This piece on CNN Money says that “market observers tried to say the downgrade by itself shouldn’t matter — that it was expected and that the United States still has a strong credit rating … But the market wasn’t buying it.” And then it goes on to note that investors are rushing to buy up US Treasuries. Which seems to suggest that in fact the downgrade has not affected investors belief in the relative security of US debt. Indeed, it seems to be the only possible explanation of this move. Read More

You know how sometimes in real life and perhaps more often in police procedurals you’ll have a story where there’s a hostage crisis and negotiators successfully bargain to get the hostage released. But somehow through some mix of incompetence and carelessness the hostage takers manage to inadvertently let the hostage get killed anyway?

Starting to sound kind of familiar.