Following the debt ceiling crisis in Congress, many financial companies such as S&P 500 downgraded the US governments credit rating. Many people do not realize what exactly this downgrade actually means. However, people do know that this was brought around by increased government spending in the past few decades. This downgrade can have various affects on the future outlook of he United States' economy as well as the well-being of American citizens. An effect for the American people would be that a credit card company could judge you as to big a credit risk, and will not allowed you to use them. Some effects on the government would include having to pay higher interest rates, which would then increase the amount of government spending. Ultimately, something must be done to get the US government its AAA credit rating back, as well as there must be something done to decrease the national debt.