Back in 2011, the credit rating of the United States was downgraded for the first time in history under President Barack Obama and now, it looks like it could happen again.
Fitch Ratings put the US government's "AAA" credit rating on 'rating watch negative' Tuesday, saying that the standstill on the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations risks undermining the effectiveness of the country's government and political institutions.
U.S. stock index futures fell.
"Although Fitch continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon, the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default," the rating agency wrote in a statement.
One major factor that seems to be continually ignored in the debt ceiling debate is how we got here in the first place: the United States is $17 trillion in debt. It can been explained simply: We're in this situation of continually raising the debt ceiling because we have a debt and spending problem.
Since Barack Obama took his place in the Oval office in 2009, the National Debt stood at $10.9 trillion. Five years later and the National Debt stands at $17 trillion. Obama has increased the debt more than any other president in U.S. history....combined.
In the same time frame under President George W. Bush, total federal debt rose 38 percent. Under President Clinton, it rose 32 percent.
Under Obama, we're on track to hit $23 trillion in debt by the time he leaves office in 2016 with no plan to stop it or to pay it off. Not to mention, the latest debt ceiling deal being hashed out in Congress only brings us back to another debt fight in the next few months.