Yahoo Finance

S&P Global Ratings jolted markets nearly 15 years ago when it stripped the U.S. of its triple-A credit rating, citing mounting debts and political discord. Moritz Kraemer was an executive in S&P’s sovereign-bond unit when it cut the U.S.’s rating, then others including France, Austria and eventually the U.K. Now an economist for German bank LBBW, he says the dysfunction in Washington has only worsened. WSJ: You were at S&P when the firm downgraded the U.S. in 2011.