Brazil president finds 'risk free' US economy laughable

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marveled at America's "zero risk" financial rating on Friday, raising some laughs as he wondered how ratings agencies could call the troubled US economy perfectly safe. "I'm amazed to see that the American risk is zero. It's in a miserable crisis, and there's no risk," Silva said, drawing chuckles from a crowd at the inauguration of a gas pipeline in Espirito Santo state. "Brazil's risk, Russia's risk increase, but the Americans, who are in debt up to here, have zero risk," Silva said. "It's an invention of the ratings agencies, that's what I think." Last month, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised Brazil's debt rating to investment grade, a benchmark long awaited by Latin America's largest country. The country's decades-old debt crisis is over, and Brazil has emerged as a net foreign creditor.