EDITORIAL: 'U.S. CREDIT RATING COULD BE DOWNGRADED AS DEBT-TO-GDP RATIO NEARS 70%'

(Wall Street Journal) -- In an editorial at WSJ.com, the editorial staff at The Wall Street Journal reports that "fear of defaults by European countries sent stocks reeling" last week. And while some believe "that could never happen in the U.S.," Moody's Investors Service "caused a market stir" when it said "that on Washington's present spending and debt track, maybe it could" -- and that Moody's could downgrade America's government bond rating. According to the WSJ editorial, the ratio of U.S. federal public debt to GDP "fell in the 1990s as the economy grew rapidly and the post-1994 Republican Congress restrained spending for a time and struck a balanced budget deal with Bill Clinton." The editorial notes that in 2007, the debt ratio had soared to a concerning 36.2%, but "now the public debt ratio is climbing even faster amid slow economic growth and a spending binge, reaching an expected 63.6% this year, 68.6% next year and above 70% later this decade even by White House reckoning." Moreover, "these White House estimates are surely understated if current U.S. policies continue," the Journal opines. The editorial goes on to blast the "$2 trillion in tax hikes that Mr. Obama proposed" in his budget, saying "they will strike an economy still emerging from a deep recession." Read it at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704259304575043600254910186.html>