United States = AA+ Congress in Action = AAA Congress in Result = FFF

Standard and Poor's lowered the credit rating of US debt to AA+ status.

Throughout the nation, investors, businesses, and consumers are worried. What effect will this downgrade have on our jobs, on our savings, and our future?

Beyond the worrisome questions, public outrage against Congress has reached an all-time high, with 82% unhappy with Congress, with a slightly higher sense of ire against Republicans than Democrats. The slender bias against Republicans is probably due to the unfounded maligning which the Tea Party has suffered recently, especially by the myopic partisan hack David Axelrod. In a bare attempt to control the narrtiave on President Obama's failed leadership, Axelrod has dubbed S and P's move "the Tea Party downgrade."

As far as procedure is concerned, Congress gets an AAA. Stymied legislation, backroom deals brought to the forefront, impasses galore, frustrations on both sides, with Speaker John Boehner caught in the middle, Congress crafting legislation to raise the debt ceiling mirrored to the point the kind of extensive, protracted argument which the Framers of the Constitution expected. According to Alexander Hamilton, in one of the Federalist articles, he underscored vehemently that the United States would have more to fear from a government which passed laws with efficient alacrity as opposed to a system which routinely frustrated legislation. Columnist George F.Will mirrored this sentiment on "This Week" when he quipped: "We have more to fear from government haste than government tardiness." Case in point: Obamacare, the outrageous, underfunded, and unconstitutional medical insurance liability forced on every able-bodied American. The stalled nature of partisan "bickering" which prevents hasty laws from being passed also accorded more leverage to the Tea Party caucus, which wonderfully played its hand in demanding more cuts, then refusing to vote for the final compromise.

As far as results are concerned, Congress did a terrible job. Not nearly enough cuts to the bloated largess which floats and founders in Washington followed by a resolute unwillingness to manage entitlements long term, Congress opted on more time to create a Super Committee to consider further cuts beyond the nearly one trillion slashed from the budget.

Another super committee is a super waste of time, in light of the previous Commission assembled by President Obama and legislators from both sides of the aisle. In addition to the input from former Congressmen and economic elites, the needed cuts in non-discretionary spending simply have to be dealt with. One more commission will not change the fundamentals of this underlying reality.

Still, the Tea Party flexed its collective muscle, drove through on its demands, and forced Washington for the first time in years to make serious changes to its spending habits. Despite this article's devastating critique, Congress deserves a DDD for its results: not good, but better than nothing.