WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Taking over two mortgage giants has lowered the United States' credit rating, investment analysts said Tuesday.
"The USA is now 'riskier' than Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Austria, France, Denmark, Quebec and Japan," Tim Backshall, chief strategist at Credit Derivatives Research told the Financial Times.
The shift came as the director of the Congressional Budget Office said he considered the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and the Federal National Mortgage Association -- Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- to be public entities. As such, they should be "directly incorporated into the federal budget," director Peter Orszag said.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have about $5.4 trillion in liabilities and about an equal value in assets, the Financial Times reported..
