A local financial advisor has an interesting take on Monday's big announcement from Standard and Poor's, the powerful financial services agency said its downgrading its outlook on U.S. debt. Bill Valentine says this could be a wake up call for politicians to cut entitlements and other big government programs. Bill Valentine with Valentine Ventures in Bend says this is not the tipping point for the U.S. Economy, but it's definitely a good wake up call: “Exactly, there’s no way out of our problem that doesn’t involve politicians upsetting large numbers of people. There’s no group that can be spared. There’s no way, uh, we’ve kicked this can down the road as far as it’s going to go; give or take 3-5 more years. At some point, our political representatives will say- ‘You know what, at this point, the risk of upsetting people, by not doing anything, is greater than upsetting people by making the changes.” An actual debt downgrade would raise the cost of interest payments for the U.S. government, as well as raise borrowing costs for U.S. consumers and corporations. Higher rates would have a crushing effect on the debt-laden U.S. economy.