Shudders went though the global markets a week ago when S&P took its outlook on UK debt down from "stable" to "neutral." As a reward for being better off than the UK, Moody's, the other large credit rating agency, affirmed its rating on US debt at "AAA". Pessimistic analysts had been voicing concerns about whether the Treasury could maintain this rating with the national debt rising each day due to government spending and an evaporation of IRS receipts.