memeorandum: Markets open low as White House pushes back on S&P downgrade (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

10:15 AM ET, August 8, 2011

Top Items:

On S&P, Downgrades, and Idiots — This is not going to be one of those posts that laments S&P's decision to downgrade the US, but then says that S&P was probably right about our oh-so-dysfunctional political system. — No, S&P was flat-out wrong — no caveats.

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Paul Krugman, American Spectator, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, NewsBusters.org blogs, Politics and The Atlantic Online

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Credibility, Chutzpah And Debt — To understand the furor over the decision by Standard & Poor's, the rating agency, to downgrade U.S. government debt, you have to hold in your mind two seemingly (but not actually) contradictory ideas. The first is that America is indeed no longer the stable, reliable country it once was.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Global Public Square, The Huffington Post, It's All Trivial …, Associated Press, Politics, Firedoglake and The Gateway Pundit

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
John Kerry and the ‘Tea Party Downgrade’

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Taylor Marsh, The Democratic Daily, The Politico, Don Surber, The Sundries Shack, Little Green Footballs and The Lonely Conservative

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Markets open low as White House pushes back on S&P downgrade — Washington's lawmakers and policymakers anxiously watched the open of financial markets in Asia, Europe and New York Monday to determine the impact of the nation losing its AAA credit rating. — The downgrade of the nation's …

Discussion: The Reaction

Patrick Allen / CNBC:

No Chance of Default, US Can Print Money: Greenspan — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Sunday ruled out the chance of a US default following S&P's decision to downgrade America's credit rating. — “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers and LewRockwell.com Blog

Robert Pear / New York Times: S.&P. Downgrade Is Seen as Adding Urgency to Debt-Cutting Panel

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

LEAP OF FAITH … - POLITICS - PROFILES - THE TALK OF THE TOWN - COMMENT - THIS WEEK'S ISSUE - THE FINANCIAL PAGE - NEWS DESK - THE POLITICAL SCENE

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Concord Monitor, New York Magazine, msnbc.com, Iowa Caucuses, Towleroad News #gay, FrumForum and The Daily Caller

Christian Heinze / GOP 12: Michele Bachmann's development and formation

Molly Ball / The Politico:
All eyes turn to Ames

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Page

Paul Krugman:

A Self-Fulfilling Euro Crisis? (Wonkish) — There will probably be big action in the euro zone tomorrow; so, some quick analytical notes. — The big question, I believe, is whether the Italian and maybe Spanish crises are the kind of thing that might be brought under control by ECB bond purchases.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Financial Times, FT Alphaville, It's All Trivial …, Reuters and Marginal Revolution

David Jolly / New York Times:
European Intervention Buoys Italy and Spain

Discussion: Money & Company, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Page

ecb.int:
Statement by the President of the ECB

Discussion: MarketBeat, The Page, DealBook, Money & Company and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:
ECB Moves to Prop Up Italy, Spain

Discussion: naked capitalism, Pajamas Media, Credit Writedowns, Calculated Risk and Telegraph

Lauri Apple / Gawker:

Michele Bachmann Looks, Um, Surprised to Be on Newsweek Cover — Congresswoman and Republican presidential candidate/shoo-in Michele Bachmann's made the cover of the latest [Cosmo] Newsweek—an honor that comes with a new if not entirely original nickname ("the Queen of Rage") and complimentary #QueenOfRage Twitter hashtag.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, The New Civil Rights Movement and NewsBusters.org blogs

Michelle Malkin:
The Conservative Crazy Eyes Cliche & Other Stupid MSM Photo Tricks

Discussion: Hot Air and Big Journalism

Daily Mail:

Explosive Jackie O tapes ‘reveal how she believed Johnson killed JFK and had affair with movie star’ — Jackie Onassis believed that Lyndon B Johnson and a cabal of Texas tycoons were involved in the assassination of her husband John F Kennedy, ‘explosive’ recordings are set to reveal.

Discussion: The Wire, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Pajamas Media

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Rep. West: Geithner ‘should move on’ from Treasury job — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should not have decided to stay on in his current post, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said Monday. — “When you open that refrigerator door, the lights don't come on. I really think he should move on,” West said on Fox News.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Geithner tells Obama he will remain as Treasury secretary

Discussion: The Politico, Shakesville, Scared Monkeys, JammieWearingFool, Sky Dancing, Balloon Juice, New York Magazine and White House Dossier

Ben White / The Politico:
Timothy Geithner to stay at Treasury

Discussion: The Note

David Catanese / The Politico:

Wis. Dem memo: Victory predictions “dangerous” — MADISON Wis. — Democrats on the ground here are increasingly confident they will pick-up two state Senate seats, but are warning that winning the third necessary for a takeover is a tenuous prospect. — Despite hype from some in the party apparatus …

Discussion: National Review

John Harwood / The Caucus:

Voters Want a Change Politicians Can't Deliver — WASHINGTON — Here is the bad news for President Obama and incumbents in both parties: it can get worse — and stay that way for a long time. — That might sound like catastrophic thinking after Mr. Obama's nerve-jangling birthday week …

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Huffington Post and Prairie Weather

Abby Phillip / The Politico:

Duncan to issue ‘No Child’ waivers — Seeing “no clear path” toward reauthorizing the “No Child Left Behind” education law, the Obama administration will unilaterally issue waivers to states, exempting them from some of the law's regulations. — “Today we're less than a month from the start …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Catherine Rampell / New York Times:

Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First — If the economy falls back into recession, as many economists are now warning, the bloodletting could be a lot more painful than the last time around. — Given the tumult of the Great Recession, this may be hard to believe.

Discussion: The Raw Story

Kevin Diaz / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Pawlenty changes his approach on health care — He favored exchanges and was ‘open to’ mandates. Then he ran for president. — WASHINGTON - In his presidential campaign autobiography, “Courage to Stand,” former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recalls a man in a wheelchair who approached him at an airport in Mankato.

Discussion: Morning Sentinel, Kaiser Health News, Washington Post and Iowa Caucuses

New York Times:

A.I.G. to Sue Bank of America Over Mortgage Bonds — The American International Group is planning to sue Bank of America over hundreds of mortgage-backed securities, adding to the surge of investors seeking compensation for the troubled mortgages that led to the financial crisis.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Magazine and naked capitalism

Adam Clymer / New York Times:

Mark O. Hatfield, Republican Champion of Liberal Causes, Dies at 89 — Mark O. Hatfield, a liberal Republican who challenged his party's positions on the Vietnam War and on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution during his 30 years as a Senator from Oregon, died on Sunday. He was 89.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The Page