Business & Tech
Video: U.S. Economy Double-Dipping?
Patch talks to South Bay residents about the recent credit downgrade and volatile stock market.
The country's struggling economy has weighed heavily on a handful of South Bay residents and now it seems that the U.S. is in a double-dip recession, some locals say.
With the debt ceiling issue freshly resolved, the economy hit another snag last week: Standard & Poor's announced it had downgraded the country's credit rating for the first time. Then the Dow plummeted 634 points Monday, rose again Tuesday, dropped again Wednesday.
"[S&P] gave a AAA rating to all those banks that were five minutes from going out of business," said Redondo Beach resident Art Havel. "So as far as what they have to say about anything—that's kind of a joke."
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The downgrade from a credit rating of AAA to AA+ raises the nation's borrowing costs by $100 billion a year, according to estimates. A pending rise in consumer interest rates is likely. For now, some residents are sitting tight, weathering the economic storm.
