Gromit, the US has one of the biggest debt problems on the planet, and more of their people are falling into poverty than almost anywhere. Their growth is small and Obama will be fighting for his political career sooner than later. People are disillusioned with him for not being more assertive. Once market driven countries like China, India really flex their muscles then wait for the fallout in the west, it's coming and we should at least do our very best to cut back whilst we can, because if we don't it will be a much longer road to recovery. Our credit rating is good in consideration, the City of London generates Billions in revenue for Britain, have a look at the figures. The French are the ones who won't be crowing, they have lost credibility on the world stage, the Germans are moaning about having to keep on bailing out Greece which will soon default, and then probably revert to the Drachma, if they don't then they will be tied to Germany for ever, and no Greek wants that. Italy's debt is massive, so no one currently in Europe or America is having it easy.