The surge will course through the world financial system for several years as countries, corporations and banks borrow record amounts of money to repair the damage from the financial crisis and pay back loans from the boom that preceded it. One crucial concern about the nascent economic recovery is whether markets can smoothly absorb that new debt, or whether it will force less-creditworthy governments into a Greek-style crisis, push weaker banks and corporations into default, and possibly trigger another downturn. ... "The dollar amounts around the world that we are looking at are unprecedented," said Standard & Poor's Managing Director John J. Bilardello. "It was debt issued during the peak years [that] . . . originated in a fairly strong market" but is coming due in a much weaker one.

"Until the labor market turns around, people will remain unable to pay bills," DeRitis said. "Lowered consumption will only add extra friction to the economy."

NES President & CEO, Decosta Jenkins, said that he is “gratified that this respected rating agency expressed such a high level of confidence in our ability to succeed. Our commitment is to deliver the highest level of customer service and reliability at the lowest reasonable price.”

"The issue-level ratings were raised because our estimate of the value of the company in a default scenario, including the acquisition of the Detroit Medical Center, has improved," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst David Peknay. The speculative-grade ratings on Vanguard reflect its relatively undiversified portfolio of hospitals and its highly leveraged financial profile. The pending addition of the eight-hospital Detroit Medical Center (DMC) would add another major market to San Antonio and Phoenix, which now account for the majority of the company's cash flow. However, the acquisition, which would expand the revenue base from the current 15-facility hospital portfolio by about 60%, will be challenging."

Overall consumer credit outstanding now stands at $2.415T, the lowest since March ‘07 and has fallen for 18 of the last 20 months. A combination of debt paydown, more savings and reduced credit access has the consumer doing the tough but rational thing of deleveraging. The resulting higher savings rate, while a crimp to consumer spending, is the seed of investment and is the long term offset to the short term economic impact to 70% of the US economy.