Moody's had warned in 2023 that a downgrade was possible, following similar moves by Fitch in 2023 and S&P in 2011.

The layers of irony behind this downgrade—and its timing—aren't lost on me.

It's a farce, really. By the logic Moody's is now applying, the downgrade should have happened a decade ago, when it became painfully clear that the U.S. had a crippling spending addiction, compounded by a monetary ideology that essentially tried to reverse the fundamental laws of debits and credits.

Yes, it's bad enough that the U.S. now carries $37 trillion in debt. But what's worse is that, despite this massive burden, deficits have continued to grow—clear proof that we've learned nothing about fiscal restraint. Our refusal to stop putting everything on the national credit card, and our complete disregard for basic math and economic reality, should have triggered multiple downgrades over the past decade.

But the real kicker isn't just the reckless spending—it's our full embrace of Modern Monetary Theory, which doesn't just ignore this irresponsibility but actively encourages it. Yet, somehow, Moody's didn't see a problem with monetary policy anytime before Friday.

To quote Peter Gibbons in Office Space:

"It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care."

Every time Paul Krugman wrote another column or Stephanie Kelton published a new book—and then got a national media platform to promote it—the U.S. deserved a downgrade.

Every time the Federal Reserve and the people responsible for advocating asinine monetary theory put on full display their inability to understand the economy or forecast economic events, it should have sent a message to rating agencies that the country is flying blind when it comes to fiscal and monetary policy, and that we deserved a downgrade.

When Ben Bernanke publicly said things like "we can print money at no cost," the country should have been downgraded.

When Bernanke said the subprime crisis was "contained", before it caused the collapse of the entire global economy, we should have been downgraded.

Every time a Fed governor like Neel Kashkari went on national television to declare that the Federal Reserve had "infinite money," we should have been downgraded.

When Janet Yellen kept interest rates at 0% for years despite a roaring U.S. economy that was clearly no longer in need of unlimited stimulus, the country should have been downgraded.

And every time an analyst, famous investor, government official, or Fed member incorrectly claimed that inflation was transitory when it wasn't, the country should have been downgraded.