Have you heard all the talk in the news about national credit ratings and debt ceilings? What does it all mean?

Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S.'s Credit Rating to "AA+" from "AAA+". In a report available online the S&P explains its reasoning. However, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is calling it a "2 trillion dollar mistake" in a blog post on the U.S. treasury site.  

According to a post on Dave Ramsey's facebook page this is how it breaks down: If the US Government were a family & their household income was $55,000 per year, they'd actually be spending $96,500—$41,500 more than they made! That means they're spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they'd add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000! - Dave Ramsey

If you're interested in Dave Ramsey's books WCLS has them, along with plenty of other financial planning books!