In an announcement last Monday, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's last Monday had improved its credit rating for the United States from 'negative' to 'stable'. S&P said that the chances of the government to return to a lower rating would be 'less than one in three'.

Back in August 2011, Standard and Poor's was the very first credit ratings ageny that lowered the credit rating of the sovereign US credit from 'AAA' to 'AA'. While this is still the second highest rating, the agency stilled tagged the credit outlook as negative.

In a press release, S&P said that the improvements in the country's tax receipts as well as the proper management of budget issues have led the outlook for the country much better than previously accounted for by the agency. The main issue now would be be the acumen of policymakers to address long term ussues because of the deepening divide between the parties in Washington in the past ten years.

S&P said, in a press release, "We believe that our current 'AA' rating already factors in a lesser ability of US elected officials to react swiftly and effectively to public finance pressures over the longer term in comparison with officials of some more highly rated sovereigns and we expect repeated divisive debates over raising of the debt ceiling."