Think the loss of the nation’s AAA bond rating is just a blip on the radar screen? Kevin A. Hassett offers some sobering data in the latest National Review:
Of the 126 sovereign governments that S&P currently rates, only a handful have ever held the highest rating. As of September 30, only 18 countries, or 14 percent, continue to have a AAA rating. …
… Only eleven countries have lost their membership in the AAA club since 1975. Five of them have never regained the top rating. … Shockingly, it has taken the remaining nations a minimum of ten years to persuade the rating agency once again to award them the highest possible rating. The average time between expulsion from the AAA club and reentry has been 13 years. …
… Given the very slow progress visible in the U.S. on fiscal reform, many rightly fear that the more realistic best-care scenario in the U.S. is closer to the experience of the others.
