{"id":137907,"date":"2025-05-18T15:14:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T15:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/scott-bessent-calls-moodys-a-lagging-indicator-after-u-s-credit-downgrade-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T15:14:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T15:14:56","slug":"scott-bessent-calls-moodys-a-lagging-indicator-after-u-s-credit-downgrade-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/scott-bessent-calls-moodys-a-lagging-indicator-after-u-s-credit-downgrade-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Bessent calls Moody's a 'lagging indicator' after U.S. credit downgrade – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that Moody<\/a>\u2019<\/a>s <\/a>r<\/a>atings<\/a> were a \u201clagging indicator\u201d after the group downgraded the United States\u2019 credit rating by a notch from the highest level.
\u201cI think that Moody\u2019s is a lagging indicator,\u201d Bessent said Sunday. \u201cI think that\u2019s what everyone thinks of credit agencies.\u201d
Moody\u2019s Ratings said last week that the downgrade from Aaa to Aa1 \u201creflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.\u201d
The treasury secretary asserted that the downgrade was related to the Biden administration\u2019s spending policies, which that administration<\/a> had touted as investments in priorities, including combating climate change and increasing health care coverage.
\u201cJust like Sean Duffy said with our air traffic control system, we didn\u2019t get here in the past 100 days,\u201d Bessent continued, referring to the transportation secretary. \u201cIt\u2019s the Biden administration and the spending that we have seen over the past four years.\u201d
The U.S. has $36.22 trillion in national debt, according to the Treasury Department<\/a>. It began growing steadily in the 1980s and continued increasing during both President Donald Trump\u2019s first term and President Joe Biden\u2019s administration.
Bessent also told moderator Kristen Welker that he spoke on the phone with the CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon, who the treasury secretary said told him the retail giant would \u201ceat some of the tariffs, just as they did in \u201918, \u201919 and \u201920.\u201d
Walmart CFO John David Rainey previously told CNBC<\/a> that Walmart would absorb<\/a> some higher costs related to tariffs. The CFO had also told CNBC <\/a>separately that he was \u201cconcerned\u201d consumers would \u201cstart seeing higher prices,\u201d pointing to tariffs.
Trump said in a post to Truth Social last week that Walmart should \u201ceat the tariffs.\u201d Walmart responded, saying the company has \u201calways worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won\u2019t stop.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins,\u201d the statement continued.
When asked about his conversation, Bessent denied he applied any pressure on Walmart to \u201ceat the tariffs,\u201d noting that he and the CEO \u201chave a very good relationship.\u201d
\u201cI just wanted to hear it from him, rather than second-, thirdhand from the press,\u201d Bessent said.
McMillon had said on Walmart\u2019s earnings call<\/a> that tariffs have put pressure on prices. Bessent argued that companies \u201chave to give the worst-case scenario\u201d on the calls.
The White House has said that countries are approaching the administration to negotiate over tariffs. The administration has also announced trade agreements with the United Kingdom and China.
Bessent said on Sunday that he thinks countries that do not negotiate in good faith would see duties return to the rates announced the day the administration unveiled across-the-board tariffs.
\u201cThe negotiating leverage that President Trump is talking about here is if you don\u2019t want to negotiate, then it will spring back to the April 2 level,\u201d Bessent said.
Bessent was also asked about Trump saying the administration would accept a luxury jet from Qatar<\/a> to be used as Air Force One, infuriating Democrats and drawing criticism from some Republicans<\/a> as well.
The treasury secretary called questions about the $400 million gift an \u201coff-ramp for many in the media not to acknowledge what an incredible trip this was,\u201d referring to investment commitments the president received<\/a> during his trip last week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
\u201cIf we go back to your initial question on the Moody\u2019s downgrade, who cares? Qatar doesn\u2019t. Saudi doesn\u2019t. UAE doesn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re all pushing money in.\u201d
When asked for his response to those who argue that the jet sends a message that countries can curry favor with the U.S. by sending gifts, Bessent said that \u201cthe gifts are to the American people,\u201d pointing to investment agreements that were unveiled during Trump\u2019s Middle East trip.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., criticized Bessent\u2019s comments about the credit downgrade, saying in a separate interview on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d: \u201cI heard the treasury secretary say that, \u2018Who cares about the downgrading of our credit rating from Moody\u2019s?\u2019 That is a big deal.\u201d
\u201cThat means that we are likely headed\u00a0for a recession.\u00a0That probably means higher interest rates for anybody out there who is trying to start a business or to buy a home,\u201d he continued. \u201cThese guys are running the economy recklessly because all they care about is the health of the Mar-a-Lago billionaire class.\u201d
Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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ProfileSectionsLocaltvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC News news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that Moody\u2019s ratings were a \u201clagging indicator\u201d after the group downgraded the United States\u2019 credit rating by a notch from the highest level.\u201cI think that Moody\u2019s is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}