For the "Better Late Than Never" Files

S&P Also Downgrades Freddie and Fannie:

On Aug. 5, 2011, Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA'.
As a result, we have also lowered the long-term issuer credit ratings and related issue ratings on select government-related entities (GREs) to 'AA+' from 'AAA'.
The issuer credit ratings of these financial institutions and their relevant debt issues are removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed July 15, 2011.
The outlooks for all 12 FHLBs, and the issue level ratings for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHLB System, and the Farm Credit System are negative.

Maybe if they'd done this a few years ago, some recent unpleasantness would have been averted.