How a dollar crisis would unfold If investors keep selling American assets, a grim fate awaits the world economy
The US has lost its last perfect credit rating, as influential ratings firm Moody's expressed concern over the government's ability to pay back its debt.
In lowering the US rating from 'AAA' to 'Aa1', Moody's noted that successive US administrations had failed to reverse ballooning deficits and interest costs.
A triple-A rating signifies a country's highest possible credit reliability, and indicates it is considered to be in very good financial health with a strong capacity to repay its debts.
Moody's warned in 2023 the US triple-A rating was at risk. Fitch Ratings downgraded the US in 2023 and S&P Global Ratings did so in 2011. Moody's held a perfect credit rating for the US since 1917.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/04/16/how-a-dollar-crisis-would-unfold