U.S. High Debt Rating 'Unfair': Weiss

JUPITER, Fla. (TheStreet) -- Weiss Ratings on Thursday released its initial sovereign debt ratings for 47 countries, rating the United States a C (Fair), and ranking the U.S. 33rd on the list.

Saying that "the AAA/Aaa assigned to U.S. sovereign debt by Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch is unfair to investors and savers, who are undercompensated for the risks they are taking," Weiss Ratings president Martin D. Weiss added that an "honest rating" was needed to "help support the political compromises and collective sacrifices the U.S. must make in order to restore its finances."

Weiss Ratings explained that under its sovereign debt ratings scale from A (Excellent) to E (Very Weak), only sovereign countries with "stellar scores" in for major areas - including debt burden, international stability, economic health and market acceptance - would "merit a grade of A-minus or better."

Weiss said that the U.S. government didn't fall into either the excellent or very weak categories, as it ranks 44th for debt burden "primarily because of its large deficits," 32nd for international stability, "due mostly to low reserves," and 27th for economic health "because of recent boom-and-bust cycles." These low rankings were partially offset, as the U.S. ranked 6th " for its ability to borrow in the global marketplace."

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