The Ellison Report: How Bad is a Downgrade, Really?

Markets plummeted Monday following S&P’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating Friday. Like many legislators, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) offered a partisan explanation, placing blame squarely on Republicans.

But speaking in a Minnesota Public Radio article, he also warned against putting too much stock in the downgrade.

• “But we should be careful not to take this downgrade at face-value. America remains the strongest economy in the world. It is no surprise that investors turned to U.S. Treasurys last week.”

Ellison isn’t alone in this opinion. Such prominent investors as Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet have expressed similar sentiments.

• "Our currency is not AAA and in recent months the performance of our government has not been AAA, but our debt is AAA," Buffett said. His company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), has about $48 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and at least $40 billion of that is in U.S. Treasury bills. Buffett said he's still going to hold those.

In other news, Iowa’s Republican straw poll is set to take place Saturday and critics are once again asking if the state has outsized influence. Ellison chimed in with his opinion for a Star Tribune story on how representative the state and the poll really are.

• "It is a very homogenous state, and it's not necessarily representative of the whole country," said U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a black Minnesota Democrat. "But at the same time, they've done a decent job."