Don’t Panic: The U.S. Credit Downgrade Changes Nothing

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tdp2664 InvestorPlace After the S&P downgrade of U.S. debt, America now carries a rating of AA-plus instead of the coveted AAA rating on its Treasury bonds. Austria, Norway, Germany and Australia are no longer our peers ratings-wise – we are, instead, in the company of Japan, China, Spain, Taiwan and Slovenia. Market watchers have suspected a downgrade was in the works for a while. Not to toot my own horn, but last week in my column about 5 ugly truths about the debt ceiling , one of my takeaways from the deal was that a U.S. credit downgrade was in the works regardless of the fact we avoided default. Looks like my prediction, and the prediction of other financial journalists who made the same call of a credit downgrade, was right. But now that the inevitable has happened, what does it mean for the market and for individual investors? Interestingly enough, not much. Washington is still useless. The stock market will continue the correction that began two weeks ago. And Treasury bonds, strangely enough, will remain a safe haven for investors. Why This Doesn't Change the Narrative in Washington S&P ain't breaking any news here. Its reasons for the downgrade include "political brinkmanship" in Washington. "America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable than we previously believed," said S&P. It went on to say $2.1