Miller on S&P's 'dangerous' downgrade of the US

S&P US DOWNGRADE

Bill Miller, the chairman of Legg Mason Capital Management, explains why the thinks Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US' AAA-credit rating was a dangerous error.

At best, S&P showed a stunning ignorance and complete disregard for the potential consequences of its actions on a fragile global financial system. S&P chose to take this action after the worst week in US equity markets since 2008, a week which not only saw stocks fall sharply, but which also witnessed a dangerous escalation in the ongoing European debt crisis with spreads widening to post-euro records in systemically-important countries such as Italy and Spain amid general political paralysis. The action was wholly unnecessary and the timing could not have been worse. Compounding ...