[Cowperson]

As long as the USA is perceived to be the Big Daddy, the threat of a credit downgrade is irrelevant.

One thing about 2008 was that it was a rare moment of absolute truth and honesty . . . . . and when the entire world thought the global financial system was going to collapse, everyone ran to the USA dollar.

There was a moment in early 2008 when USA treasuries were trading at negative yields, meaning people were basically willing to pay the USA government to hold their money for them because they didn't trust the banks or countries of the world. The USA dollar soared in the credit crunch of 2008-09. As things have normalized, the USA dollar has fallen with the money moving out into the world with confidence enough to take on risk again.

Right now, in markets, there's just not a great perception there's a lot of risk that will result from what we see happening in the USA.

One of the things lost in the last few years is that the percentage of total American debt, including government, businesses and individuals, is actually shrinking relative to GDP. We focus on government debt rising while ignoring the fact business and personal debt is shrinking fairly rapidly while the percentage of income Americans are socking away in savings is back at its highest level in more than a decade.

Right now, overall debt to GDP in America is about 275% of GDP, in the UK its about 450%, in France and Spain, its about 300% to 350%.

We focus on government debt because business and personal debt could be redirected to the government, making the situation worse.

Cowperson