Standard & Poor's, a global credit rating agency, recently downgraded 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ's rating from AAA to AA+. Bob Ascah, Fellow of The Institute for Public Economics at the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ, worked in the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Treasury Department in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and had frequent contact with rating agency personnel. Dr. Ascah explores the implications of the downgrade for 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ in an interview, and in a column for the .