 116-year-old agency into line with its rivals. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. to AA+ from AAA in August 2011, and Fitch Ratings also cut the U.S. rating to AA+ from AAA, in August 2023.