SIR – Mr Bird (Letters, January 4) really should ally his economic knowledge to a more soft-eyed political appraisal.

While it is certainly true that the ‘ratings agencies’ have downgraded the US and not the UK, even a cursory examination of the two countries will reveal that this country has a Government which has demonstrated from it’s ‘election’ (sic) that it is quite prepared to grovel on the floor for the capitalists of the City of London. Whereas America (for the time being at least) has a government which in principle has a healthy distrust of Wall Street. Not that it makes very much difference, because the US Treasury and Federal Reserve are both being run by (non-elected) ex-Goldman Sachs employees.

I do hope that Mr Bird also realises that the ‘biggest crime in history’ (the US sub-prime mortgage scandal) was led by, er, Goldman Sachs and facilitated by the three US ratings agencies. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility therefore, that the same ‘dream team’ may well have a vested interest in rubbishing the Obama administration, especially in election year.

In conclusion, Mr Bird may also wish to know that Osborne’s (unelected) economic adviser is the former CEO of HSBC. Another major player in the ‘sub-prime’ fiddle. Christopher Hindle, Osterley Grove, Bradford