America’s Founding Fathers warned us about this. James Madison called public debt “a public curse, and in a Republican Government a greater curse than any other. "Benjamin Franklin called it a threat to liberty. "We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt," warned Thomas Jefferson.
Source: Why the United States Lost Its AAA Credit Rating - Foundation for Economic Education
The short answer is easy. The Federal government spends more money than it takes in with its exorbitant taxes. They spend as though spending were an addiction and there is no end it sight. To exacerbate the problem, politicians only blame others and finger point at things that have little or no bearing on the situation.
CNN laughably tried to point to the January 6th "insurrection" as the cause. Never mind the fact that January 6th was unrelated to any of the reasons given by Fitch for the downgrade. At the end of the day, it comes down to simple numbers.
In 2017, the U.S. debt stood at $20 trillion. That's a lot of money. It represents all of the debt accumulated essentially since the birth of the country. Today that debt is $32 trillion. In only six ears the U.S. debt has increased by more than 50%. The only truly surprising thing about this downgrade is the fact that the U.S. still has an AA+ rating.
Every U.S. taxpayer should be angry about this. Very angry. The younger you are, the bigger the impact it will have on you. An increasing debt burden also means an increasing tax burden as more and more money goes to just paying interest on debt. Unfortunately, politicians seem dead set on completely decimating the U.S. economy.