The idiots who decided to extort the debt ceiling for their ideological demands, because they're incapable of making their non-arguments persuasively enough in the usual court of public opinion, are not getting nearly enough shit for their psychotic, economically illiterate actions. Now the United States has the credit rating agency Moody's on its ass and is placing the government's debt rating under review — not over the manageability or size of the debt, but thanks this completely artificial statutory number.

Here's your late-afternoon Wednesday treat, everyone:

New York, July 13, 2011 — Moody's Investors Service has placed the Aaa bond rating of the government of the United States on review for possible downgrade given the rising possibility that the statutory debt limit will not be raised on a timely basis, leading to a default on US Treasury debt obligations. On June 2, Moody's had announced that a rating review would be likely in mid July unless there was meaningful progress in negotiations to raise the debt limit.

Thanks, Tea Party!

Because here's the sentence that should really grind our gears: "Moody's considers the probability of a default on interest payments to be low but no longer to be de minimis." This ridiculous refusal to pass a clean hike — or better yet, repeal — of the debt ceiling has suddenly created, out of the blue, the brand new concern that U.S. Treasuries aren't guaranteed assets. Even if a ceiling hike eventually takes place. Some precedent you've set, morons.

[Image of the U.S. Treasury Building via AP]