This was a factor that led to S&P's downgrade of 2011, and Chambers said the U.S. fiscal position is now even weaker than it was back then.
"Right now the deficit of the general government — which is the federal and the local governments combined — is over 7% of GDP and the government debt is 120% of GDP. At the time, we forecasted that it might get to 100% of GDP, and the government ridiculed us for being too scaremongering," he said. "The external position is about the same, but I think the governance has weakened and the fractiousness of the political settings is much worse, and that has led to government shutdowns, it's led to fears that the government might default on its debt because of the debt ceiling, and it's led to a
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