Money for The Rest of Us

Investment help and financial guidance for the rest of us.

  • Podcast
  • Guides
        • Asset Classes

        • A Complete Guide to Investing in I Bonds and TIPS (2025)
        • A Complete Guide to Equity REIT Investing
        • A Complete Guide to Mortgage REIT Investing
        • A Complete Guide to Investing in Gold
        • A Complete Guide To Investing In Convertible Bonds
        • Investing in Bitcoin, Oil, and Volatility ETFs
        • Carbon Investing and its Effect on Climate Change
        • Farmland Investing
        • The Opportunity and Risk of Frontier Markets
        • Investment Vehicles

        • A Complete Guide to Investment Vehicles
        • How to Invest in Closed-End Funds
        • What Are SPACs and Should You Invest in Them?
        • Money and Economics

        • A Complete Guide to Understanding and Protecting Against Inflation
        • Understanding Web3 Investing
        • Strategy

        • Why You Should Rebalance Your Portfolio
        • What Is Risk vs Uncertainty?
        • Tail Events and Tail Risk
  • Resources
        • General Resources

        • Topic Index
        • Glossary
        • Most Influential Books
        • Member Tools

        • Member - Getting Started Guide
        • Asset Allocation and Portfolio Tools
        • Current Investment Strategy Report
        • All Investment Conditions Reports
        • Strategic and Adaptive Model Portfolios
        • Member Tools and Downloads
        • Member Resources

        • Plus Premium Episodes
        • Submit A Question to the Plus Podcast
        • Member Forums
        • David’s Current Portfolio
        • David's Portfolio Trades
        • Courses

        • Investing in Closed-End Funds
  • Members
  • Join
  • Log In
You are here: Home / Podcast / 525: No More AAA – What the U.S. Debt Downgrade Means for Investors

525: No More AAA – What the U.S. Debt Downgrade Means for Investors

May 21, 2025 by Camden Stein · Updated May 21, 2025

With longer-term U.S. interest rates rising and no plan to reduce the budget deficit, is a U.S. national debt crisis imminent?

American flag and eagle with the caption "U.S. Debt Downgrade"

Topics covered include:

  • Why S&P, Fitch, and now Moody’s stripped the U.S. of its pristine AAA debt rating
  • How the U.S. national debt dynamics compare to Greece, Italy, and Japan
  • What are four things investors should monitor for signs that the national debt crisis is worsening or spiraling out of control

Show Notes

Moody’s Ratings downgrades United States ratings to Aa1 from Aaa; changes outlook to stable—Moody’s Ratings

Research Update: United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To ‘AA+’ On Political Risks And Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative—S&P Global

Interest Expense and Average Interest Rates on the National Debt FY 2010 – FYTD 2025—FiscalData.Treasury.gov

The Stark Math on the GOP Tax Plan: It Doesn’t Cut the Deficit by Richard Rubin—The Wall Street Journal

The Long-Term Budget Outlook: 2025 to 2055—Congressional Budget Office

Walmart says higher prices could hit this month due to tariffs by Natalie Sherman—BBC

Post on May 17th, 2025; 7:27 AM by Donald J. Trump—Truth Social

Walmart responds to Trump comment that retailer should ‘eat the tariffs’ by Kyler Swaim—The Hill

What’s behind Japan’s High Government Debt? by  YiLi Chien and Ashley H. Stewart—Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Episode Sponsor

Asset Camp

Become a Better Investor With Our Investing Checklist

Become a Better Investor With Our Investing Checklist

Master successful investing with our Checklist and get expert weekly insights to help you build your wealth with confidence.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Related Episodes

487: Are We Heading for a 2030s Depression? Global Economic and Population Shifts

479: National Debt Master Class Finale – What To Do

Transcript

Coming Soon

As a Money For the Rest of Us Plus member, you are able to listen to the podcast in an ad-free format and have access to the written transcript for each week’s episode. For listeners with hearing or other impairments that would like access to transcripts please send an email to team@moneyfortherestofus.com Learn More About Plus Membership »

Ready to get serious about your investing?

Access professional-grade portfolio tools, training, and a community to help you stay on track, tune out the noise, and grow your wealth with confidence.

Learn How

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: budget deficit, debt ceiling, debt default, government spending, national debt

Contact | Team | Topic Index


Darby Creek Advisors LLC
P.O. Box 68544 • Tucson, AZ • 85737

Copyright © 2025 • Disclosures, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy • Site by Tempora

Manage Cookie Consent

We use cookies to optimize our website, marketing, and services. 

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website, marketing, and services. We never sell users' data.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}