Countries With Higher Credit Ratings Than The U.S.: 24/7 Wall St.

On Friday, Standard and Poor's downgraded the credit of the United States for the first time in history, leaving only thirteen countries in the world with a true top-level AAA rating, according to 24/7 Wall St. (Read more 24/7 Wall St.)

Not all credit rating agencies agree with S&P's downgrade. Indeed, in the days before the S&P downgrade, other rating agencies confirmed their confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to repay their debt. Moody’s has already affirmed the U.S. government’s Aaa rating, but with a negative outlook. Fitch also affirmed its AAA rating for the U.S., but warned that the rising debt profile to over 100% of GDP (after 2012) is not consistent with retaining the crucial AAA sovereign rating.

In light of the weakening economy, and following the ratings agency actions, 24/7 Wall St. has decided to reassess the entire global triple-A landscape. Our previous take was that some nations already seemed to be far less deserving of the triple-A rating category than others. The key assumption here is that the U.S. is no longer a true triple-A- rated nation. This implies that other nations with similar conditions are also at risk of losing their triple-A rating, and that there are really far fewer than 17 true nations in the triple-A club now. Our review includes updated figures from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s along with revised statistics from the CIA World Factbook. We’ve sourced also from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Fitch, Egan Jones, and elsewhere.

S&P still has a triple-A rating on Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Other triple-A nations like Guernsey, Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg we left out due to their small size and dependence upon other nations. Moody’s ratings were also used to make sure that the discrepancies are not overlooked.

Read more at 24/7 Wall St.

Below are the world's remaining AAA countries:

1 of 13

Australia

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> GDP per capita: $39,699.358 Australia was a solid AAA earlier this year and nothing has changed. Sure, it faces pressure from floods earlier this year, but the country is rich in natural resources that have to be used to build the world whenever the economy rises again. The low population of 21.5 million, an $882.4 billion GDP in 2010 projections, vast resource reserves, lower labor costs, and a low unemployment rate all act as a shield of global woes. Its public debt for 2010 was only projected to be 22.4% of GDP. The AAA rating is stable at S&P, and at Moody's it's Aaa with a stable outlook. Read more at 24/7 Wall St.

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> GDP per capita: $39,699.358

Australia was a solid AAA earlier this year and nothing has changed. Sure, it faces pressure from floods earlier this year, but the country is rich in natural resources that have to be used to build the world whenever the economy rises again. The low population of 21.5 million, an $882.4 billion GDP in 2010 projections, vast resource reserves, lower labor costs, and a low unemployment rate all act as a shield of global woes. Its public debt for 2010 was only projected to be 22.4% of GDP. The AAA rating is stable at S&P, and at Moody's it's Aaa with a stable outlook.

Read more at 24/7 Wall St.

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Comments

[mcmutter]

11:31 AM on 09/04/2011

Fascist countries always get the highest credit ratings ....

And the republicans are out to prove that to you ....

[Lorin Chane Partain]

03:54 PM on 08/11/2011

Got to Weiss ratings for the real story.

[BUTCHER99]

06:18 PM on 08/08/2011

Those DAMN socialist countries. How can a socialist country like Denmark or Sweden or even Canada with their damnable free medicare for all, subsidized Universities high tax rates get an AAA rating. I think it is a socialist plot. The only way to prove it would be for the US to adopt a Socialist attitude. Raise taxes. Free medicare for all. Improve the schools and educate the kids. Kick religion totally out of the election equation and when the US S&P rating goes back to AAA we will have proven that it is a socialist plot

[lynnwinter]

03:39 PM on 08/08/2011

None of those countries pay a middleman a twenty-fifty percent "commission". Right now, we're paying out about $11 billion a month in taxpayer money for Medicaid and Medicare to for-profit HMOs. They typically report to the SEC spending only 75-85% of that, but fraud investigations in Florida have revealed reported actual expenses have been inflated as much as 299%. One company, Wellcare, has spent $627.4 million of taxpayer money in the past thirty months defending itself against federal fraud charges.

[CePe]

06:36 PM on 08/09/2011

Isn't that private sector business wonderful?? So ethical and public minded! You can always count on business to do the right thing! NOT!!! Business has one primary objective - to make money. And many businesses will stop at nothing, whether it be poisoning the environment, mixing melamine into baby formula, using fecally-contaminated water to grow strawberries, or denying a medically necessary procedure, to make that profit. This is why a single-payor system for health care makes sense. It will not only save money, but help to reduce the upward tend in health care costs. This is why certain functions (those where profit should not be the motivator) are best done by government. Some things work best if they are not profit-driven.

[TheRevV]

02:30 PM on 08/08/2011

Look at all those eeevil "soshulist" countries...

[Ann Alo]

02:24 PM on 08/08/2011

Notice a few more things: all of these countries have universal health care, but can still pay all their bills. All of these countries have the highest standard of living in the word. And according to CIP polls, all of these countires are a lot happier than "free" Americans. You know what I mean by free, someone who want to start their own business in America, but has a preexisting health conditoins and cannot afford to pay the 1/3+ of his total income just for private health insurance if he quits his job, With all of the countries with universal health care, your health insurance plan is a non issue if you want to go into business for yourself. You already get it, regardless.

[Ann Alo]

02:14 PM on 08/08/2011

Notice all of these countries tax the "job creators" (aka rich) at a much higher level than we are willing to do here in the United States. Notice a lot of these countries are "welfare states" with big, huge (although more functional) governments. Notice a lot of these countries have more transfer payments and income equality. Notice a lot of these countries practice Keynsian economics where the governemnt contracted spending and increased taxes during times of low unemployment, as to have a little left in the bottle for a rainy day. Notice all of these countries don't have a "tea party" and a cable news network constantly bashing governement and making their government the root of all evil. Figure it out.

[Permafrost]

02:44 PM on 08/08/2011

Great post!
your fan # 4

[Coffeesnob]

05:26 PM on 08/08/2011

Excellent post, F & F.

[Pilatunes]

11:15 AM on 08/08/2011

I still remember, because the Canadians I know too umbrage at it, that 15 years ago the Wall Street Journal said Canada was ‘an honorary member of the third world’.

Please Wally, share with us how Canada got from there to this list?

[Lellie]

12:10 PM on 08/08/2011

One factor... After we got over being defensive, we developed the best banking system in the world.

[AWAbooks]

11:08 PM on 08/08/2011

Wow, the "Journal" was spouting stoo-pid pith like that even BEFORE they were Murdoxxxed?

[netzwerg]

08:12 AM on 08/08/2011

"Is this a list of countries that have a better credit rating than the US, or a list of countries that are more socialisti­c than the US?"

This is a list of countries, that are better at Capitalism than the US. See here: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

[Marc NL]

12:41 PM on 08/08/2011

Very interesting list. Thank you.

[pollclaire]

09:10 PM on 08/08/2011

When we can no longer afford our aircraft carriers, we will become #1 in the creation of man-made coral reefs.

[Bumpkins]

07:34 AM on 08/08/2011

Well we spent a weekend like a student who forgot to study for the test, and flunked. Now that we flunked we are asking the teacher to change the grade,because you could not study, you were busy. Please, give me another chance, I promise to be good. Well that chance is coming in September with the budget. I see a mess, as Congress will not take responsibility for their spending frenzy the past 10 years. A representative from S&P was just saying on Morning Joe that the greatest nation in the world waited till 10 hours before the deadline of the default..to come up with a patch deal that does little to address the expenses verus income...children playing games.

[frank1946]

05:07 AM on 08/08/2011

Seems like Canada and France and Australia have already fixed themselves long ago !

Why is the USA so late ?

Reduce Federal Spending to 20 % of GDP...................Harry Reid/Obama said "No" !

Harry/Obama Must Go..................the price of denial is actually VERY LARGE !

$ 1 Trillion and Tens of Thousands of Jobs for starters................wait another six months and double It !

After all, Susie Orman said you cannot survive borrowing 40 % of your Lifestyle !

The Truth Hurts !

[CanuckforamultipartyUSA]

10:49 AM on 08/08/2011

actually, the reason Canada is still doing okay is because of our banking regulations, and the fact that two years ago our minority Conservative Govt. saw the writing on the wall, and put forth a defecit inducing budget that included extended unemployment benefits, job training programs, conservation of millions of acres of tundra/subarctic, etc..and we only go into wars thsat are part of NATO and/or the UN. this year the conservative govt. tried to pull a "Walker in Wisconsin", but our charter of rights says freedom of assembly and that includes unions.

[viewfromuphere]

04:44 PM on 08/08/2011

fanned...good response

[pollclaire]

09:13 PM on 08/08/2011

Not one of the first-world nations that you could objectively call 'successful' or 'prosperous' limits government spending to 20% of GDP. There are plenty of nations that spend less, but you wouldn't want to live there.

[European1919]

05:03 AM on 08/08/2011

LOL ... all of these have a public health system, unions and compared to the USA a tiny military budget (%age of GDP).
Now why doesn't that make the Americans pause for thought? No, don't tell me - I know.

[Bumpkins]

07:13 AM on 08/08/2011

Our problem, we are obsessed with invisable enemies all over the world, and empire building.

[Coffeesnob]

05:31 PM on 08/08/2011

Very true.

[aFtersootdamP]

03:13 AM on 08/08/2011

Thanks obama. You would rather allow our Country to be downgraded than make a reasonable deal. Let's look at the dynamics. A real President would have put his Country ahead of himself and do what was necessary to keep our credit intact. obama is more interested in his political position than the welfare of our nation.

[netzwerg]

04:01 AM on 08/08/2011

"A real President would have put his Country ahead of himself and do what was necessary to keep our credit intact."

Such as? What would a real President have done?

[Bumpkins]

06:55 AM on 08/08/2011

Our system of Govt. has the President in a sideline roll. The power is with Congress. Congress has total control of the purse strings. What can the President do??

[beingthebest]

06:54 AM on 08/08/2011

And the Republicans who have stalled any work being done. Are they "real" Americans?

[Reyeshawk13]

10:37 PM on 08/07/2011

Man, that socialism is just destroying all these countries. Interesting that they all have much larger government sectors and significantly higher tax rates than the U.S. though I'm sure our Tea Party "friends" can tell us all how it's just an illusion.

[aFtersootdamP]

03:25 AM on 08/08/2011

At least you're willing to admit you don't understand it. All these countries are in trouble and they know it. Why don't you? Luckily for them, America spent billions of dollars protecting them for the last sixty years allowing them to not have to spend any money on their defense. They have an elitist system, where the government officials live priviledged lives, while the undercalss subsists on government dole and the immigrants are exploited. In our system, the exceptional people fuel the advances we make and they are the people you and obama want to oblitierate. liberals want to level everyone so that the mediocrities can rule.

[netzwerg]

03:41 AM on 08/08/2011

HAHAHAHA!

[ChrisTT]

03:48 AM on 08/08/2011

You're funny.

[blu366]

10:10 PM on 08/07/2011

Amen, MarkJudiGoet!!