Inside Story

Is the world’s biggest economy in trouble?

The White House lashes out at what it calls a ‘flawed assessment’ by Fitch Ratings. 

The credit score of the world’s biggest economy – downgraded.

The rating agency Fitch says it evaluated several factors before lowering the United States’s score from AAA to AA+. At the core of the issue is spending, which many say is out of control.

Political divisions also weigh heavily.

So will this downgrade sway investors? And what impact will it have in Washington, a year before the US presidential election?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests:

William Lee – Chief economist at the Milken Institute, a US think tank

Einar Tangen – Senior fellow at the Beijing-based Taihe Institute

Frances Coppola – Economist and banking analyst