Why America lost the S&P AAA rating

Balaji Narasimhan | August 2011 sherlockbalaji@yahoo.com | http://www.balaji.ind.in/ On August 5th, 2011, S&P downgraded America from AAA to AA+. This is the first time that this has ever happened and this move has sent shock waves around the world. From a Jyotish perspective, we have to look at an exact combination of transits that led to the downgrade. It is not enough to say, X was transiting over Y, because the US has been around for so long that even slow-moving Sani, who takes 30 years for one rotation, has completed around eight circles since the US was formed. This means that many of the faster grahas have made many more transitsin the 235 years that have elapsed, Chandra has made over 2,800 transits over her own position. However, Jyotish is so subtle that a transit that leaves you unharmed today may cause untold misery another day because it happens in combination with something else. And this is exactly what has happened this time around. Lets look at the birth chart of the USA and also consider transits on the day S&P downgraded the US:
+-------------------------------+ gu 15 ke 28 su 22 gu 15 ku 07 ku 00 sk 12 +-------+---------------+------- ch 06 usa bu -03 4 jul 1776 ra 15 05:58 pm pennsylvania sk 15 philedelphia su 18 +-------39 n 57 +------- ke 15 75 w 10 bu -07 5w, no dst lg: 0142 transit for 5 aug 2011 +-------+---------------+------- lg 01 sa 24 ra 28 ch sa 18 +-------------------------------+

NOTE: Many charts exist for the US; the Astro-Databank list around ten charts. I have followed the Jyotish dictum that in matters of confusion, one should be guided by the advice of one's guru and have taken the date my Jyotish Guru Wendy ji of jyotishvidya.com has provided me with.

Now, let us look at transits for each graha and consider the exact degree of transit over a graha, or in a Kendra or trikona to it. The first thing that one notices is that the lord of the 6 th house of debt is transiting exactly over Rahu, the lord of the 3 rd (the 2 nd from the 2 nd house of wealth). So, what? you may ask, In the 235 years since the US was founded, Sukra would have transited over Rahu around 235 times. But the point to note is that Sukra is in also in an exact kendra to gochara Guru. In fact, Guru is transiting the exact mid point between Rahu and Ketu. At the same time, one should also look at another thingthe deeply emotional nature of the downgrade. According to experts, the downgrade may impact the US governments capacity to borrow, but this has given impetus to fears of a double dip recession. The emotional nature of the whole thing can be seen from the fact that Budha, karaka for intelligence and rational thought, was vakra and in the exact 7 th to janma Chandra, while gochara Kuja, karaka for rising passions, was in the exact fifth from Chandra. And the fact that Kuja also rules the 12 th house of loss has not exactly helped matters. Things will definitely get better once the US gets its AAA rating back, but this may take some timeright now the lord of the 3 rd house of initiatives is occupying the 8th from the 3 rd and the US will meet with only limited success in its attempts to turn the tide. Even when Sani gets exalted, he will have Guru firmly in his sights for a while, and such is the power of the gaze of the lord of the rings that he may stall US growth. In the birth chart of the US, 12 th lord Ketu occupies the 2 nd while 12th lord Kuja aspects lagna in conjunction with lagna lord Guru, showing Americas problems with borrowing. Right now, 12 th lord Ketu is transiting the 6th house of debts, and one could safely say that until Ketu moves into Mesha on January 15 th, 2013, this situation will continue. But bounce back the US surely willafter all, in the birth chart, it has lagna lord in conjunction with the lords of the 5 th, 9 th and the 11 th and this will surely ensure that it again gets its AAA status. This might happen when Guru transits over itself, and the lords of the 5 th, the 9 th, and the 11 th in its journey through Mituna between May 31 st, 2013 and June 20 th, 2014. ***