you ve got two other ratings agencies, they re still giving the united states the aaa rating. how can standard & poor s have this great an effect on this country and those who invest in it? reporter: because it s cascading down. you start with the downgrade on friday afternoon of american treasury securities. uncle sam itself. today come down a notch, and you have downgraded what s called agency debt, fannie and freddie, housing agency debt. they ve been downgraded. that s a cascade coming down the food chain. is the next step going to be towns and cities across america? could we see bankruptcies emerge because of that original downgraded treasury debt? that s the concern, that it ripples throughout the debt market, takes a lot of people down with it, slows the economy, makes the debt even worse. that s how it effects you and i. megyn: you know, stu, we ve been seeing a lot of kill the messenger in the wake of this announcement by standard & poor s, and a lot of criticism