According to Central TV News, the European credit rating agency scope rating company recently released a report, reducing the U.S. sovereign credit rating from "AA" to "AA-".
The agency says the continued deterioration of U.S. public finances is mostly reflected in the continued high fiscal deficits, rising interest spending and limited budget flexibility.
The report predicts that without substantial reforms, the U.S. government debt to GDP ratio will rise to 140% by 2030, much higher than that of most sovereign countries.
The report pointed out that the decline of government governance standards is also an important reason for the downgrade. The agency believes that the administrative power in the United States is increasingly centralized, and the Trump administration has repeatedly ignored court orders, challenged judicial authority, and evaded congressional supervision, which has reduced the predictability and stability of policy formulation and increased the risk of policy mistakes. The uncertainty shown by the United States in tariff negotiations with major trading partners is an example.
According to Xinhua news agency on October 25, the U.S. federal government "stop" has entered the fourth week, a severe shortage of air traffic controllers caused multiple airport flights to be delayed or even cancelled, and airport operations were also affected.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Flight Tracking website, the number of flights delayed across the U.S. due to various reasons rose from about 4,000 earlier this week to 6158. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on the evening of 23 that the shortage of air traffic controllers caused a large number of delays at airports such as New York, Washington, New Jersey.
During a press conference in Philadelphia, Daphne said that next week the air traffic controller’s salary will still be “a big zero” and that it is expected to be even more severe when staff shortages, airport chaos and flight delays happen and I think the current pressure on our air traffic controllers is unacceptable.”
Daphne also said that the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Controller College will run out of funds within weeks, and that there have been participants who have already decided to drop out of school due to a “stop-down.” Daphne warned that this would only make it harder for the Federal Aviation Administration to recruit enough controllers to offset the staff shortage as staff training takes years.
Nick Daniels, chairman of the National Association of Air Traffic Managers, said at a news conference that unpaid airlines are under tremendous financial pressure and some start part-time to maintain their livelihoods.
The United States has long faced a shortage of air traffic controllers, and many air operators have been forced to work overtime before the government’s “stop”.Since the government’s shutdown, approximately 1,30,000 air traffic controllers and approximately 50,000 employees of the Transportation Security Agency responsible for airport security inspections have been forced to work unpaid, and the number of employees requesting sick leave has increased.
According to CCTV News, analysts and media believe that the core reason for the continued "shutdown" of the U.S. government is the deadlock between the two parties on the issue of medical insurance welfare spending and the failure to pass the provisional appropriations bill. On the other hand, the two parties are also using the "shutdown" to advance their respective political agendas and have no urgent will to end the "shutdown".
U.S. media that given that the Senate is suspended until October 27, it is almost certain that the U.S. government’s “stop” will last until next week.
Daily Economic News Comprehensive Central TV News, China News Agency
Image source: Visual China